Kerry McCarthy
MP for Bristol East · Labour · United Kingdom
“We see that in four main ways: physical risks, including floods, wildfires, droughts and storms; transition risks as economies move away from high-carbon industries; nature-related risks affecting food production and natural resources; and systemic risks, where shocks spread rapidly across sectors and markets.”
“The glaciers of the third pole function as Asia’s water tower, feeding major river systems that support nearly 2 billion people. When rising temperatures accelerate glacial melt, the consequences extend far beyond the mountains.”
“Following the heatwaves and wildfires across Europe this summer and the destruction caused by the glacier collapse and catastrophic flooding in Nepal and Tibet, the message is becoming impossible to ignore: the consequences of climate change and environmental degradation are real, not some distant future threat.”
“Personally, I cannot see that Rosebank is compatible with meeting our climate objectives, but I recognise that the process should be followed. Green Alliance has reported that the gas being wasted in the North sea would be enough to heat 570,000 homes.”
“I too worked in the financial markets, although I think I have done a better job of hiding it in my 21 years in Parliament. I was more on the debt market side. In fact, I am so old that I was part of the salvage operation for Barings bank when it went under. That brings me to the right hon. Gentleman’s point about regulation.”
“My hon. Friend will not be surprised to hear that I very much agree with the point that he just made. We have some excellent, innovative businesses in Bristol that came up through the Science Creates innovation hubs and attracted private capital.”
The complete record
Every one of 6,322 lines we hold for Kerry McCarthy, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 37 of 127.
“That could lead to a watering down of ambition when the scale of the twin crises—the climate crisis and the ecological crisis—means that more radical solutions are needed. Some people have criticised the assembly for not reaching the right conclusions and have said that that was because they were not asked the right questions. These are people who feel that the 2050 target is not ambitious enough. It is worth noting that proposals to bring forward the 2050 date, without a specific date in mind, were put before the assembly but were rejected, with quite a significant proportion of people unsure about it. I attended the sessions on what we eat and how we use the land, which is a particular interest of mine. I was pleased with the recommendations on low-carbon farming, food waste and natural climate solutions such as peatlands and forestry.”
“It did not really need the Climate Assembly to nudge the Government in the right direction; they could have just listened to the Labour party instead. Having said that, I was won over by going along and listening to the discussions. There is a quote in the executive summary from an assembly member, who said that he or she—it was someone called Chris, so I am not sure—was worried when they got there that the debate would be somewhat one-sided and it would all be people who were very passionate about the climate emergency. Chris said it was refreshing to see that it ranged from people for whom it was a complete crisis to those who were in complete denial about the issue. Getting that balance is what an exercise like that should be about, but I worry that it means that the process will inevitably lean towards consensus.”
“It is expensive, certainly if we are looking to replicate it at a local level, as we are in Bristol. If we want to do it right, we have to put in quite a lot of resources. It also takes time. There is the question: we actually know quite a lot of these things, so why do we not just get on with it, rather than having an exercise that will inevitably delay things? One Conservative Member spoke about how the Government were introducing a deposit returns scheme. He implied that that had come out of the Climate Assembly report. The Environmental Audit Committee has been making these recommendations and investigating that side of things for a long time, and that was already on the agenda. On electric vehicles, the December 2019 Labour manifesto called for a phase-out of petrol and diesel by 2030.”
“I congratulate my colleague, neighbour and hon. Friend the Member for Bristol North West (Darren Jones) on securing this debate. As the then vice-Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee, I attended one of the sessions of the Climate Assembly in Birmingham. I was impressed by the set-up: how assembly members had been selected, and the huge amount of work and expense that went into trying to ensure it was representative and reflective of the general population. I was also impressed by the contributions of expert witnesses and the efforts that were made to ensure that their work informed deliberative discussion in each group. There were disadvantages. I share some of the scepticism of the hon. Member for Rother Valley (Alexander Stafford) about the exercise.”
“What recent assessment the Government have made of the effectiveness of rail to refuge schemes in providing free travel to victims of domestic abuse.”
