Richard Foord
MP for Honiton and Sidmouth · Liberal Democrat · United Kingdom
“Forty Conservative MPs did not vote with their Government against an Opposition motion to ban fracking. Some Conservative MPs abstained because they were not in the House, but others abstained as a matter of principle, and I commend them.”
“There is a real danger that investment in fracking will be a catastrophic mistake, as the fuels, facilities and resources become stranded assets. There is a real risk that they will lose their value prematurely as the tide of renewable technology advances around them.”
“Before the fracking moratorium came into effect, drilling licences over shale gas reserves were issued across 127 constituencies in England and Wales, and there is a risk that communities will suffer from not just the seismic activity, but the polluted groundwater and the damage to natural habitats that flows from it.”
“It can lead to water scarcity and risks polluting our air, our soil, our health and our biodiversity. Green space and nature are an intrinsic part of life in the UK, and we should be protecting our wildlife with everything we have.”
“Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Thornbury and Yate (Claire Young) for securing this vital debate with the backing of the Backbench Business Committee.”
“What the public do support is action to mitigate the harmful effects of climate change. Eight in 10 people say that they are concerned about climate change—they want a transition to clean energy. In mid and east Devon, protecting our natural environment is a priority for thousands of people who have corresponded with me on the subject.”
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“According to the Migration Advisory Committee, in 2022-23, the average skilled migrant made a net contribution of around £16,300 to the UK public finances in their first year in the UK. Legal migration is a cornerstone of our economy, and because of our ageing population, it will continue to be so for years to come. I will now address migration through irregular routes, which is the focus of this debate, and in particular the use of immigration hotels. In May 2025, the Government noted that they would spend £2.2 billion this financial year on migrant hotels. That is an eye-watering sum, but it is part of the £1.28 trillion—or more than £1,200 billion—that the Government spend each year, so we are talking about less than 0.2% of public spending. None the less, £2.2 billion is an enormous sum of money.”
“I am grateful to my hon. Friend for talking about Europe, because our European neighbours are contending with exactly the same problems as us in this respect. The longer asylum seekers are drawn to the UK, the longer they are drawn into the European Union, so it is in our common interest to address this issue. I will talk a bit more about the EU and its member states later in my speech. Pundits are blurring the two issues, and while people say that immigration is wrecking the economy, the truth is quite the reverse. According to the Office for Budget Responsibility, higher legal net migration is expected to raise our total GDP by around 1.5% by 2028-29, while GDP per capita is likely to be raised by 0.8%. Migrants arriving with visas tend to arrive in their prime working years, paying more in taxes than they take out in services.”
“The Royal National Lifeboat Institution recalled rescuing children with chemical burns from leaked petrol, and others so frozen that they could not walk because they had spent 30 hours at sea. A Home Affairs Committee report found in 2022 that smugglers deceive migrants and downplay the risks and danger. More could be made of that.”
“Unsuccessful applicants could appeal from third countries, rather than from within the UK or EU, as is happening right now. We should work with our European partners so that we can find a continent-wide solution, because the UK will not be able to solve this alone. While such schemes may act as an incentive for people to apply from their own region, we also need to think about a deterrent. I was wholly opposed to the Rwanda scheme, which was brought forward by the Conservative Government at a cost of £700 million and then scrapped. More could be made of the fact that people are coming to a pretty appalling end in the English channel. The Migration Observatory reports that 73 people were confirmed to have drowned in the English channel while attempting small boat crossings in 2024.”
“Those were people who did not try to get to the UK through Europe, because they were assessed for their vulnerability in the region, in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. Let us remember the vulnerable three-year-old refugee, Alan Kurdi, whose fragile body washed up on a beach, with waves lapping into his dead face. A lot of people had a lot of sympathy at that time for taking asylum seekers who were in genuine need through a safe and legal route. Today, we need to think about deterring illegal ways of approaching the UK, and Britain should work with neighbouring countries and look to collaborate on proposing a third country where failed asylum seekers may be processed overseas, such as one in south-east Europe. That is something that EU member states are looking into at the moment.”
