Christmas Adjournment

On Equitable Life, the Government have still failed to pay the total sum of £2.6 billion to the people who are owed that money due to the worst case of Government maladministration that there has ever been. I will continue to press them to pay that money—that debt of honour—because more than 1 million people have still received only 22% compensation. Given that we have compensated other schemes to the level of 80%, that seems grossly unfair to all those who have suffered loss.

There is a whole host of other matters that I would like to raise in this debate, but I know that time is pressing and that many other Members wish to participate. I end by wishing you, Madam Deputy Speaker, all the Speakers, all the staff and all the people who keep us safe a very happy Christmas, and, above all else, a happy, peaceful, prosperous and healthy new year.

Another era in this House ends, too, as the hon. Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) has said, as we sadly will not hear from Sir David Amess in this debate, in which he always enjoyed participating. He remains sorely missed by colleagues across the House.

I want to take this opportunity once again to plead with the Government to support my campaign to secure the long-term future of the covid memorial wall. Each person who left a message to a loved one on the wall, including myself, wants an assurance that the covid memorial wall will be allowed to remain.

Finally, like other colleagues, I want to finish by thanking all my staff—Tom, Alice, Yasmine, Sam, Naeem, Anisa and Josephine—who continue to make my life easier. This pandemic has been so difficult for all of us over the last couple of years, and my staff—and those of other Members—have done a tremendous job as our workload has more than doubled. May I also say merry Christmas to you, Madam Deputy Speaker, to Mr Speaker and to all the team for the wonderful work that they too have been doing?

I hope that everyone enjoys a restful recess, and has a merry Christmas and a happy new year.

There is clearly a case here for mandating the use of helmets for snow sports activities in the United Kingdom. To my surprise, although the issue of cycling helmets for minors has been raised in the House—most recently, with great eloquence, by my hon. Friend the Member for Wellingborough (Mr Bone) when he introduced a private Member’s Bill last year—I believe this is the first time that this particular issue has been raised.

In recent years, some indoor snow sports venues have made it obligatory for participants to wear helmets, but it is entirely voluntary, and there is currently no guidance or legislation in place for operators. Looking abroad for guidance and relevant examples, we see that in New Jersey, in the United States, it has been compulsory since 2011 for minors under the age of 17 to wear a helmet if participating in such sports. In Europe the debate about the use of helmets is certainly active, and I submit that it is time for, at the least, a serious discussion in the United Kingdom. There is little doubt that a helmet would have saved Louis’s life. His death was not only tragic, but wholly avoidable.

It is clear that Louis was a remarkable young man, talented, bright and intellectually curious. He was in his second year at Plantsbrook School in my constituency, and among his many interests and skills was playing the saxophone, reaching grade 5. That included playing in a jazz ensemble at Symphony Hall in Birmingham.

I believe the House should consider whether or not we now take the significant step of changing the law to insist that in these and similar circumstances children’s heads should be protected by a protective helmet. If there are issues with either introducing legislation, or bringing forward an amendment to a Home Office measure or other relevant Bill to provide for this change, perhaps it may be possible to secure rather more rapidly a code of practice entered into by all operators of indoor snow sports and similar activities, which would mean that operators insist on such protective headgear when people are taking part in these activities.

I could not speak about the armed forces without mentioning an event that saw an avalanche of casework for every one of us—the withdrawal from Afghanistan. I do not want to labour points that have been made so many times already in this Chamber over the past few months, but I must recognise the toll that has taken on us and our staff, but most of all on the constituents who have been desperately trying to help their families left behind. I think many of us are on the same page about how events played out. I would add “and how they continue to play out”, but the Government have become somewhat quiet on the matter. That has not gone unnoticed.

A constituent of mine has decided that he can no longer wait for the support promised by Ministers. He told me this week:

“I feel that the Government isn’t working on any Afghan cases at the moment and it doesn’t seem like it’ll be high on their agenda anytime soon.”

I raised this case with the Foreign Office and the Home Office in August and unfortunately did not hear back. I raised it again in the Chamber in September, and the Secretary of State for Defence promised to investigate it. Despite repeated chases, we have not heard back.

I do not want to spend too much time focusing on the lows, though; despite a difficult year, there is much to celebrate. This autumn, Glasgow hosted COP26, which I was lucky enough to attend. I can proudly attest to the inspiration that it sparked in my constituency, which lies a little outside the city centre. The children from St Charles’ Primary School decided that they wanted to encourage people to travel greener, so they sought to make Newton station more attractive. Not only did they create a beautiful growing space for plants, but they were out and about chatting with the community and undertaking random acts of kindness.

We have also seen a huge increase in volunteer litter pickers. I have mentioned before the Cleaning up Cambuslang campaign, which saw volunteers collect 26 bags of litter for 26 days in the run-up to COP26. Bonnie Blantyre and pals are another fantastic group working on everything from litter picks to creating and maintaining community gardens. SOC—Supporting Our Community—is another I have to pay due recognition to. The group in Hillhouse are active and well known, supporting people of all ages and pulling together lots of community events.

Blantyre Soccer Academy opened a community garden of its own, which is open to anyone in the community free of charge. It is a beautiful space for quiet reflection and has been put to good use by locals. The provision of these spaces cannot be taken for granted; they have become ever more essential to our mental wellbeing.

That brings me nicely to other groups working to better our mental health. I met the head of the local Samaritans branch this year. It was quite a heavy conversation, but it was invaluable. The work the volunteers there do is emotional and sensitive, but I know we are all grateful for their resilience. They provide not just the crisis line, but a whole host of prevention work, educational resources and funding. The Hamilton branch has had volunteers that have committed decades of their lives to the cause. I admire them greatly and wish them good luck for the future.

I also met the charity Place2Be, which takes a holistic “whole school” approach to mental health. It recognises that to help children, the whole system must be in a good headspace. I was grateful to hear that the charity is currently providing some counselling in schools in my constituency, and I encourage all colleagues to get in touch with it to find out more.

The Beacons, with hubs in both Blantyre and Cambuslang, is a commendable organisation. It helps people through their recovery from addiction and is staffed by volunteers. Crucially, it actively seeks volunteers with lived experience, who have a unique insight into addiction and how to help. It is an organisation that helps people rebuild their lives and take back control.

There are so many organisations I want to highlight that are real pillars of the community. I will start with the big name—the citizens advice bureau. Our local branch has taken many a phone call from my office and from constituents. The team there are fantastic, working away at helping people out of difficult situations. Food banks, too, have become a necessity across the UK. It is a sad reality that they should need to exist at all, but I am very grateful and thankful that they do, and I pay tribute to Rutherglen, Cambuslang and Hamilton food banks in my constituency for the work they do. They took the brunt of the universal credit uplift cut and did a sterling job.

My constituency has also seen an increase in new residents’ and tenants’ associations, which is excellent. I have liaised with quite a few and the community spirit is outstanding.

I have just a few more people to thank. First, I thank those at South Lanarkshire Council for their continued engagement on casework matters and for making themselves available. Next, I thank the community councils throughout my constituency that work so diligently for the communities they represent and achieve so much. Finally, I thank my staff, Lynne, Laura, Gillian, John and Kim, who have made it possible for me to support my constituents and represent them here, for their hard work. All MPs know that they could not carry out their role without the support of their hard-working staff.

I am not quite finished yet, as I have been lucky enough to land the final Adjournment debate of term after this debate, but I am very much looking forward to returning to business in the new year. I wish you, Madam Deputy Speaker, all the Speakers and all my colleagues a very good and well-deserved break, and a happy Christmas when it comes.

