It is an honour to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Hendon (David Pinto-Duschinsky), particularly after his eloquent speech, talking without hesitation about his history, his ancestors and the struggles that he has faced—thank you.
It is a great honour to make this speech during the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill. The Bill is important to me and my constituents, who face many years of disruption and confusion because our trains and stations are operated by different companies. It will bring our trains back under the control of the public sector, generate investment in our stations, and make it easier for constituents like mine to book travel and tickets. Hopefully, it means that our rail services will be made truly accessible for disabled passengers, with support and help always guaranteed.
I pay tribute to my predecessor, Craig Tracey, who was hard-working and served our constituency well. He did important work for breast cancer awareness and
raised questions in Parliament on issues that matter to our constituents. He was supportive of local events. I am sure that constituents and Members of this House will join me in thanking Craig for his work and wishing him and his family all the best for the future.
I also pay tribute to my friend Mike O’Brien, who was the Labour MP for North Warwickshire between 1992 and 2010. While in Parliament, Mike held numerous ministerial positions. He was on the Home Affairs Committee that helped to increase the number of refuges for victims of domestic violence. As Minister of State for Pensions, he worked on the Pensions Act 2008, which improved working peoples’ pensions. As Minister of State for Health Services, he negotiated compensation for victims of thalidomide. I appreciated his help and guidance during my campaign. He was well loved by his constituents, and I hope to live up to his legacy.
I have always been someone who gets stuck in to change things that need changing and speak up against injustice. That started from a young age, growing up in North Warwickshire, where I campaigned for girls to be able to wear trousers at my school. I credit that attitude to my parents. My dad’s family could not afford for him to stay on at school, so he left to become a trainee mining surveyor, and went on to do qualifications throughout his working life. He became one of the youngest magistrates in the country, worked in urban renewal in Birmingham, and, in his spare time, drew plans to help individuals and community groups to secure planning permissions. He also paid for our many summer holidays. My mum worked as a registrar for births, deaths and marriages, and was the local parish council clerk, but still found the time to make most of my clothes. I thank them both for being here with us today, along with my partner, Dawn, who was a great support throughout my campaign—thank you.
My parents were both driven by a desire to do their best for their family. They instilled those values of public service and hard work in me, and supported me and my brother to follow our passions. I went to my local comprehensive school, which has evolved to become what is now the Queen Elizabeth academy. That school has made great strides to improve attendance and results, but it still struggles with inadequate facilities.
I worked as a tennis umpire at Wimbledon for 10 years, and I have watched in recent years as grassroots tennis has flourished and become more inclusive, particularly at my local club in Coleshill. That is part of the legacy of Sir Andy Murray and the valuable work of the Lawn Tennis Association. I remember trying my hand, as an umpire, at wheelchair tennis—the professionals make it look so much easier than it is. It was wonderful to see Lucy Shuker bearing the flag for Team GB at the Paralympics, and to see British players doing so well at the US Open. Even in my 50s, I was honoured to play tennis for my county of Warwickshire.
Now, I can reflect on how much sport and drama have contributed to my life and the lives of those I have met through those activities. For me, sport and drama were drivers of social mobility, and they help to give confidence and aspiration to so many young people, breaking down barriers to opportunity. That is why I will work hard to ensure that young people gain access to activities and local facilities that have sadly been lost across the country.
I went to university in Leeds in the mid-1980s, in the midst of the Thatcher Government’s attack on working people and the divisive dialogue that made it a frightening time to come out as gay. In 1988, this place passed into law section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988, banning schools from telling young people that it was okay to be gay, so that a generation of young people were frightened, bullied and held back. I played my part in the protests against section 28, and I was proud that the last Labour Government did so much to improve rights for our community.
Research by the Campaign Against Censorship, which was reported by Stonewall this August, shows that, even in this day and age, LGBT books are being removed from school libraries after complaints. Last week, the TUC reported the shocking news that over half of LGBT workers have experienced bullying, harassment or discrimination at work. It is important to take stock and recognise the great strides that we have made towards equality, as well as the important strides that the new Labour Government will make, including the vital ban on conversion therapy and the commitment to ensuring that young trans people receive high-quality healthcare. I want to assure my constituents and LGBT people across the country that I will work hard to protect the important gains we have made and to tackle the over-simplistic and often hateful discourse that we hear about trans people, just as I campaigned against section 28 almost 40 years ago.
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In my 30s, I retrained as a solicitor and went into property law, because it is property that shapes our lives and our communities, from the building of new leisure facilities to the provision of affordable homes. There is nothing like the feeling of working with someone through the ups and downs of buying their dream home. Sadly, though, through my career I have watched as fewer and fewer young people have become able to realise that dream. That is why I am proud to be part of this Government, who know that the security of affordable housing is something that nobody should ever be without. I pay tribute to those people I have worked with throughout my career and recently at Evans Derry solicitors, who have ensured that the people of Atherstone and Coleshill have access to high-quality legal services on their doorstep, and who were incredibly supportive of my becoming their next MP.