“I am of the view that asylum hotels should not be paid for by the foreign aid budget. This country has an international development budget that has fallen from 0.7%—when my party was in government with the hon. Gentleman’s—to 0.3% today, which is honestly a great pity. That is not helping us to prevent conflict and deal with the problem at source. From 2014 to 2015, we had the Syrian vulnerable persons resettlement scheme, which was set up by the coalition Government. It brought 20,000 of the most vulnerable refugees, including survivors of torture and violence, to the UK, but in a way that was safe and legal. Those people were assessed for their suitability by the UN high commissioner for refugees. We are talking about women and children at risk, as well as those in severe medical need and survivors of torture.”
“Thank you, Dr Murrison; I will conclude. Legal migration builds our economy, and it staffs our hospitals and care homes. Crossings by people who do not have a visa are damaging trust in Government. A builder put it quite simply to me in recent months when he said that the last Government promised to stop the boats, but the opposite happened, and he had lost faith in Government as a result. We need to stop these dangerous crossings and restore order to a broken asylum system. That means investing in safe and legal routes and working with our European allies and partners on shared solutions, communicating the truth about the dangers of crossing the channel to those who would try to do so. If we do that, we can protect our borders and values, while upholding the compassionate and common-sense country that we are.”
“I think the Minister is either misunderstanding or mischaracterising my contribution, but will he please comment on the potential return hubs for failed asylum seekers?”
“Under the existing criteria for free school meals, university maths schools have an excellent record for widening participation. We know that 7% of A-level maths students across the country are eligible for free school meals, compared with 13% of students at university maths schools. Will the Government consider expanding the number of places available at university maths schools?”
“Under the Local Government Act 1972, parochial church councils may serve notice requiring parish or district councils to assume responsibility for the maintenance of closed churchyards. Local government reorganisation and the creation of unitary authorities is requiring parish councils to take on more responsibility as district councils close. Are the Church Commissioners giving any thought to the effect of local government reorganisation on how those closed churchyards might be maintained?”
“Leaders should delegate responsibility but not accountability. The argument at Prime Minister’s questions yesterday revolved around whether a Minister or a special adviser had influenced the collapse of the case, and it was established that neither Ministers nor special advisers had involvement in the provision of evidence, but does the Minister think it would have been worth Ministers reflecting on the Intelligence and Security Committee’s 2023 China report and requesting sight of the witness statements provided by the senior civil servant before they were submitted? In essence, have the Government sought to delegate to a civil servant responsibility and accountability?”
“We have heard again this afternoon the line from the Minister that pharmacy staff are employed not by the NHS but by pharmacy businesses, and that this is just a dispute between staff and the pharmacy business that should be raised in the first instance with ACAS. Holli Froggatt from Sidmouth, a former member of Jhoots staff, has written to me to say that staff have emailed Jhoots begging for their wages as they have empty bank accounts. In normal circumstances, the Government like to lean on pharmacies to take the pressure off GPs, with such schemes as Pharmacy First, so how can the Minister simply wash his hands of this situation when staff have gone for three months without pay?”
“The Foreign Secretary mentioned that Speaker Stefanchuk of the Ukrainian Parliament—the Rada—was in the Gallery earlier today. He also met members of the all-party parliamentary group on Ukraine, when he drew a parallel between western sanctions packages and versions of the Apple iPhone: it feels like we see a new one every other week. Rather than the gradual introduction of sanctions on Russia, will the Foreign Secretary work with the United States and other allies to introduce a sanctions package that will really hurt Russian oligarchs in the pocket?”
“That sounds like a case in the area I represent, where Rachel and Andrew Webber had TB found. They then introduced an additional 11 cows, but the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said they would be compensated for only 50% of the cost of those cows, given that they were introduced after an ongoing TB outbreak had been found. Does my hon. Friend think that DEFRA should pay 100% compensation for those losses?”
“In 2023 the Intelligence and Security Committee published a report on China in which it wrote that China was a “whole-of-state threat”. In their 2023 public response to the ISC report, the Government wrote that they recognised “the committee’s concerns about the long-term strategic challenge”. The ISC had used the word “threat” rather than “challenge”. Does the Minister regret that in 2023 the Government’s response did not use the word “threat”?”