It seems there is some sort of close collaboration between Čović and Dodik, who have been pressing very hard for changes to electoral laws that would favour the Croats and the Serbs and would give them disproportionate representation in Bosnia. Everyone in Bosnia is South Slav, but by religion 30% are Serb, 15% are Croat and more than 50% are Bosnian Muslims. That is 1.8 million Bosnian Muslims. Bosnia matters to us because, if the Croats and the Serbs were to divide the country in half, I suspect we would find thousands of Bosnian Muslims seeking an alternative home in Europe, and I am pretty sure which direction they might well take. It matters to us in a practical way. We might find we had a heck of a lot more refugees—and they would be refugees; they are not displaced persons if they are fleeing their homeland because of persecution.

In the early 1990s, the international community, including our country, suffered from a paralysis about the Bosnian situation, underpinned perhaps by the fact that people just could not or did not want to get to grips with it. We cannot allow that to happen again. For me, there are two lessons from the 1990s that are directly applicable to what is happening now. First, dividing Bosnia will not work, and secondly—this is where we come in, as my right hon. Friend the Member for Sutton Coldfield (Mr Mitchell) and my hon. Friend the Member for Rutland and Melton (Alicia Kearns) have said—the only way to get a solution is for the international community to be involved.

What can we do? I will largely repeat what I said in last week’s debate, with a few changes. First, we have to sustain Dayton at least until we get something to replace it. It is not great, but it has stopped people dying, and we need to keep it limping on until we get a better arrangement. Secondly, Mr Christian Schmidt, the High Representative, requires our absolute and unequivocal support. He must be given all the power we can allow to help him to stop the country going backwards—that means from everyone in the international community.

Thirdly, we need another Dayton. Maybe we can call it Dayton II. I would not mind it being in Lancaster House, because that is a good place to sort out the international community. It requires the involvement of the United Nations, yes, and that would be a problem on the Security Council, since Russia is not being particularly helpful and China is mixing it a bit too. It requires the United States, it requires the European Union and of course it requires Serbia and Russia. We must also have the presence of the Bosnian Serbs. Representatives from Republika Srpska have to be there. They were not there at Dayton I, as I recall.

Fourthly, a point I totally agree with, we should lead. The European Union is at sixes and sevens over Bosnia. Some of its members openly support Republika Srpska, and it has given Republika Srpska quite a massive subsidy. That has encouraged the Bosnian Serbs to believe they will have support from the European Union, or elements of it. On the subject of Bosnia, the European Union certainly does not speak with one voice and it is largely hamstrung—it can do nothing. Take the United States, which as far as I can ascertain has largely gone back to its traditional, isolationist-type approach: “Europe, sort yourself out” might be the maxim. So we must lead. This country must and can lead.

Fifth and finally—I have a right to say this—we must be prepared to send our soldiers to stop people dying in Bosnia; to support any political initiative, of course. Politics comes first, but sometimes peacekeeping requires someone on horseback. We have a great man to help us in the Balkans now. Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach was appointed as the Prime Minister’s special envoy to the western Balkans last week. He has recently finished as chairman of the military committee in NATO headquarters, and as such was the highest ranking officer in the alliance, even above Supreme Allied Commander Europe. I cannot think of anyone more suited to help Bosnia than Stuart Peach. We also have a very distinguished ambassador in Sarajevo. Matthew Field has been there since August 2018. He is hugely respected. People in Bosnia have told me how much they respect our ambassador. I know Matt well, and his experience and wise counsel should be used. Messrs Peach and Field are extremely well qualified to help Bosnia, and I urge the Government as well as this House to totally support them in their de facto and most crucial mission, which is to save Bosnia from another disastrous war.

NOAH has provided support to the homeless people in our community through offering food, clothing, medical and dental care, outreach support and specific advice on accessing accommodation and income support, as well as skills and employment training. Signposts in Luton delivers temporary accommodation for people who are homeless and provides psychological support to those for whom it provides a roof.

The Luton Homeless Partnership represents over 20 local services, including Mary Seacole Housing Association, Luton Council, the Luton business improvement district, ELFT—the East London NHS Foundation Trust—and the University of Bedfordshire. It has set up the Big Change initiative, which asks Lutonians to donate some spare time, items or some spare money to help people experiencing homelessness, including through contactless touchpoints in Luton town centre.

Women’s Aid in Luton, which is part of that group, supports women and child victims of domestic abuse. Its refuge delivers peer support, education and access to legal advice. I would like to take this opportunity to give a mention to Luton rugby club, which has again this year put together a huge number of Christmas shoebox gifts for the women who use Women’s Aid services. Similarly, Stepping Stones supports vulnerable women, as does the Luton All Women’s Centre, which I was very pleased to visit just last week.

Keech hospice delivers free specialist care for adults and children in Luton who have life-limiting and terminal illnesses. Significant funds were raised recently for the hospice through the big trunk trail, where large model elephants were sponsored by local businesses and decorated by many different people—including famous Lutonians such as “The Great British Bake Off” champion Nadiya Hussain and former Turner prize nominee Mark Titchner— before being auctioned off to raise a fantastic amount of funds. For children and young people struggling with their mental health and emotional trauma, CHUMS delivers outstanding accessible support that is tailored to individual needs.

I could go on about so many of the brilliant charities in Luton and the excellent volunteers who support them, but I want to take this opportunity to ask the Minister to pass on to the Leader of the House my request for a debate on the contribution of grassroots charities to our local communities and the importance of increasing Government support to secure their resilience through this very difficult time with the pandemic.

Talking of volunteers, I would really like to take the opportunity to congratulate Dr Waled Mannan from Luton, who is the winner of the BBC sports personality of the year’s unsung hero 2021 award for the east of England region. He has been the lead person in promoting community-based sports and fitness group Revolution, which has motivated hundreds of Lutonians to take up physical activity. Understandably, due to the spread of omicron, the BBC is not having any audience members at its awards event on Sunday, so I hope that you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and all here today will join me in congratulating Dr Mannan and all the other unsung heroes involved in grassroots sports and physical activities.

Finally, we in Luton were very sad to have lost our friend Bill McKenzie Baron McKenzie of Luton just recently. He was passionate about our town, Luton, and served it all his life as a local councillor, the leader of the council, a Minister in Government when he was elevated to the Lords, a shadow Minister and a vital member of the parliamentary Labour party. Our thoughts are with Lady Di McKenzie and the family, and I hope that we can all take a moment to reflect on his contribution in this place and to us in our home town of Luton. I wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a good new year.

The housing development continues unabated at the behest of Eastleigh Liberal Democrats who control Eastleigh Borough Council. The council has built 49% more housing than is required by Government targets despite its claims that the Government are forcing them to build at that level. It is planning to build 22% beyond Government targets for the next four years.

The Deputy Chief Whip knows that I have raised the issue at previous Christmas debates; in ten-minute rule Bills, where I have made suggestions on how planning reform and legislation could change some of that; and in questions. I must declare, by the way, that I am not against local authorities building housing if they want to, particularly social housing. Specifically, however, I want to raise the situation in which Eastleigh Borough Council buys land, awards itself planning permission and builds the development itself against the wishes of local residents.

An example of that happening in the last few years is the One Horton Heath project in Fair Oak, which was originally 900 homes and has now gone up to 2,500 because it was taken over by the council. It is not wanted by local people. Councillor Steven Broomfield and I have consistently raised with the council the fact that the lack of consultation, and the lack of checks and balances when it awards itself planning permission as well as building its own developments, are not acceptable.

The council is doing that because it has a £600-million borrowing amount, which is not sustainable for a local authority with an annual budget of £32 million. I have raised this matter with what was the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government—now the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities—stating that it really needs to look at local authorities that are borrowing way beyond their means, because in the end, local residents in my constituency will have to pay when Eastleigh Borough Council goes bust.

I introduced a ten-minute rule Bill to make changes in respect of local councils building developments without those checks and balances. Will the Minister ensure that the Department looks at my proposals? I suggested that if a local authority wants to build on land that it owns—particularly large-scale developments of the type that we are seeing in Horton Heath—the neighbouring planning authority should take that over. The host planning authority could pay that neighbouring authority, but this is about the independence of a planning department in a neighbouring local authority checking and looking at whether the planning application lives up to the standards that it should. That should be done by an organisation that does not own the land and does not build out on its own land. That is what we expect from private housing developers and I hope that the Government will look at taking that forward.