“I thank the Minister for her response. She will know that domestic abuse services have, sadly, seen a real surge in demand during the lockdown. Rail to refuge schemes, including the GWR scheme that serves my constituency, have helped more than 800 people to flee domestic abuse through the use of a free rail ticket. Can the Minister commit to funding these schemes in the future, because they are really important to people who need to get away?”
“Does the hon. Member share my concern that animal welfare standards are generally lower in Japan and that this agreement does not replicate the FTAs that have better, stronger animal welfare provisions? Does he agree that we could and ought to do more to protect ourselves against lower standards of imports from Japan?”
“However, given that they are all that we have in front of us today, and given our desire to prevent even worse disruption at the end of the transition period, we will not be opposing them.”
“What will happen if those drivers are challenged in Calais, and they do not have the right paperwork and are sent back to the UK? I have largely been speaking about potential border chaos using the future tense, but reports suggest that it has already begun, most notably in Felixstowe, which is struggling to cope with the volume of business as firms stockpile supplies in anticipation of severe disruption. Clearly, the Government have lost the confidence of businesses. As the holiday season approaches, would the Minister like to use this opportunity to reassure an increasingly concerned public about the timely delivery of vital supplies and Christmas presents? As I started off by saying, my fear is that these measures are too little, too late to cope with impending chaos in Kent.”
“He now says that the 50,000 figure was only an estimate, and that there have been significant increases in the number. That makes me think that either he does not know the answer—that is bad enough—or he does know, and it is so bad that he does not want to tell us. Can the Minister do better than the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and tell the House how many customs agents we now have, and how many have been fully trained? I have been told that there are probably around 10,000 in place right now. I would be grateful if the Minister could confirm whether that figure sounds about right. What does the Minister think will be the consequences if traders cannot find customs agents to do the paperwork for them? The Kent access permit involves a self-declaration process. Does she envisage any problem with false declarations by drivers?”
“Leaving the EU means that we will need to process around 270 million customs declarations a year, compared with only 50 million now, and we will need around 50,000 customs agents to manage that properly. In July, the Government announced a £50 million fund to try to achieve that figure, but the British International Freight Association warned in September that almost two thirds of customs brokers felt they would not have enough agents by 1 January, and that covid had made the task even more difficult. It was also very critical of the lack of clear guidance from the Government. More recently, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster swerved an attempt by my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds West (Rachel Reeves) to find out from him how many new customs agents have been trained and are ready to go to.”
“Hauliers also face uncertainty about the use of the proposed fixed penalties for drivers who do not have a Kent access permit. Unite has expressed concerns about how they will work, because it is the driver who will be faced with paying a roadside fine if they do not have the correct documentation, but they rely on the employer or customer to provide it. I was a little confused by what the Minister said just now. I think she confirmed that the penalties would be roadside fines, but when she gave evidence in the other place this morning, she said that because the fine was levied on the owner, it could be sent by post. Perhaps she could give some clarity as to how those penalties will work.”
“Rod McKenzie of the Road Haulage Association recently described information provided to hauliers by the Government as “incomplete, inadequate and quite often totally incomprehensible.” One measure that could have helped was the timely delivery of the haulier handbook. I gather that the launch date for the full version, which is intended to provide clear guidance to drivers, is now set for 7 December —only 25 days before the end of transition. Given that 85% of freight drivers are from the EU, the document will need to be published, translated and promoted across most of the continent in around three weeks, which includes the breaks for Christmas and new year. I understand that it will need to be translated into 14 languages.”
“I understand that when giving evidence to the EU Goods Sub-Committee in the other place earlier today, the Minister said that she could not give details as to how many toilets would be needed in Kent because there are still some details that need to be worked out. I would be grateful if she elaborated for us what those details are and when she thinks the Government would be ready to give a figure. Mention has been made of a plan to deploy Portaloos along the queues if traffic is static for a prolonged period. I would be grateful if the Minister told us a little more about that.”
“That could have significant consequences for the delivery of vital goods and could severely disrupt the lives of local residents, too. I would therefore appreciate clarity from the Minister on the additional measures being taken to avoid their own estimates of delays in Kent. Unite the union and others have raised concerns about conditions for drivers caught in delays, who will need access to food, water and toilet facilities. There is also an issue as to what this would mean in terms of driver hours and driver fatigue. What measures are being taken to provide these basic facilities for them?”