“I have been contacted by a contractor who worked on the last Labour Government’s ID card scheme. He wrote to me that “it was a massive waste of money” and suggested that it could be like “writing Fujitsu a blank cheque”. What sum are the Government setting aside for that cheque to the contractor to pay for the development of digital ID?”
“I am grateful to the hon. Member for securing this debate on renewing our democracy. First past the post served Labour and the Conservatives well in the 20th century, but the blowing open of electoral politics by smaller political parties means that many more people are now feeling under-represented. Does the hon. Member accept that it is time to replace first past the post with proportional representation?”
“Of 221 people arrested for supporting Palestine Action, 162 were arrested under section 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000. This prohibits people from carrying articles in public which “arouse reasonable suspicion that an individual is a member or supporter of a proscribed organisation.” Even the protesters who displayed those sickening pictures of Hamas paragliders in the week after 7 October were each given a conditional discharge. Will the Government please look again at the Terrorism Act to avoid clogging up the criminal justice system with people whose real motive is to support action on Palestine?”
“I was with the right hon. Gentleman at those Foreign Affairs Committee meetings. We should also say that there was no opportunity for us to quiz Lord Mandelson in a public setting.”
“While parliamentary scrutiny of any transatlantic partnership with the United States is essential, it is also essential with appointments to the role of ambassador. My instinct is that the UK ambassador to the US should be a professional British civil servant or an official.”
“In March this year, after his appointment, Mandelson said that President Zelensky should be “more supportive of US peace efforts”. Those remarks were so out of step that Ministers were forced to clarify that the comments did not reflect British Government policy. On the middle east, we know that the UK and US Governments have taken different approaches to the conflict, which leaves us wondering in what circumstances the UK position has not been portrayed correctly in Washington DC. Trade is another area of concern. On 1 April, I gave the First Reading of the UK-USA Trade Agreements (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Bill, a ten-minute rule Bill arguing for stronger parliamentary scrutiny of any trade deal.”
“Our system is set up for the appointment of senior civil servants, who receive vetting on a rolling basis. The Foreign Affairs Committee was not afforded the opportunity to question Lord Mandelson, either in public before his appointment or subsequentially. With the appointment of Lord Mandelson, we saw neither the professionalism of the appointment of a British civil servant nor the scrutiny associated with political appointees in the US system. We should also look hard at what has happened in US-UK relations since Lord Mandelson took up his post last December. On Ukraine, Lord Mandelson’s line was arguably closer to the US than to the UK, prior to his appointment as ambassador. He spoke frivolously on the Kuenssberg programme about “whatever happens to the fringes of Ukraine territory”. That was not the British Government’s position.”
“Donald Trump’s choice for new ambassador to London is a case in point: he is an investment banker and a donor to the Republican party, not a career diplomat. By 3 September, Donald Trump had appointed 67 ambassadors in his second term, 61 of whom—more than 90%—are political appointees. In the United States, such appointments are subject to public scrutiny. Every US ambassador must first appear before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, submitting detailed disclosures on their background, finances and potential conflicts of interest, before facing direct questioning in a public hearing. In the United States, only after that confirmation hearing does the nomination proceed to the full Senate, where a confirmation vote is required. That ensures a level of transparency and accountability that is absent from the UK system.”
“For example, Baron Llewellyn of Steep, the former chief of staff to Baron Cameron of Chipping Norton when he was Prime Minister, was appointed ambassador to France in 2016 and now serves now as His Majesty’s ambassador to Italy. He gained experience with Chris Patten in Hong Kong—later Baron Patten—and then with Lord Ashdown when he was high representative for Bosnia, so he plainly has enormous international experience. Crucially, shortly after the political appointment of Baron Llewellyn was made, he was called to the Foreign Affairs Committee in 2017 to give evidence. Let us contrast the British way with how the United States makes its ambassadorial appointments. It is common for American Presidents to reward political donors or allies with ambassadorial posts.”
“The UK has a proud tradition of appointing career civil servants as ambassadors. Our senior diplomatic service is respected worldwide and, while travelling with the Foreign Affairs Committee this year, I have heard high praise for our “Rolls-Royce civil service”. It is professional, reliable and globally respected. One strength of the British civil service lies in the clear separation between politicians and officials. Since the Northcote and Trevelyan report of 1854, civil service impartiality has been a sine qua non of a permanent civil service, and the reputation of the British Government depends upon it. That rigid distinction has served us well across the decades and applies in the staffing of our most senior diplomatic posts. There have been occasional exceptions.”