I also want to mention Southampton airport, which, as the Deputy Chief Whip will know, I have raised consistently in the two years that I have been the Member for Eastleigh. He will also know that Southampton airport was desperately affected by the collapse of Flybe, as it was by the impact of covid on the routes that it could operate and the number of passengers that it has been able to serve. Two years ago, it submitted an application to extend its runway by 164 metres, within the footprint of its current existence, and I am in favour of that. The local borough council made the correct decision in the way that it should—there was a marathon planning application, with proceedings that took place over two days; I spoke at 1 o’clock in the morning—to grant planning permission for the runway extension to go ahead.

Of course, an appeal went to the High Court, but it refused to overturn the decision. A small group of green activists—I call them that politely—then appealed the decision again and we now face a judicial review. I absolutely understand that the Deputy Chief Whip will not be able to comment on a live legal case, but there is a wider element that we need to take away from this. If this country wants to be global Britain and wants large-scale infrastructure projects and inward investment in this country to go ahead, we must look at the legal processes relating to how many times infrastructure investments or large-scale projects can be affected by a small group of people who keep taking matters to court time and again. It is affecting my local economy. It could affect the outcome of the freeport bid, which the Government announced for the Solent region, and it would desperately affect the number of jobs and the rejuvenation of my town centre in Eastleigh, which has struggled during the period of covid. Will the Government look at the wider planning process and how we can ensure that planning applications that are backed by 70% of my local constituents cannot keep being delayed by a small group of people with lots of money who keep using the courts to delay them?

This is a bit of a planning debate for me today, because this is an issue that affects my constituency widely. I have spoken about housing and the airport and I now want to raise an issue from the Hamble peninsula of my constituency, on the southern parishes end. I want to talk about the actions and proposals of a company called Cemex, which wants to open a quarry and a mineral extraction facility in the southern half of my constituency. Last month, I was made aware that Cemex was proposing and consulting on a gravel pit—a quarry, essentially—in a village called Hamble, which is accessible by one road, Hamble Lane. Traditionally, Hamble was a very small village that was accessible by that country road. The amount of housing development over the past 10 years has meant that Hamble Lane is becoming incredibly congested. At rush hour, it can take an hour to travel a mile. It is on the peninsula and peninsulas are often quite inaccessible, which is why we have one road. The housing development has added to this. The plan that we were made aware of will mean that 144 lorries a day will go up and down Hamble Lane taking out gravel over the next seven years. After that, the number of lorries going up and down Hamble Lane each day will go down to around 90. That is on a small country road that the county council cannot improve. It is impossible to improve it, despite the—how do I say this politely?—literature that Cemex sends out to my constituents, saying that it will mitigate the effects. The plan is just not acceptable.

I wish to raise with the Government the way in which a so-called consultation was carried out. The consultation lasted for two weeks. There was a virtual exhibition and letters were delivered to people who live in the area. In those two weeks, Cemex received around 200 returns, with 100% of people opposing the proposal. I would of course like to see Hampshire County Council remove the site from its mineral extraction plan. I say to the Deputy Chief Whip that when I put a survey on my website, I got 360 returns within seven days, and 98% of people were opposed. If Cemex would like the 1.2% of people who were in favour to make their consultation look like it was worth the paper it was written on, I am more than willing to provide details.

The level of engagement Cemex is offering is unacceptable. Not a single constituent in Hamble has met a representative of Cemex physically. Not a single physical exhibition or consultation exercise took place within the 14 days, and no Cemex representative has physically met representatives of a single parish council. Cemex has refused to offer public meetings and told the leader of Hamble Parish Council—a democratically elected representative of the Hamble community—that the company will answer his concerns only by email. We are talking about such a large piece of proposed infrastructure in an inaccessible part of my constituency, and I find the company’s actions wholly unacceptable.

Why do I raise this issue today? Because Hampshire County Council has allocated the site. I am working with the council to find out whether we can mitigate some of the effects, but I say to the Government that the level of consultation that there has been is unacceptable for such a large-scale development. We need to look at what role the Government should have when it comes to quarries and such large-scale developments.

Cemex says that after seven years it will make this piece of green land green again, and will provide a park. It says that will provide a benefit to my constituents. The literature says that jobs will be created; I can tell the House, and my constituents in Hamble, that the number of jobs created would be seven—seven jobs for the amount of disruption the quarry will cause to the people of Hamble. Cemex says it will make this place a green space, but it is already a green space. I say gently to Cemex that it might think that the project will be beneficial, but leaving behind a giant hole after the work is done is not the added benefit that the community wants to see. I therefore stand opposed to the plan, alongside the leader of Eastleigh Borough Council, the county councillor for Hamble and the parish councils. I would appreciate it if the Deputy Chief Whip raised that with the relevant Department.

Finally—many colleagues will be delighted to hear me say that—I wish to bring up with the Deputy Chief Whip the topic of Great British Railways, which is a fabulous opportunity for Eastleigh. I do not know whether the Deputy Chief Whip knows or remembers my maiden speech, in which I said that Eastleigh was created because of the building of the London and South Western Railway from around 1838. It truly is a railway town; the ancestors of the people there built that massive infrastructure project during the Victorian era. Eastleigh built not only locomotives, trains and carriages but gliders for the D-day landings in world war two.

Our town centre has an airport just up the road, a deeply willing and committed population, and a huge railway works site that still provides some of the exact same services that Eastleigh provided in the 1830s, so it would be a fabulous site for the new headquarters of Great British Railways. The Government have announced the competition, and I heard this morning that Southampton, just next door to me, has announced a rival bid. I would just gently say that it should stick to the maritime and leave the railways. The railways belong to Eastleigh. I know there will be friendly competition with the leader of its council, but I just say, “Hands off! It’s Eastleigh’s turn.”

Eastleigh has some of the same issues as many northern towns. Essentially, it is a northern working-class railway town on the south coast, next to what I would call a working class ex-industrial city, Southampton. I know there will be many rival bids from areas represented by my colleagues on the Conservative Benches. I do not expect my hon. Friend the Deputy Chief Whip to announce this from the Dispatch Box today, but certainly my constituents would like the early Christmas present of hearing the Government say, “Let’s do away with the competition—Eastleigh is perfect for this.” That would provide jobs, an economic boost, and the town centre regeneration that I am so passionate about; as I say, the town centre has suffered during the pandemic.

As we are here, the Deputy Chief Whip will remember that I have brought up time and again the fact that at Hedge End station, we do not have accessibility for disabled people. This is an issue not just in Hedge End, but across the country. I would be deeply encouraged by any feedback on whether the Treasury is reallocating accessibility funding, and whether Members of Parliament could bid for it. Disabled and less able-bodied people still have to alight five miles away at Southampton Airport Parkway and travel up the M27 just to get home. That is deeply, deeply unacceptable, and I will continue to push the Government on getting that accessibility funding awarded as soon as possible.

Finally—[Laughter.] I said that before—sorry! Finally, finally—this is the nice bit—I wish all House staff a merry Christmas. The Doorkeepers are incredibly patient with all of us. They sometimes see us in perhaps not the best light as we run to and from meetings, but they are incredibly patient and encyclopaedic—they know everything that is going on. I wish you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and the other Deputy Speakers and Mr Speaker a very merry Christmas. I thank my staff, Emma, Sue, Ben, Charlie and Steph, for their unwavering loyalty to me and, moreover, to the people of Eastleigh, who often hear their lovely voices at the end of the phone when they are trying to get in touch with me. Indeed, I thank all Members’ staff across the whole House; this goes back to a point raised by the hon. Member for Rutherglen and Hamilton West (Margaret Ferrier). They have had a terrible couple of years working for us; that goes particularly for those working for a new Member of Parliament. I wish everyone in this House a very merry Christmas and, hopefully, a safer 2022.

