Speeches by Kirkham.

“1. What steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help improve resilience to emergencies in rural and coastal areas.”

“The other thing I wanted to ask about, which you might already have covered, is the manifesto target for 50% of publicly procured food to be British. Do you think that could be part of the solution?”

“Sorry I was late; I have been on a Bill Committee, so if I ask you something that you have already been asked—I will try not to—please tell me. My question was going to be quite similar to what Jenny has just asked, about the voluntary welfare proposals in the strategy and whether you thought farmers would take those u…”

“Q I will be quick. You may know, Mr Bowker, that I am the MP for Falmouth. I am trying to restore a small disused freight line at the end of the passenger line, so I am pleased to hear about the new duty to encourage freight. How do you think GBR could and should encourage freight? How will it actually do that? Richard…”

“Oh, there is a fraught question. I think anyone in the rest of the country who you ask will be having issues about devolution. Tracy Brabin: Fair enough. But it is about that oversight of the buses feeding the train timetable.”

“Q Thank you very much, Sir Alec. I have a couple of small questions. Mr Hynes, you talked about mayoral strategic authorities. In the south-west, of course, we do not really have any. In that situation, what is the duty to deal with local authorities in a similar way and take account of their transport plans? Is it the…”

“Q I was going to move on to devolution. It is fantastic that you are investing in your local infrastructure and you are able to do that. I am from Cornwall, where we have basically one line in and one line out to serve 640,000 people; we do not really have that infrastructure. Can you see any benefit, apart from the ra…”

“Q I am one of the MPs for Cornwall, so that is really good to hear. Mr Larkinson, much of the ORR’s role is monitoring and enforcement after the fact—looking back and looking at appeals. Do you have sufficient powers to look at things before they happen, so at decisions as they are being made, if you can see trouble do…”

“Regardless of the type of authority? Alex Hynes: Correct. Essentially, GBR will have a legal duty to take into account certain things, such as the interests of passengers, including disabled passengers, so GBR will be required by law to take into account what is in the best interests of passengers as it is running its …”

“Q You have sort of answered one of my questions: I was going to ask about combined and integrated local transport offers and ticketing, and how that would work. I think you answered that you could consult. Will you say something about safeguards in terms of how that ticketing would work and how you would share the tick…”

“Q Mr Westlake, on rail freight, we talked earlier about clause 63. I am the MP for Falmouth, so I want to restore rail freight there; there is a passenger rail line there as well. Obviously, there is the duty to grow rail freight but of course there will be immense pressure on capacity in some of the railways. Do you t…”

“Q Do you consider that you will have enough power under the Bill to be able to make your way in at that stage? John Larkinson: Yes.”

“I thank the hon. Member for Stratford-on-Avon (Manuela Perteghella) for securing the debate on this really important subject. The covid-19 pandemic was an incredibly difficult time for many people—healthcare and other key workers who served their communities courageously; people who contracted the virus and their loved…”

“Coincidentally, I visited HMP Wandsworth yesterday and was impressed by the progress that it has made in staff retention over the last year or so. The prison has a new unit with support for prisoners with autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and addiction issues, and it seems to be working…”

“In my constituency we have Cornish hedges, which are made of stone, and they make it even more dangerous, particularly as a lot of drivers do not realise that they are stone. They make it even more important for drivers to give horses as much room as possible.”

“As co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group for the Celtic sea, I welcome the floating offshore wind test and demo model awarded a contract for difference in the Celtic sea. It will open up the Celtics sea to investment. There are other test and demo models in the Celtic sea. What can the Secretary of State say ab…”

“Let me first take this opportunity to thank members of the emergency services teams and the utilities, the volunteers and everyone across Cornwall who has looked after their neighbours and responded so brilliantly to a storm that tested the resilience of rural and coastal Britain to the hilt. It exposed vulnerabilities…”

“I thank the Minister for that answer. I was very pleased to hear that he has already spoken to Go South West, which is working to fill the gaps left by our private bus provider’s recently withdrawn services. Those buses were vital for getting students to university and our two large further education colleges, because …”

“14. What recent progress she has made on providing long-term funding settlements to local transport authorities for bus services.”

“I agree that communities must have a say, but they must also benefit, and that is one of the things that the Government will ensure. Another type of security is food security. We had a very difficult decade under the Conservatives. Brexit caused real problems at the border, which our sanitary and phytosanitary EU agree…”