Speeches by Forster.

“I thank the hon. Gentleman for his leadership on this issue. I am pleased that he is standing up for his community, which has not been listened to. In Surrey, local government reorganisation is being imposed on us; despite the fact that nine out of 11 boroughs and districts wanted three local councils, the Government i…”

“As I highlighted, Surrey is being reorganised, partly because of the debt of the former administration in Woking, which is completely unaffordable for my local area, and Surrey council is concerned that it is going to have to pay that tab. How would a referendum work in that situation, where Woking wants reorganisation…”

“As well as putting in an early bid for my town of Woking—the home of H.G. Wells and the birthplace of science fiction—to be our new town of culture, I want to ask the Secretary of State a slightly more serious question. The previous Government’s towns fund was widely criticised for channelling money to their political …”

“The recommendation by West Midlands police to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans was clearly an incredibly serious mistake. That has been shown in evidence by Sir Andy Cooke’s damning report. Not just the decision but how it was made and the fact that misleading statements were covered up is damning. The latest examples of how …”

“Thank you, Minister. I think I understand your reasoning of why you are softening your approach. Has that been from feedback from local leaders that you had to reassure them? To Sir Michael, if the new towns were imposed on local areas above their housing target, would you be concerned that there is opposition and then…”

“When will the Government set out their policy about the interaction of new towns and local authority housing targets?”

“Will Forster, MP for Woking.”

“Thank you. Sir Michael, your report highlighted that confidence from the marketplace is so important. Is, at the moment, that lack of funding or uncertainty of funding a concern? If the Minister is going to announce something towards the end of this year, I assume you believe that funding has to be good enough or we wi…”

“Minister, the new town delivery bodies are likely to require significant up-front funding but there was nothing in the Budget, nothing. Can you explain why? When will the Government announce funding? Particularly in relation to the three priority new towns, do you have an estimate of how much funding they will need to …”

“I have been contacted by a significant number of constituents, who are appalled that Grok and X are being used to create and then disseminate child sexual abuse. One issue that they have raised is the length of time it has taken us to act, as opposed to other countries. Malaysia and Indonesia have already banned these …”

“One of my Woking constituents is a nurse at Great Ormond Street hospital. Due to her long hours and shift patterns, she is unable to use a return ticket to go to and from work, which means she has to spend more money to give vital care to children. Will the Transport Secretary agree to look into this to ensure that my …”

“I am a member of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, and we have found the Housing First programme—with which there are some parallels in this debate—very important and useful. As the hon. Lady said, it is not just about tackling drug use; we need to tackle homelessness for housing problems and we …”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Vickers. Every single death linked to drugs is a human tragedy, as we have heard from Members who have spoken already. It destroys families, shatters communities and places immense pressure on our health services and the emergency services. In my constituency, we had s…”

“Road safety in Woking is regularly raised with me by my constituents, so I am pleased that the Government have announced ways to toughen up our drink-driving laws. However, police forces, including mine in Surrey, cannot adequately police the drink-driving laws as they are, and these changes will be less impactful if t…”

“The top animal welfare issue raised with me by my constituents is the impact of fireworks—particularly ad hoc and unannounced displays—on pets and their owners. Please will the Secretary of State reassure me and others across the House, who I am sure are concerned about that issue as well, that the strategy will finall…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Twigg. I thank the right hon. Member for East Hampshire (Damian Hinds) for securing the debate. The subject of cumulative development has reared its head in my constituency very recently. On Saturday, I hosted a public meeting about plans by Martin Grant Homes to build…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Huq. I thank the hon. Member for Aberdeen North (Kirsty Blackman) for securing this important debate and for the passionate way in which she introduced it; it is clear that this matter is close to her heart. Refugees are some of the most vulnerable people on the planet…”

“The Secretary of State is right to highlight the appalling case of a senior UK politician being convicted of bribery for taking money from Russia. I am also concerned about a UK political party getting a donation—the largest single donation from a living person—from money abroad, from cryptocurrency. Can he assure me t…”

“In my constituency there is planning permission for over 2,000 new homes in and around the town centre alone, yet developers are not building those much-needed homes. What steps are the Government taking to tackle developers that are land banking instead of building homes, and are they continuing to refuse to introduce…”

“I am pleased to hear from the Minister how the Government are supporting magistrates and that she visited a recently reopened magistrates court. The biggest single thing that the Government could do in my constituency in my county of Surrey is reopen Woking magistrates court, which was closed by the former Conservative…”