I hope that the outcome of the call for evidence will be firm and tough action. The industry is already going in the right direction, but banning plastic in wet wipes would push it to go further and faster. That is what we need, given the number of wet wipes bought and used in the UK every year—and that number went up considerably because of covid. We need a date for the phasing-out of plastic in wet wipes, clarity on which wet wipes would be exempt due to medical and clinical need, and agreement on the principle that the consumer—and, importantly, the NHS, which is a main user of wet wipes—will not pay extra. We also need the Government to adopt labelling measures contained in the EU single-use plastics directive. The change in labelling is an easy win that could be made very quickly. It has already been done across the EU, where the industry has already changed the labelling on its plastic packaging. If any hon. Member —or you, Madam Deputy Speaker—goes to a supermarket, they will see that some labels have a sad turtle on them, or say, “Don’t flush.” That could easily be adopted for our labelling of packaging. It would really help consumers to know what is in wet wipes and what they should do with them. In short, the answer is: do not flush.

I was glad to hear the speech by the right hon. Member for Beckenham (Bob Stewart), because Bosnia is another serious issue for me. Bosnia is close to my heart, because I lived there during and following the war as an aid worker. I rebuilt villages and worked with the wonderful people of Bosnia, who looked the pain and suffering of the war in the face and decided that they wanted to build peace. They have done that—precariously—for 26 years. However, I agree with the right hon. Member that there are serious concerns about a slide once again into conflict. There is growing nationalism and tension, and moves towards conflict, in Republika Srpska under its leader, Milorad Dodik. There is hate speech and genocide denial, and the Dayton agreement is under threat.

I add my support for the territorial integrity of Bosnia as it is, and for the need for the UK to take the lead in diplomatic action now. It would break my heart to be standing here in the future saying, “We knew what was happening, but we didn’t take enough action, so now we Members of Parliament must work out what to do, in terms of military intervention.” We do not need to do that. It is diplomatic action and action with community organisations in Republika Srpska and across Bosnia and Herzegovina that will make a difference. Long-lasting peace can come only when the population wants peace. We saw that for ourselves in Northern Ireland. What made the difference was when women’s organisations, community groups and schoolchildren said, “We will not have conflict any more”. Such action does not give political legitimacy to leaders who might want to move towards conflict, so it is really important to be working with community groups on the ground. I have urged the Foreign Secretary to do that, and I encourage other Members to do so as well. I ask those on the Front Bench to take that away with them from this debate.

The Afghan citizens resettlement scheme, or the lack thereof, has already been mentioned in this debate, but I would like to add my concerns. There is huge anxiety among so many people writing to me who have relatives in danger in Afghanistan. What is happening with the Afghan citizens resettlement scheme? The fact that this has not been announced is a symptom of the chaos in Government. As far as I can tell, it has been passed between Ministers for months. There has been no clarity on what will be in the scheme and what its terms will be. In short, where is it? My plea is for the Afghan citizens resettlement scheme to be agreed, announced and to be made very clear so that people know that they can start coming and have the support that they need during these terrible times in Afghanistan.

A big issue for many residents in my constituency is the persecution of the Ahmadiyya Muslim population in Pakistan. I have a large Ahmadiyya community in Southfields, and an absolutely beautiful mosque—the first in London. Recently, I was able to hold the first MP surgery in the first mosque in London. It was a wonderful experience. Many people came to my surgery and I was able to speak with them. I know very well the concerns that so many have about discrimination, not being able to vote for the Ahmadiyyas in Pakistan—if they cannot vote they cannot stand for office, and if they cannot stand for office, they do not have a political say in the country—forced detentions, summary detentions, and discrimination throughout education, work and life. The Ahmadiyya people must worship in hidden mosques and they cannot live their life as they do here. I stand in solidarity with them. I was glad that, this year, I was able to ask the Home Office to recognise the Ahmadiyya marriage certificate in immigration applications, and that rule has now been changed and the Ahmadiyya marriage certificate is now recognised.

Let me move on to a very different issue. The Transport for London settlement is a major concern in Putney. We are now two days away from a weeks-long extension on the funding of the whole of Transport for London, and yet there seems to be a deadlock. I urge the Transport Secretary to meet the Mayor of London today—as soon as possible—so that we can clear this funding deadlock. We need our public transport to be as wide as it is now, and we need to make sure that people who are over 60 will still have access to free transport—I have had many people writing to me about this in the past couple of days.

I cannot miss the opportunity to mention Hammersmith bridge. I have raised this issue 15 times in Parliament now. The bridge has been closed to traffic since April 2019—it is a major traffic route in our capital city and it is still closed to traffic. It is causing chaos in Putney, as all the traffic comes down our roads, causing congestion and pollution and making cycling more dangerous. The council cannot afford to pay for it. At £160 million, it is way beyond its annual budget. TfL can no longer afford to pay for it, because it has had a huge loss of income, as we know, and, with fewer people travelling because of the omicron variant, that loss will only increase. Only the Government can fund the rebuilding of Hammersmith bridge and open it again. I raise the matter on behalf of all residents of Putney, Southfields and Roehampton who cannot get on a bus and go over the river to work, to the hospital, or to meet up with family, because of the closure of the bridge.

With the two-year anniversary of the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020 now close, last week I asked a perfectly reasonable question of the Leader of the House about Brexit: whether the Government would let us debate the impact that Brexit is having on our economy, society and daily lives so far, and whether the Government would commission a region-by-region report. His response contained the following words:

“Brexit prayer…the Brexit song, beginning, ’Gloria in excelsis Deo’… happy fish”.—[Official Report, 9 December 2021; Vol. 705, c. 591.]

It was not a serious response to a very serious request. In the absence of a grown-up debate in the House, will the Government at the very least mark their own homework and publish an impact assessment of Brexit?

Housing is a subject that has been raised in this debate before and it is a very big issue in Putney. On homelessness, the Everyone In programme showed that if there is political will, action can be taken. All those who were homeless in my area of south-west London were housed very quickly. I pay tribute to the Putney hotel, which switched overnight from being a hotel to being a homeless hostel, as it still is. Its staff are fantastic and I was able to meet them recently to thank them for all they have done. They do not yet know how long the funding for that will continue, but every person in that hotel should be assessed and a place in suitable accommodation should be found for all of them as soon as possible.

The other issue that we face is damp and shoddy housing stock; so many families write to me about damp issues, as they live in houses where the spores are so thick that you can smell them. I have doctors’ letters about the impact that has on their children as well. In this day and age, we should not be facing that in our country. Councils are not tackling it adequately. Wandsworth Council is certainly not tackling the amount of houses and homes that are suffering from damp, where children and whole families are suffering ill health as a result. That issue needs to be taken far more seriously.

Finally, on housing, I come to the issue of children in temporary accommodation. Shockingly, the number rises every year, but this Christmas 3,300 Wandsworth children are in temporary accommodation, often far from their schools, with their parents having to get up early, in the darkness, and take several buses to get them back to the school that they went to. Their family life suffers immensely. Temporary accommodation should be close to schools, but there should not be so many people and families in temporary accommodation—it is an absolute housing failure. I know that the Mayor of London is building more affordable homes, and they cannot be built quickly enough, because this is a major issue for my constituency.

Also connected with housing is the cladding crisis. I have been campaigning on the issue for nearly two years, yet thousands of leaseholders in Putney, Southfields and Roehampton are still trapped in, to quote the new Secretary of State, “an invidious vice” of unsafe homes, life-destroying safety costs and ever-increasing insurance costs. The Building Safety Bill still does nothing to protect leaseholders, which is extremely disappointing to constituents. Will the new Secretary of State work with us and ensure that the Bill delivers for victims of the cladding crisis on Report? Labour members of the Public Bill Committee have tabled many amendments that would have strengthened and improved that Bill, but they have been rejected. At the last housing oral questions, the Secretary of State said that he would shortly be updating the House on a “series of measures” that he hopes will “help bring some relief” to leaseholders facing costs. He said that he will do that before Christmas. Does that mean it will be today or are we to expect it within the next 10 days? We are holding our breath. We are waiting for those measures, as the victims of the cladding crisis across the country have heard that and are expecting these measures, and I want to know what will be in them.