“This sector has helped to keep the country going during the coronavirus outbreak, especially in maintaining essential deliveries of food, medical supplies and other goods. However, the sector has also been hard hit this year, and chaos at our ports and on our roads come January is something it does not need. Those in the sector just want to do their jobs, but the Government are making it difficult for them. I am yet to be persuaded that the Government have done what is needed to prevent huge delays in Kent for those making the short straits crossing. The Government’s own reasonable worst-case scenario suggests there might be a freight flow of 60% to 80% of the usual volumes in the near year, which could, according to the Government, lead to queues in Kent of up to 6,500 HCVs in January, rising to 7,000 in February.”
“Let me start by saying that of course we accept the need for this legislation, although the timing, so late in the day, is hardly ideal, particularly for those in the haulage sector. The fact that we are still discussing statutory instruments, not to mention the fact that we still appear to be teetering on the brink of a no-deal Brexit, with only 16 sitting days to go before the end of the transition period, demonstrates just what a shambles this Government’s handling of Brexit has been from start to finish. Many of the stakeholders in the haulage sector I have spoken to feel that the Government have done nowhere near enough to prepare for what the Road Haulage Association has described as “the most challenging task the supply chain has ever faced”.”
“There are reports that the Government plan to remove anti-dumping duties on imported bicycles at the end of transition, leading to a flood of cheap imports from China, which would be devastating for UK bike manufacturers. Can the Minister tell me what proportion of the domestic market consists of bikes made in the UK and confirm that if it is more than 1%, anti-dumping duties should remain?”
“There are concerns that the end of the margin scheme could destroy the Northern Irish second-hand car market because VAT would then have to be paid on the full purchase price of cars from GB, not just the profit. Does the Minister think that we can expect that to be resolved during negotiations, or if not, what impact does he think that it will have on the car market in Northern Ireland?”
“From this towns fund being handed out to Tory seats, to the money being squandered on covid contracts and the ferry contract being awarded to a company with no ferries, this is all part of a very murky picture, is it not? How can my constituents have any confidence at all that public money is being well spent when cronyism, mates’ rates and political manoeuvring seem to be at the heart of so much Government decision making, not to mention downright incompetence?”
“Ordered, That Kerry McCarthy, Mr Clive Betts, Shabana Mahmood, Steve McCabe, Bob Blackman, Helen Hayes, Fleur Anderson, Tim Loughton, Andrew Selous, Mohammad Yasin, Munira Wilson and Andrew Gwynne present the Bill. Kerry McCarthy accordingly presented the Bill. Bill read the First time; to be read the Second time on Friday 15 January, and to be printed (Bill 212).”
“I have had Ministers from three different Departments acknowledge in one way or another the need to address the concerns I have raised. I am meeting two more Ministers, including the Under-Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, the hon. Member for Rochester and Strood (Kelly Tolhurst), who is in her place today, before the end of the month to discuss what can be done. Across the Atlantic, we have seen a new expression of a desire for bipartisan working in difficult times and, despite our many differences across the House, people would want to see the same approach from us on an issue such as this. Question put and agreed to.”
“She said that “40% of the deaths we recorded in 2019 occurred when a person was in emergency or temporary accommodation, and our research clearly shows these tragedies will continue without real action”. She questioned whether providers would really take time to follow recommended guidelines and was concerned that private landlords and providers, who account for 86% of the £1.1 billion temporary accommodation industry, had not even been identified as supported housing providers in the policy. I think the Government—or at least some Ministers—recognise the flaws in the voluntary approach and view the pilots, which run only for six months, as an evidence-gathering exercise, which I hope will inform future regulation.”
“The funding will give the council the opportunity to carry out a quality check on the city’s non-commissioned sector involving a team from environmental health, safeguarding, support review officers and housing benefits to help identify the problems and take what enforcement action we can. However, for reasons I have already set out, I have my doubts about whether a voluntary approach is enough. Local authorities do not have sufficient powers to enforce standards—which are only expected standards, anyway—and while many decent providers will be happy to co-operate, those in it purely for the money will not do so. Jess Turtle, co-founder of the Museum of Homelessness, recently told The Big Issue that the new measures were “nowhere near” enough.”
