Speeches by Cane.

“I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Cheltenham (Max Wilkinson) for introducing the Bill. I refer Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. Just after the general election, Ministers made the shock decision that the Sunnica solar farm in Ely and East Cambridgeshire would go ahead, despite th…”

“I entirely agree. We had a similar frustration when looked at revising our local plan, because we wanted to put things in about energy efficiency.”

“Will the Minister meet me to discuss the effect that rural crime, particularly hare coursing and, as we have heard today, theft from farms and sheds, has on residents in Ely and East Cambridgeshire?”

“18. What assessment she has made of the impact of crime on rural communities.”

“10. What steps she is taking to increase railway capacity.”

“I thank the Secretary of State for her answer and welcome her to her place. Ely Junction is a major bottleneck in our rail network and the Ely area capacity enhancement scheme is designed to improve that. If the scheme goes ahead, it could deliver over a quarter of a million extra rail passenger journeys and take 98,00…”

“Do you have plans in place for communicating with overseas voters to make them aware of all the current options, at least?”

“One of the other recommendations you had was to make sure that people are more aware of the ability to use proxy voters. Some issues that arise from that are not just for overseas voters but for UK ones as well. The proxy voter obviously has to be someone you trust and someone with some connection to you, so they may n…”

“Would there need to be legislative change to facilitate that and enable it to happen?”

“It is ironic given what you said earlier about high turnout in Australia for their elections that there was such a small proportion of our voters living in Australia who managed to get their postal vote back in time. You sound reasonably hopeful that we might be able to set up a structure that would allow overseas vote…”

“What are you doing to try to get a fuller picture?”

“Thank you, Chair. The first thing before we discuss the detail of overseas voting is how robust the data that you have is. My understanding is that most local authorities have not published details on the percentage of overseas voters and the split of the countries that they are voting from. Is that correct?”

“There is a balance, isn’t there, between the electorate becoming fully aware of exactly when the election will be and the impact of that on their other plans, and therefore having time to apply for postal and proxy votes, and making it easier for the administrators, unless you are talking about making the whole electio…”

“Thank you. Thank you, Chair.”

“Is this on overseas voting now?”

“Mr Pullinger, you touched on the timing of the election in several answers and in your opening remarks, and that clearly had a significant impact, in your view, on postal voting. Have you considered what the implications would be of going to fixed-term elections and how that might help, or having restricted periods suc…”

“How do you find those people in order to communicate with them?”

“Rural crime is a major issue in Cambridgeshire and in my constituency. Yes, we can mark big farm machinery, but people are stealing parts from farm machinery, and those parts are much more difficult to track. Hare coursing is also a major problem. The hon. Member has mentioned the sheer size of the area of Cambridgeshi…”

“I understand that the Government have inherited a big problem, but the situation is urgent. I have a constituent who has heart problems, so his oral health is really important to him. He cannot get an NHS dentist, so constituencies such as Ely and East Cambridgeshire need urgent action.”

“Where you do not get success—”