Let me finish by thanking my staff team; people in Putney may not know how hard they work. They are an amazing team of people who are working day in, day out to support local constituents. They absolutely care as much as I do for every single person who contacts me, be it by coming to my surgery or emailing me, or when they bump into me in the street or in the shops and at all the Christmas events I go to. I want to say a huge thank you to them, to all the Speakers and to all the House staff, who support us so admirably day in, day out, so that we are able to stand up here. As I have said, I am the only Putney resident who is allowed to come in here to speak on behalf of Putney residents, and I do that with a huge sense of responsibility, honour and enjoyment.

This is a unique case involving more than 1,000 pensioners, and I will keep going on it because it is so important. I have met the relevant Minister, and I am told it is still the case that the ombudsman cannot investigate. I hope we can either change that or obtain another form of redress, because we should all be entitled to some form of redress to deal with our complaint, even if it does not go in the way we wanted it to.

The second A is the Appleford relief road. Appleford is a small village in my constituency, and as part of a housing infrastructure fund bid by Oxfordshire County Council, it is going to have a relief road very nearby to help to ease some of the traffic congestion in other parts of my constituency. The problem is that until very recently my constituents did not realise how close to them the relief road would be. I have seen images of relief roads, including this one: it is 30 feet high, and it will be right up by their houses.

I have met members of the campaign group, and I think that they have a compelling case. They would be dismissed by some as nimbys, but far from it, they are not opposed to the road itself. They have simply made the very reasonable request for the county council to move it by about 200 metres. It would still be close to them, but not as close as is planned, so the noise, the traffic and the pollution that it will bring would have less of an impact than it would otherwise. The work has not started yet. I think that this is an entirely reasonable request, and I am urging the county council to address the concerns of the residents again. None of us would want that road near us, and even if we have to delay the completion of the works, I think it right that we should do so.

The third A is the A420, on which I held an Adjournment debate last year. The road snakes right across my constituency, and many of my constituents find it very dangerous. The crash data backs them up on that; there are very regular crashes all the way along it. There are bizarre situations where people who live near the A420 have to get a bus down it to be able to cross it, and then get the bus back. They simply want to cross a road that is directly in front of them in their village, but it is too unsafe for them to do so. My constituent Jo is one of the people most recently injured on the road; she is in a neck brace at the moment.

Again, the road is the responsibility of Oxfordshire County Council. We need a bunch of different things, from a proper bus service to safe crossing points, bike lanes, walkways and so on. The road is used an awful lot by heavy goods vehicles; part of what we need to do is to try to deter them from using the road, because it should not be used in the way it is. It is used by lots of vehicles that speed, and it is used as a shortcut when it should not be. It passes a lot of what should be very quiet villages, where people should not experience their houses shaking and all the difficulties of getting on or off or across the road. Again, I hope this is something that we can make progress on, and I will keep pushing on it on behalf of my constituents.

What these three things have in common, along with the many other things I could have raised today, is that they are all about people feeling that their voices are not heard. They have legitimate grievances and complaints, but they feel that the authorities, whoever they are—their local council, a Government Department, a business; it can be anything—are not listening to them and do not give them the time and attention or deal with things that should be relatively straightforward to deal with if there was the will to do so. I constantly tell my constituents, as I am sure a lot of Members do, “I don’t have the power myself to change the situation you find yourself in.” I wish I did, but my role is to keep making sure that their voices are heard in this place, and that is what I will do week after week.

With that, I wish you, Madam Deputy Speaker, a very merry Christmas, and likewise all the staff in the House of Commons—the Doorkeepers and everybody else. Without them, we would be in a very bad place indeed.

As I said, this is a focus on the light. In what has been the worst possible year for many, we have seen the best of some of our people, and that is incredibly true of the people of Luton North. They are people who step up when the Government step back; people in organisations like Discover Islam, Luton Town football club and Sundon Park Baptist church, who provide breakfast boxes for our community—for our children. They went above and beyond to ensure that no one went without over the past year. But what country have we become when we have to rely on these fantastic charities to feed children to ensure that they do not go hungry to school? I praise incredibly loudly, and I am shamelessly proud of, the fantastic community spirit of the charities and organisations that we have in Luton North, and the hard work that they do, but it should not be up to charities and good will to ensure that the most vulnerable people in our society do not go without.

I get to meet those children every day I go to a school, an early years centre or a nursery, where you not only get covered in glitter but get challenged and questioned about the decisions that we all take in this place by young people who are concerned about their future. I am so pleased to say that we have an award-winning team from Chantry Primary School—the green team, who are tidying up their community, not just for themselves but for future generations to come.

Many small businesses have joined in the charitable work that went on over the past year to help to feed children in Luton North when the Government said no to feeding children during school holidays. We have countless small businesses. We recently celebrated Small Business Saturday nationally. About a year ago, I started visiting small businesses across the town, and I decided that there are enough fantastic small businesses in Luton North to do that every single Saturday, so since then I have been doing that, promoting their fantastic work, diversity, ingenuity and innovation. We should be backing them. I am so proud that Labour has put forward measures to really back small businesses. People say that they are the backbone of our British economy, so we must show that they are. We must praise them and give them the credit and support that they deserve.

There are fantastic charities such as Age Concern. We all talk about the isolation that we felt. I am so pleased to be back in this place, and to be able to go and do visits and see people face to face. Zoom may have been very useful, but my goodness, it is very miserable being sat behind a screen. We all do this job because we love people, but imagine if that was your only lifeline or if you did not even have that. Organisations and charities like Age Concern in Luton have been going above and beyond in making sure not only that nobody went without but that nobody went without a conversation, because that is such an important lifeline to so many.

Active Luton was one of the most fun and energising events that I went to. It had activities for children throughout the school holidays. I did not really imagine when I took on this role that I would be playing dodgeball with a bunch of children and having numerous balls thrown at me, but I think that they were even more shocked that a Member of Parliament threw the balls back. The children definitely won.

I also never imagined that I would be joining the Luton Lions for a 10 km race, but they were very persistent and it was for a very good cause. I also did not think that we would be doing it in a torrential downpour. I want to put on record my thanks to every person who was involved in that race. There were marshals, organisers and runners, and there were also people clapping and cheering us on from their homes and their windows and even from underneath their car boots, taking shelter from the rain. That is the kind of community spirit we have in Luton to get people through and bring them together to raise money and support fantastic organisations such as the Curry Kitchen.

Covid affected everyone. It affected our lives in ways that we could never have imagined, but it is true to say that people who are poorer or from a black, Asian or minority ethnic background were more likely to be affected. Over the past two years, the inequality that has been allowed to run rife throughout our country has been exposed for everyone to see, and it is on us to ensure that that does not continue. Alongside that inequality, we have also seen an increase in hate crimes, especially during the pandemic. I have had constituents write to me about the increase in Islamophobia and Sinophobia. I was interested to listen to the earlier debate about the Online Safety Bill, and I would like the Government to bring forward measures to ensure that online hate crimes and racism are tackled in legislation.

One thing that is key to a better future is providing better education. We have wonderful educators in Luton, and we need to see the Government’s aspirations meeting the aspirations of young people in Luton North. I am so proud that we have one of the top education providers and the oldest sixth form in the country, Luton Sixth Form College. My hon. Friend the Member for Luton South went there and is a governor; I was able to visit a few weeks ago and hopefully I will be going there tonight to watch “Matilda”.