“Last month, on 20 October, we suddenly saw some movement from the Government. Five pilots in priority areas—Birmingham, Hull, Blackpool, Blackburn and Bristol—will be funded to the tune of £3 million for collaborative working between local partners to test different approaches on greater oversight and enforcement of higher standards in non-commissioned provision. That has been accompanied by the publication of a statement of national expectations that focuses on accommodation. I am pleased that Bristol was chosen for one of the pilot schemes, and that the Government recognise the good work that Bristol City Council has done.”
“In May 2017, for example, in a joint report on the future of supported housing, the Select Committees on Housing Communities and Local Government and on Work and Pensions recommended that the Government should establish a set of national standards to enable monitoring of quality provision in all supported housing in England and Wales. They said that all providers should be registered with a local authority, whether or not their services had been commissioned locally, and that local authorities should undertake annual inspections of all supported housing schemes in their area to ensure a minimum standard of provision. In response, the Government committed to working with local authorities on how they might best ensure decent and appropriate standards. Very little happened until three years later.”
“Children who are supposedly in care are left to fend for themselves with limited support from key workers—perhaps five hours a week or fewer. Young people use words such as “disgusting”, “absolutely terrible” and “like a prison cell” to describe their living arrangements. In some instances, they end up living alongside vulnerable adults, who have their own difficulties, or in placements where they are exposed to the risk of exploitation and other negative influences. The Children’s Commissioner has called for the use of semi-independent and independent provision to be made illegal for all children in care and for the regulation of unregulated settings. That is included the scope of the Bill. There has been growing awareness in recent years, but little action.”
“At the moment, the law is quite free and easy around these areas. Some of these landlords are actually criminals who are making money out of people’s misery.” The Bill seeks to protect young people. The recent report, “Unregulated”, by the Children’s Commissioner, revealed that 12,800 children in care —or one in eight—spent some time in an unregulated placement that was not registered with Ofsted in 2018-19. They are usually older teens, but there are some under-16s and children with high needs. They are housed in independent or semi-independent accommodation with limited support that is not regulated by the quality inspectorate. The accommodation might be a flat, hostel or bedsit. Even worse, in some cases, it might be a caravan, tent or barge.”
“It is quite clear that this is not an isolated case, and many colleagues have expressed similar concerns, particularly in cities. In September this year, The Sunday Telegraph published a piece on suburban family homes that were being converted into unlicensed bail hostels—again, the motivation was landlords wanting to get their hands on higher housing-benefit payments. The article said: “Such family homes contain a volatile mix of ex-prisoners, drug addicts, those with severe mental health issues, refugees and women fleeing domestic abuse.” Bail hostels that are classed as approved premises are tightly regulated, but their unregulated equivalents are not, and providers can often get away with little to no supervision or support. The West Midlands police and crime commissioner said: “Regulation needs to come from central government.”
“Even though Wick House was in breach of planning rules, the council still had to pay housing benefit for all 87 tenants regardless, and tried to enforce measures on the breach. In September 2019, the Charity Commission published a report on Bristol Sheltered Accommodation & Support—the charity that ran Wick House. It found a failure to report serious incidents, including the death of a resident; unauthorised salary payments to trustees; poor financial controls; and unmanaged conflicts of interest. A new charity is now running Wick House. At the time, the Charity Commission warned that the investigations had brought to light wider issues around the regulation of supported housing that limited its ability to hold charities providing such accommodation to account.”
“When a council commissions supported housing, control can be exercised through the contract, but with such an uncommissioned service, Bristol Council was really limited in what it could do. The council did refuse to refer people to Wick House, and both it and I urged prison and probation services to do likewise, but Wick House did not find it difficult to fill its rooms with self-referrals and referrals from outside the local area. In 2017, the landlord attempted to increase the rent from £125 to £343 per tenant, resulting in tribunal proceedings in which the judge, by consent order, reduced it to £170. The management responded by expanding Wick House from 47 residents to 87, cramming them in to recoup the lost income.”