North Warwickshire and Bedworth is where I grew up, and I am so proud to be representing the place where I have spent most of my life. It is a thriving mixture of towns and villages—way too many to mention—and is part of Britain’s impressive history of coalmining and industry. Today, it is the logistics golden triangle in the midlands, home to FedEx and Aldi, as well as to many smaller family-run businesses in the sector. That is why I am delighted that I will be joining the all-party parliamentary group for road freight and logistics in order to represent businesses and workers in my constituency, working with them to tackle freight crime and address the skills shortages in that industry.
Atherstone is a market town famous for its hatting industry and has retained its traditional charm, including the Shrove Tuesday ball game, where grown men and women kick an oversized ball up and down Long Street for two hours until the final klaxon sounds, declaring whoever is holding the ball the winner. It is a historic
tradition that has been played for over 800 years; it is a sight to behold, and is certainly not a game for the faint-hearted—a bit like politics sometimes.
Coleshill is a market town named after the River Cole, with a long history as a coaching town. I have had the pleasure of meeting residents at the Coleshill warm room and have played tennis there for many years, and can say that it is a wonderful community that I am proud to represent. I will work closely with businesses across the constituency, such as HT Brigham and Co, Tow-Trust Towbars, Jaguar Land Rover, BMW, Bristan and LTS Global Solutions, to make sure the local community is benefiting from the innovation taking place in my constituency. LTS Global recently let me take a trip in one of the first electric heavy goods vehicles on the road in the west midlands. These companies show that green energy solutions are possible and bring investment into our communities. The world-class golf resort of the Belfry is also in my constituency, where just a few days ago we enjoyed the British Masters golf, hosted by Sir Nick Faldo. I learned about its Eagles programme, an innovative programme training young golfers.
Bedworth is the largest town in our constituency. It, too, used to be a coalmining town, and contributed to the textile and ribbon-weaving industries. My grandad was a coalminer, so I remember the impact that the mines closing had on our communities. It is also why I am pleased to say that the Newdigate Colliery social club and the Miners’ Welfare Park remain as proud reminders of the town’s history.
In the centre of Bedworth stand the Nicholas Chamberlaine alms houses, which are managed by the trust and remain in use for their original purpose—an indication of the kindness of those in Bedworth over many generations. The local school is named after that benefactor, and I have been lucky enough to meet teachers and sixth-form students there, as well as at the nearby Ash Green school, and to help the students with their important road safety campaign. In July, I visited Bedworth civic hall to watch its first show after reopening as a volunteer-run venue. That is a fantastic example of why we need community arts, and of what can happen when local groups of volunteers get together to save our community facilities.
Bedworth is home to several thriving companies producing high-quality goods, such as Toye, Kenning and Spencer, which specialises in masonic wear and ribbons and also supplies buttonholes for the Order of the British Empire insignia. In Exhall, the Premier Group produced 12,000 Olympic torches for the 2012 Olympic games.
Bedworth is very proud of our Armistice day parade—one of the largest in the country held on 11 November every year—and I will be honoured to attend and pay my respects to the members of our armed forces, past and present.
The constituency is blessed to have many smaller, picturesque villages which I have explored over the years on many walks in our beautiful countryside and followed by visits to our great local pubs, such as the Rose in Baxterley, the Office at Warton, the Horse and Jockey in Bentley, Austrey’s the Bird in Hand, the Plough at Shustoke, the Beehive in Curdworth and the Blue Boar Inn in Mancetter, to name only a few. I assure my constituents that I will continue to visit them all, and all of our beautiful and unique villages.
North Warwickshire and Bedworth face two big local transport issues, which I will begin to tackle immediately. The first is the A5. Improvements from the M42 to the A426 would enable our local authorities to plan for the future and unlock economic potential for the constituency and across the west and east midlands. The second is HS2. Delays and uncertainty have disrupted the lives of my constituents, especially those in Water Orton, without seeing any benefit. There has not been adequate recognition of the effect that this daily disruption has had on the lives and health of local residents. Bringing trains back into public ownership is the first step towards fixing some of the transport issues we are facing, which is why I support the Bill.
I want to finish my first speech in Parliament by thanking the people of North Warwickshire and Bedworth for sending me to this place to do this very special job. The people of my constituency are down to earth, straightforward, direct, honest, hard-working people. Those are the values that I was raised with, and those are the values that will continue to guide me in my role. I am so very proud to be representing North Warwickshire and Bedworth and all its towns and villages—my home—and I have not underestimated the challenges ahead. I promise I will work hard and do my very best for all my constituents, and stay true to my values, for as long as I have the honour of representing them in this place.