One thing the college has asked for time and again is a protection for BTECs and a guarantee that they will continue. They are hugely popular and hugely successful in Luton, not only at Luton Sixth Form College, but at Barnfield College. I am so excited every time I drive or walk past Barnfield College, because there are loads of cranes and it looks really busy, but I know next year we will be opening the doors on a fantastic new college that lives up to the aspirations, dreams and future hopes of young people in Luton. When I went to Icknield High School, I got to see at first hand how fundraising and creativity went hand in hand to raise funds for the fantastic Keech Hospice Care.

Last week I went to Beechwood primary school, which had a sense of community and education together. I saw that first hand when I walked in to Venus class. The class were designing posters encouraging people either to come to this country, or to come to live in Luton, and all the words on the posters summed up what I think are the best, the lightest and the brightest bits of Luton. They had “community” and “friendship”—one lad had “football”—and they all had “opportunity”. That is exactly what those young people deserve. I do not want to go back to normal. I want to go better than what we had before, because those young people in Luton North deserve so much better.

I put on record my thanks to all the staff who keep us going here—the staff who keep us safe, the staff who keep us fed and the staff who keep us on the right track when we are going the wrong way—and I wish everybody a merry Christmas and a safe and happy new year.

I am continuing my campaign nationally on learning disabilities. As a dyslexic and dyspraxic, I am a broken record on the Education Committee on those two issues. I was pleased when my right hon. Friend the Member for West Suffolk (Matt Hancock) announced that he is also dyslexic and that he is moving forward with the ten-minute rule Bill on the requirement to screen all primary school children for dyslexia. I was proud to co-sponsor that Bill, and I will continue to work closely with him on that important mission.

We know that around half of prisoners have dyslexia, and around four in 10 entrepreneurs have got dyslexia, so the stakes are incredibly high. Given the right support and with an early diagnosis, there is no reason why dyslexics cannot be among the most productive and creative people in our country. If they do not get the right support, they can often go in the wrong direction.

Like many hon. Members and hon. Friends in this place, I continue to be very active on the issue of cladding. I also eagerly await the further support that has been promised. Though many of my constituents have been supported through the building safety fund, many have not. I have been clear that I will continue to campaign on this issue, because I believe that no leaseholder should be left behind, and some have been—through no fault of their own. That campaign must continue.

I want to raise a slightly different issue on cladding. We have had a few examples where buildings have been successful in getting funding through the building safety fund, only for shrink wrap to emerge. One large tower block in Ipswich—St Francis Tower—was one of the first buildings in the country to get access to the building safety fund. That was good news, until shrink wrap covered the building and hundreds of residents were expected to live behind that for up to a year, with virtually no natural sunlight and very little air.

I have been clear in this place that I believe that Block Management UK and OANDA—the companies that have put shrink wrap on the building—have not behaved in an acceptable way. There are other buildings in Ipswich where this is happening. Those companies seem to have listened a little to the debates around what happened at St Francis Tower, and breathable material is shortly to be erected on another building in Ipswich. I went to see it, quite excited about this great development, but it was not that breathable. It is slightly better than the shrink wrap around St Francis Tower, but not by that much, to be honest.

My message to the Government is that Ipswich is ahead of the game when it comes to accessing the building safety fund. We have experienced some of these pains before other areas. I do not think it will be long until there are other hon. Members and hon. Friends raising exactly the same issues in this place. I have been looking to secure an Adjournment or Westminster Hall debate to raise awareness of this issue. Yes, we have got to get money from the building safety fund, and dangerous materials do need to be removed, but we have got to carry out that work in a way that is sensitive to the mental health of the people who are expected to live in those buildings.

Freeports continue to progress; town deal projects continue to progress. Ipswich Town football club is mid-table in league one at the moment; it is not great. I was at a Charlton game recently at The Valley. We lost 2-0, but it was great to be with 3,000 Ipswich fans in strong voice. Not many of them actually recognised me; I seem to get recognised more at Portman Road than when I go to the away matches. I have been going despite the concerns about omicron. I will be at Portman Road this Saturday to see them—hopefully—defeat Sunderland. As a Newcastle United fan, I have two reasons to hope that Sunderland are unsuccessful on Saturday.

There are three more national issues that I want to touch on—things that I feel strongly about. One of them I have been banging on about quite a lot, but on two of them, for whatever reason, I do not feel like I have had the opportunity recently to air my views in this place. I want to talk quickly about child cruelty. I know that many Members have mentioned this, but in the case of Arthur’s tragic death, I want to put on record how disturbed I was by that. I know we all know about what happened, but if Members have not listened to and seen the clips and the videos of the abuse that he suffered, my advice would be to do so, as difficult as it is, because we have to confront and not hide away from the horror of what happened.

I noticed yesterday that my hon. Friend the Member for Keighley (Robbie Moore) raised the case of Star Hobson at Prime Minister’s questions, which is also incredibly disturbing. It is enough to bring any of us to tears when we think about what must have been going through the minds of those young, defenceless people—how vulnerable they were, and how incapable they were of doing anything to protect themselves as horror was placed on them and there was no escape. Their last moments would have been feeling alone, desperate and unloved. It is vitally important that any failings in children’s services in those relevant local authorities are looked at urgently and lessons are learned so that this cannot happen again. We know that some of this was linked to the fact that lockdowns were taking place, so it is another very real reminder of the consequences of lockdowns and how some of the most vulnerable people in our society pay the greatest price and have done. We must do what we can to avoid them.

In terms of covid as an issue, it is in some senses good that this has been a positive debate. We will all do what we can to remain positive and, when we go back to our constituencies, to be positive and lift up people we meet with a bit of Christmas spirit and cheer, but it is quite sad, because for millions of people in this country, last Christmas was a very dark and depressing time. We were looking forward to having a Christmas that was much more normal, much more positive and much more festive. Like many Members, I have enjoyed over the past few weeks going to Christmas craft events, seeing Christmas decorations made and going to a number of different carol services. For one, I was asked to dress up as a wise man, which was an interesting costume, and give an incredibly long reading. It was an essay, which was quite difficult, but I got through it and I was pleased to have been able to do that.

My concern is that if we are not careful, this Christmas could be quite similar to last Christmas, and that is a sad thing. It is an incredibly challenging time for our hospitality sector at the moment and for many people who will test positive. Even if they do not get that ill from having it, they may have to spend Christmas alone, and there will be lots of people in that position.

It is important, though, that we accept the brutal realities of lockdown restrictions. For some people they may not be that bad, but for other people, the mental health consequences of lockdowns are debilitating. Even the fear of a lockdown and the uncertainty that surrounds whether one may or may not take place will be taking a great toll on the mental health of millions of people up and down the country. That is not to say that I think this is an easy situation or that we should not be concerned about the omicron variant; it is just to say that in any decision we make, we need to have a rounded debate and discussion in which all the factors are considered: the economic effects, the impact on livelihoods and the impact on mental health.

We need to begin to think about what the long game is here. When does it end? If it is the case that we can—I hope—get through the next few weeks without too much devastation in terms of economic effects and potential loss of life, there will be more variants. There will be another variant perhaps in two months’ time, three months’ or four months’ time that could have 31 mutations or 32 mutations. If we act and continue to act in a just-in-case way, I do not really see where this ends.

At some point, as a country and as a world, I think we need to figure out in the long term how we live with this. We all know people—there are millions of people in this country—who are shadows of the people they were 20 months ago; who have lost confidence, whose development has been stifled, and that is across all age groups. I have incredible concern about our young people and how their chances have been blighted. This is a difficult time for us, and I do not envy the Prime Minister being in the position that he is in. The ultimate responsibility lies at his door. As a Member of this place, I would just say, let us always think in the most rounded way possible. It has been a pleasure to contribute to the debate, local, national, light-hearted and much more serious and sombre.

With regard to child cruelty, I do think we need to look at children’s services. We need to prevent what has happened from happening again. We also need to look at whole-life tariffs. I think we would struggle to find a person in this country who would not accept that retribution does have a legitimate role to play in the justice system, particularly when it comes to the most heinous crimes and the most evil individuals such as the individuals behind the barbaric crimes that I outlined earlier in my speech.