“He spoke of the “employment of career criminals”, the victimisation of vulnerable residents and his concern for women living there, saying: “there is quite a lot of sexual activity in a drunken/drugged and prostituted state.” He described a “woeful” lack of support: a visit once a fortnight from a local drugs project and from a mental health team for certain residents, but that was it. He also said—I stress this was back in 2017—that the management “can’t claim not to know about it—they are facilitating it. I don’t really care whether this is deliberate or accidental, it’s still happening and it needs to be stopped, not ignored.” What many of us came to realise, however, was how little power anyone had to stop them.”
“The situation at Wick House, a large supported housing project in my constituency, is why I got involved, in particular the death of residents—there have been seven deaths since a particular charity began running the place—and in particular the deaths of George Mahoney, whose body was found in a pool of blood in 2016, and Paul Way, who died in 2017 and whose body, despite it being supported accommodation, was not found for three days. One former worker at the hostel shared with me emails he sent to George’s family after his death in which he describes the living conditions. He talks about visible bed bugs on residents. He said that the Salvation Army would fumigate the kit of anyone coming from Wick House.”
“Because the local housing allowance is so low in places like Bristol, for some private landlords with an eye to profit, renting at the usual rates has little appeal when, if they convert to supported housing, they can charge much more. They only have to provide a level of support that is “more than minimal” to qualify for an exemption that can get them the enhanced rates of housing benefit that make it so attractive to them.”
“I am calling for the same to happen in England for hostels, refuges and other accommodation for people with support needs, so that vulnerable people are housed only in decent, safe accommodation where they will get the support they need and where unscrupulous landlords will no longer be able to exploit them to make a quick buck through the housing benefit system. I stress that there are many respectable, decent providers of supported housing out there, and I appreciate that theirs is not an easy job. In particular, I pay tribute to the work they have done during this pandemic, with local authorities, to house rough sleepers. Sadly, however, not all providers are like that.”
“I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to regulate supported housing; to make provision about local authority oversight and the enforcement of standards of accommodation and support in supported housing; to prohibit the placing of children in care in unregulated accommodation; and for connected purposes. We quite rightly in this country have a regulatory system in place for care homes through the Care Quality Commission. In Scotland, as I understand it, the Care Commission also covers supported housing.”
“What assessment the Government have made of the preparedness of ports of entry in Northern Ireland ahead of the end of the transition period.”
“Last month, the operators of Northern Ireland’s four ports told Stormont that facilities to check goods arriving from Great Britain would not be in place by the end of transition. There were also concerns about the IT system, potential delays and the lack of clarity from Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. With eight weeks to go, this is an absolute shambles. Who does the Minister hold responsible?”
“With almost 400,000 acres in England, the Ministry of Defence is one of the biggest landowners in this country. What is it doing to ensure that it is environmentally sustainable and helping the Government to meet their target to plant many more trees?”
“The Prime Minister rightly spoke of the importance of strong local action and strong local leadership, but he needs to acknowledge that his dithering and delay, and the lack of communication, have made local leaders’ jobs far more difficult. Will he and the Chancellor commit today to talk to the core cities to assess the economic impact of lockdown on them and, in the first instance, the need for a winter support package to tackle issues such as rough sleeping, food poverty and mental health, to which as the right hon. Member for South Northamptonshire (Andrea Leadsom) referred?”
“I think the expression of sheer despair from my hon. Friend the Member for Oldham East and Saddleworth (Debbie Abrahams) in response to that answer has just demonstrated that we can see people’s reactions on screen. The Leader of the House is waxing lyrical about how important it is for us to be here and fully play our role as representatives—I am asking my third question of the day, and I am more than happy to do that—but he cannot say that on the one hand and then allow only 90 minutes for the regulations to be debated on Wednesday. Surely at least half that time will be taken up by the Front Benchers, which means that there will be very little time and very few Back Benchers will be able to speak up on behalf of their constituents. That is just not right.”
“Before we had Teddy in our family, we had a bulldog called Buster when I was growing up, and that was why the case of Baby the bulldog particularly struck home with me. It originally inspired Anna Turley’s Animal Cruelty (Sentencing) Bill back in 2017 when it was brought to public attention. It was not just a horrific story of the bulldog puppy being abused—I think it was thrown down the stairs—but the fact that it was videoed and put online. The perpetrators clearly thought it was something they could boast about and joke about and that they would not be brought to justice for it.”