Perhaps in 2022, the Government will finally table their much-promised employment Bill to look at those indignities, because many indignities that we see in our society happen in the workplace. As the hon. Member for Luton North (Sarah Owen) touched on, the covid pandemic has exposed inequalities, including in employment and employment practices. I hope that the Government will fix this country’s broken social security system.

I am delighted that the hon. Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) mentioned the Afghan citizens resettlement scheme and ensuring that it is taken forward. It is harrowing for hon. Members to listen to constituents in our surgeries showing us the threats that their family members in Afghanistan have received about what will happen to them if the constituent does not go back to Afghanistan to face the Taliban. It is important that that work is done. I will certainly continue to raise issues with the Home Office and I will join him in ensuring that it puts the scheme in place. I am delighted that he and other hon. Members raised it.

That comes back to another of my wishes for 2022. The language of our politics is important, especially when we are discussing immigration and refugees. I place on record again that it is legal for people to seek sanction or asylum; it is not illegal and we should stop labelling people as illegal.

This year is the 25th anniversary of Show Racism the Red Card and I am chair of the showing racism the red card all-party parliamentary group. I did a recent podcast with the right hon. Member for Romsey and Southampton North (Caroline Nokes) and the hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne Central (Chi Onwurah) where we mentioned that it is important to get the tone and language of our politics right when we are discussing those issues.

I have seen Show Racism the Red Card at a school in Glasgow South West telling schoolchildren in excellent terms the difference between an asylum seeker, a refugee and an economic migrant. The Deputy Chief Whip may want to invite it to this workplace to tell MPs that difference. Again, I hope that the Government will consider giving asylum seekers the right to work in this country after six months, because I think that they should have that right.

In general, the Government have had some recent difficulties. They seem to have engulfed themselves in sleaze and the perception of arrogance. There is a cost of living crisis. I am delighted that the hon. Member for Putney (Fleur Anderson) mentioned that we should do an assessment of Brexit and face the Brexit realities. The economy appears to be shrinking. The Government should consider their position in dealing with some of those issues and with the perception of the Government.

Of course, support for Scottish independence is rising to its highest levels, and whether or not there is a connection, I am very confident that, after the covid crisis is over, Scotland will become a modern, independent country.

The hon. Member for Harrow East, the hon. Member for Eastleigh (Paul Holmes) and others rightly mentioned something that I always mention: the role of constituency staff. The caseloads are increasing, and have increased in the past 20 months. Once again, my constituency office staff team have never been busier and they are the real heroes, as far as I am concerned. I thank Justina, Dominique, Keith, Tony, Greg and Scott for their work. They are led by our office manager, the great Roza Salih, who, unfortunately, was not elected to Scotland’s Parliament this year, but I am sure that she will be elected to her place very soon, because she deserves it.

In 2022, I hope that we will continue to ensure that not just Members of Parliament, but constituency office staff have the security measures that they need to continue to do their work. When I was first elected, I never contemplated having to deal with some of the security questions and measures that we now have to deal with.

Turning to the Opposition Members who spoke, it was a real pleasure to hear my hon. Friend the Member for Manchester, Gorton (Afzal Khan). He was a wonderful member of the shadow Leader of the House team, and my thanks to his staff for all the work that they have done. He talked with such pride about the contribution of community groups and schools in his constituency. I very much applaud his call to give the covid memorial wall a long-term future, and I wish him luck with that campaign.

It is always great to hear my hon. Friend the Member for Luton South (Rachel Hopkins) speak about the excellent work of community groups in her area. She is a fantastic local champion. I look forward to her securing a debate in this House on the contribution of charities and the support they need. It would allow me to speak, and to thank the unsung heroes in Newport East, including the food banks and charities doing so much great work, not least on an issue raised with me recently by the guides about access to banking services for small charities. I do hope she gets that debate.

Well done to my hon. Friend the Member for Putney (Fleur Anderson), who also spoke about local community groups, as well as a range of other issues. Well done to her also on her campaign to ban plastic in wet wipes. No one disagrees—she is quite right—and it would be worth spending a parliamentary life on that issue alone, so we look forward to her success. It was very interesting to hear of her experience of Bosnia. Her points on housing were well made, and I draw to her attention—and to the attention of the hon. Member for Ipswich (Tom Hunt), who spoke on the subject—the announcement made by the Welsh Government today on some of the housing and cladding issues we have heard about.

My hon. Friend the Member for Luton North (Sarah Owen) is a Labour Whips Office colleague. We should thank our Whips across the House, and our advisers and civil servants who support our Whips Offices. My hon. Friend—I have to say that Luton was very well represented in this debate—is quite right about looking to see the light, and seeing the best in people who have really stepped up and stepped forward during the most difficult of times. I very much recognised her description of those weeks trying to help people home from Afghanistan. She was quite right to raise the issue of the disproportionate impact of covid on the disadvantaged, and the inequalities that that has exposed.

On the issue of Afghanistan, I very much agree with the hon. Member for Harrow East about the need for the Afghan citizens resettlement scheme. Having worked over the years with a number of Afghan interpreters who have settled in Newport East—we spent many years trying to reunite them with their families before this crisis—I think it is really important that we get this right. He also mentioned the biometric residency permits issue; many of the families, certainly in Newport, who did make it here to rejoin previously settled Afghan interpreters have been waiting in bridging hotels for many months for those permits. I do hope that the Deputy Chief Whip listens to that, because it is very important.

I commend, as I think all Members would, the right hon. Member for Sutton Coldfield (Mr Mitchell) for raising the really important issue of compulsory helmets for those involved in snow sports. He spoke about a really harrowing case—I know we would all send our love to the family—and he does the House great service by raising it.

It was extremely important to hear the right hon. and gallant Member for Beckenham (Bob Stewart) speaking with such experience of the situation in Bosnia. He speaks with such expertise on defence issues generally, and his comments were echoed by my hon. Friend the Member for Putney. He is quite right that Britain has a role to play, and we must save Bosnia from another disastrous war. I think many Members will reflect on his speech in the days to come, and it was a really important matter to raise.

I join in what the hon. Member for Eastleigh (Paul Holmes) said about key workers and health workers. That gives me the opportunity to thank the staff at the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, GPs who are part of the booster programme, and all those key workers out there working with us at this time. I hope that the Deputy Chief Whip will note—this is for his black book —that the hon. Member for Eastleigh is a most assiduous attendee of the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments. The hon. Member also talked about rail, which gives me the opportunity to ask the Government to look kindly on the campaign for a walkway station in Magor. I have raised that issue many times in the House; perhaps the Deputy Chief Whip can put in a word for me.

Last but not least, the hon. Member for Ipswich mentioned dyslexia, which is a really important issue to raise in the House. Many of my constituents will welcome that. I echo the points rightly made about security and abuse by the hon. Member for Glasgow South West (Chris Stephens). I hope that the Deputy Chief Whip heard that, and that we continue to apply the pressure to get those things right.

As we close the curtain on 2021, colleagues around the House will be challenging the Government to do better in 2022 across a range of policy areas. One of the most basic things that the Government could do to help is improve engagement with Members on departmental answers and response times. I speak for many Members when I say that departmental response times for constituency queries have been a real concern this year—they are often raised in points of order in the House. The Home Office has been shocking—at some stages there have been about 8,500 unanswered queries from hon. Members in the system. We also have constituents waiting more than a year for cases with the Child Maintenance Service to be resolved, and there are unacceptable wait times from Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, too. Let us hope for much better in 2022.

As I said, there is always plenty to raise with Ministers on these occasions, not least today, as in the last few days we have seen the Prime Minister suffer the biggest rebellion of the Parliament. As others have said, it has been up to the Opposition to show the leadership that the Prime Minister cannot. This week, as many have said, we have seen some of the worst leadership at the worst possible time. We need a serious Prime Minister for very serious times.

We cannot let an absent Chancellor off the hook, either, at a time when urgent clarification is needed on support for workers and businesses, when the threat that inflation poses for household bills looms large, and with a cost of living crisis as we head into the new year. With inflation at nearly decade-high levels, it will be a really difficult Christmas for many families. When businesses cannot trade properly, we cannot pretend that nothing has changed, and we cannot abandon them and workers at this time. It feels like the Government are in chaos with a Prime Minister who has lost his grip, and that working people are paying the price.

On a more cheery note, as the hon. Member for Rutherglen and Hamilton West (Margaret Ferrier) put it so well, the glue that keeps the House together is all the people who work in it for us. May I therefore end by thanking staff across both Houses—the wonderful Doorkeepers, the security staff, the police, the catering staff, the cleaning staff, the Clerks, the Library, Hansard, broadcasting and those in many other roles—for all their tireless work to keep us safe and help us keep our jobs? My personal thanks to my team—Kath, Dan, Elaine, Sarah and Emma—and to hon. Members’ staff working in constituencies who are, as many said, on the very frontline for us in difficult times. Next year will be difficult, too.

If I may, I will thank one other team whose work in this place is often unseen but none the less vital. As the Chair of the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments, may I take the liberty of saying a very big thanks to counsel, the Clerks and the Committee, of which the hon. Member for Eastleigh is a member, for all the work that they do to scrutinise secondary legislation, especially at this time of emergency regulations? I recommend the Committee’s special report, “Rule of Law Themes from COVID-19 Regulations”, to the Deputy Chief Whip as interesting recess reading. It gives some pointers as to where the Government could improve, while appreciating the hard job that civil servants have in drafting legislation in the current difficult circumstances.

I wish everyone a merry Christmas and a safe recess. To you, Mr Deputy Speaker, and the whole Speaker’s team, I say Nadolig llawen pawb.

The hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton also mentioned Sir Richard Leese, to whom I offer my congratulations on his lengthy service as leader of Manchester City Council. The Conservative group leader of Leeds City Council is celebrating 50 years of service, including more than 40 years as leader of the Conservative group, which is quite a phenomenal achievement. Councillor Andrew Carter has done a phenomenal amount of work, so I nick this opportunity to give him some credit.

My right hon. Friend the Member for Sutton Coldfield (Mr Mitchell) made a very important contribution on Louis Watkiss. I cannot imagine how difficult it must have been for his parents, Natalie and Chris, to lose their child in such an awful accident. When I worked in the children’s hospice movement, one of the things that hit me the most was when bereaved parents would tell me it was not just the loss of a child but the loss of their hopes and dreams for a life they thought would go further. I hope that out of this tragedy we can see some good. Clearly their campaigning with my right hon. Friend is important, and I will talk to the relevant Department to see whether an amendment to the law is practicable or whether the code of practice can be changed.

My right hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Beckenham (Bob Stewart) made a powerful contribution. I suppose no one can talk about Bosnia with such experience, although I have learned that my hon. Friend the Member for Rutland and Melton (Alicia Kearns) also has experience of Bosnia.

I have been to Bosnia a couple of times, and visiting Srebrenica is probably one of the hardest visits I have ever made. We went up to the village and met some of the mamas of Srebrenica. One of them told me that in one day she lost her father, her brother, her husband and her two sons. You just cannot imagine the atrocities. My right hon. Friend is right to raise this serious situation. The de facto secession attempt by Republika Srpska is something that the Government take very seriously. We are not complacent about it, and we condemn those threats. We fully support Bosnia and Herzegovina’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. He rightly pointed out that we are working with our international allies and other partners, and mentioned the appointment of Sir Stuart Peach. Clearly, this is an important area of work. My right hon. Friend will know that the Foreign Secretary hosted Foreign Ministers from the western Balkans just this week to address these issues, but again, I will ensure that the serious points that he made are heard in Government.

The hon. Member for Luton South (Rachel Hopkins) talked, as many did, about the contribution of community groups. I think we have all been impressed at how much they have done to help so many people in our communities. I will certainly speak to the Leader of the House about her request for a debate on the contribution that such organisations have made.

My hon. Friend the Member for Eastleigh (Paul Holmes) complained that he has not yet received a Christmas card from me. All I can say is that all good things come to those who wait. In fact, I think everybody I know is still waiting for one; that is how far behind I am on my Christmas preparations. He is a doughty campaigner for his constituency. He talked about the housing issue, which I know he raises at every opportunity. He is also a doughty advocate for Southampton airport. The fact that he went to speak in support of it at 1 o’clock in the morning shows how much he clearly cares about that issue. His bid for the headquarters of Great British Railways to be in Eastleigh is noted. Just like the Christmas card, an early present cannot be forthcoming, but the bid is noted.

The hon. Member for Putney—from Pudsey to Putney —and others talked about the amazing contribution of staff and volunteers in getting the vaccine and the vaccine boosters out. We are so grateful for the amazing work that they are doing, and we are grateful to those who have been doing the community boxes. The wet wipes issue is one that I have personal interest in, in that—I had better clarify that—we had our niece living with us for about a year and, unbeknown to me, she was using them to remove make-up, flushing them down the toilet and clogging up the pipe. I just do not think people realise how destructive they are. Indeed, Yorkshire Water ran a very important campaign trying to highlight the issue. I will personally advocate for that campaign with the relevant Department.

My hon. Friend the Member for Wantage (David Johnston) talked about three serious issues in his constituency, including the relief roads and the pensions issue. He talked about those who are involved in those campaigns feeling that they are not being listened to, but let me reassure those constituents of his that I have seen him at work in this House and I know that they have an MP who is diligent and relentless, who will ensure that their voice is continually heard.

The hon. Member for Luton North (Sarah Owen) talked about the Afghanistan resettlement scheme and all those organisations; I particularly enjoyed listening to her experiences at the various groups she has been to. I was touched by the case of the headteacher she talked about, and I will raise with the Department of Health and Social Care the suggestion about lowering the age of screening.

I listened to one of the first speeches by my hon. Friend the Member for Ipswich (Tom Hunt), when he talked about learning disabilities. As a personal champion of that issue, he offers a great contribution to the House, and I know how passionately he cares about it. He also raised the awful cases of Arthur and Star. I have one regret in life, and that is that I am not a dad, because I think that is probably one of the best and most precious gifts you can have. I cannot therefore understand how anybody could do anything to hurt young children. I hope that we will all, in the memory of those children, do everything we can to ensure that such cases are never raised in this House again. Finally, I turn to the Front-Bench contributions from the hon. Members for Glasgow South West (Chris Stephens) and for Newport East (Jessica Morden). I think we will always disagree on the independence of Scotland. We had the referendum. I understood it was a once-in-a-generation referendum, and the answer was very clear. Both raised the important issue of security for MPs and MPs’ staff. I sit on one of the Committees concerned. We have to get reassurance to Members and their staff that when work that is needed is highlighted, it is enacted quickly. There have been too many delays, and I will continue to raise that. I will raise the issue about Departments’ responses with the Leader of the House.

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, the other Deputy Speakers and Mr Speaker for all your support and hard work over the past year. I thank the Clerks, who always offer us support and try to help us understand some of the mad rules that sometimes I cannot get my head around. I thank the Doorkeepers, who are always so polite and always help us when we need it, all the catering staff, and all the other staff in the House. I want to add my thanks to my staff—Steph, Penny, Kyle, Dawn and Simon, who work incredibly hard.

I hope everybody has a safe break. Our message should be to get boosted. The hon. Member for Luton North said that she wanted to talk about giving a bit of light, and you have also referenced this, Mr Deputy Speaker, so I thought I would activate my tie as I wish every right hon. and hon. Member a very merry Christmas and a superb new year. I look forward to seeing everybody again after the end of recess.