“It is always a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Madam Deputy Speaker. I congratulate the hon. Member for West Dorset (Chris Loder) on bringing this Bill forward today. I am glad we are finally in a position where an animal sentencing Bill might actually become law. Everyone will be talking about their dogs today. I do not actually have a dog, but I have a dog in my life, which is my mother’s miniature schnauzer, Teddy, although he is actually twice the size of an ordinary miniature schnauzer, which just shows that Teddy is above other dogs. I am constantly telling him that he is the best dog. We do not have dog birthdays in our family, we have dog “got” days, and tomorrow is Teddy’s 12th got day. Congratulations to Teddy, who I am sure will be watching on video later.”
“I thank the hon. Gentleman for that. I was going to say that I thought it was a little churlish of the hon. Member for West Dorset to not mention her, because she did so much work on this issue. I know he was not in Parliament at the time.”
“Animal welfare is about a lot more than being nice to puppies or pets generally. There seems to be a focus on what I would describe as the low-hanging fruit, which is the “being nice to puppies” end of the spectrum. It is great that we have legislated for things such as Lucy’s law and trying to crack down on puppy farming, although I understand from Marc Abraham, who promoted that campaign through Pup Aid, that there are still some concerns about loopholes, so there is a new petition about the need to tighten that up. Finn’s law was a really good step. A petition on pet theft was discussed earlier this week in Westminster Hall, and there are also debates about ensuring that the law on microchipping is enforced.”
“Far too many people, and particularly young men, think that the way to treat a dog is to be very harsh with it, to abuse it and to almost beat it into submission, as if that is the way to train a dog. There are others who abuse animals because they find enjoyment in it. Discussing animal welfare at an early age—particularly for children from families that do not have pets—would be really important in instilling the right behaviour and helping people to understand what owning a pet is all about. I would not want to do anything to delay the Bill, but I hope that reports of a far more comprehensive animal welfare Bill are true, because they have been kicking around for quite a while—I see the Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the hon. Member for Banbury (Victoria Prentis), smiling.”
“That means that we have had three years of light sentences for the very worst animal abusers and three years of not being able to send out a strong message to potential abusers that they would face five years’ imprisonment. That deterrent has not been there, and that is a great shame. Having said that, I welcome the fact that we are here now. I hope that the accelerator will be pressed and the Bill will get through Committee quickly and through the House of Lords, and perhaps by year end it will be law. While we are talking about the messages that are sent out and the importance of a deterrent, I think that children should be taught about animal welfare in schools.”
“He was here when we debated this in 2019, and he joined me in saying that there was so much of this legislation—the Wild Animals in Circuses Bill was another example—where the Government kept saying, “We really want to do this, but we just don’t have time to bring it forward.” But there have been loads of days when we have been on a one-line Whip, having general debates. We could have got this legislation through in one day, and then everyone could have taken part, and by now it would have been law. Although the Government will seek to get a lot of credit for supporting this Bill now, it could have become law in 2017 when Anna Turley first proposed it.”
“We did not know whether we were proroguing or nor proroguing, getting a Brexit deal or not getting a Brexit deal, having an election or not having an election. That Bill did not become law either. The Government promised to legislate in autumn 2019, and then they called an election. I mean no disrespect to the hon. Member for West Dorset, but I do not see why, when this was in the Queen’s Speech, it has been left to a private Member’s Bill—it could have been Government legislation. I see the hon. Member for Southend West (Sir David Amess) in his place.”
“There was no need for pre-legislative scrutiny of one clause that talked about sentencing. We then debated another version of the Bill on 10 July 2019. I recall the Government saying then that it was really important to legislate as quickly as possible. The Bill went into Committee, and I was on that Committee. The Government wanted to get it done and dusted before summer recess, so they did not want to talk about any amendments or complicate things. There was a suggestion that there should be a more severe penalty for those who film themselves indulging in animal cruelty and post it online, partly as a deterrent, but also because such actions encourage other people to indulge in that behaviour. I must admit that quite a lot of 2019 is a bit of a blur to me.”