“Will the Government give a commitment that in future any political appointment to a senior diplomatic role will go before the Foreign Affairs Committee for scrutiny before the appointment is confirmed? Will the Government amend section 10(2) of CRaG to ensure that diplomats, like senior civil servants, are appointed on the basis of merit and “fair and open competition”?”
“I agree wholeheartedly. I commend the right hon. Gentleman on calling this debate in the first place, and he is right. It was rumoured that Karen Pierce wanted to or was at least willing to stay on in post for another year, and she would have represented us in an excellent manner, which we know was characteristic of her. The Prime Minister has extensive powers to appoint senior officials. Usually the civil service commissioners lead this process to ensure that the selection is on the basis of merit. The Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010, or CRaG, allows the Prime Minister to bypass that check on his power, and in this case it has had disastrous consequences. As I conclude, I have two questions for the Minister.”
“Rail travellers are used to the excuse of leaves on the line, but travellers on the railway between Exeter and London Waterloo have recently encountered a new one: soil moisture deficit. Dualling the line on a three-mile section of the track near Whimple could give passengers travelling on the west of England line two trains per hour. Will the Minister please look favourably at that modest investment, which would improve frequency, reliability and resilience for one of the two main rail routes into the south-west?”
“On the Foreign Affairs Committee, we have seen the high calibre of career diplomats who usually take up the most senior ambassadorial appointments, so it is not obvious to me why the British ambassador to the United States was a former MP. In the emails that have leaked overnight, it appears that Lord Mandelson thinks that to govern is to schmooze. He famously declared in an election victory speech that he was a fighter, not a quitter, yet he urged the convicted paedophile, Jeffrey Epstein, that to fight for early release was the right thing. And Lord Mandelson did not do the decent thing and quit. Does the Minister regret the original appointment?”
“I represent people who work at the excellent Living Systems Institute at the University of Exeter. The purpose-built institute was launched in 2017 to bring together physicists, mathematicians, biologists and biomedical scientists, with the expectation that the life sciences sector was going to enjoy substantial foreign direct investment in the years to come. What effect do the Government anticipate the withdrawal of private investment for life sciences will have on research students, including those at Exeter?”
“I would like to request a debate on rural broadband and rural 4G. Broadband coverage in much of Devon is poor, in spite of the last Government saying that they would spend £5 billion on it. These 4G notspots are widespread, but the Government scheme to get rid of them bears absolutely no relation to the broadband scheme. Will this Government please get a map of those areas without proper broadband, plot the 4G notspots on it and at least get everyone I represent one or the other?”
“I should say to my right hon. Friend that I think it is an excellent report—I am amazed to hear that 235 tonnes of illegal meat were detained at the border. On 18 August, the Government announced they will pause the planned introduction of physical checks on live animals at the border with the EU to support businesses ahead of some sort of deal on sanitary and phytosanitary products. What effect does he think that deal, if it takes place, might have on illegal meat trade?”
“Trains back up at passing points, delays ripple down the line, and at busy times South Western Railway has to cut—or it has been cutting, at least—carriage numbers in half, leaving people crammed in. One solution would involve increasing rail capacity along the line between Axminster and Exeter. At its heart, there would be a new 3-mile section of dual track near Whimple and Cranbrook. That single improvement would make a huge difference. With the double track in place, South Western Railway could run an additional hourly shuttle service between Axminster and Exeter, which would give Honiton and Axminster two trains every hour to Exeter and would mean that Whimple and Feniton would get a reliable hourly service. People would have better onward connections from Exeter St Davids to Plymouth, Barnstaple, Bristol, Birmingham and beyond.”
“Those figures were collected even before the disruption on South Western Railway over the summer, when speeds were reduced because of the hot, dry weather caused by the “soil moisture deficit”. A journey from Honiton to London, which should take a little over three hours, was dragged out to nearly four. Services from Axminster, Whimple and Feniton to Exeter were reduced to just one every two hours. That is not a service that people can rely on for work, for getting to college or for family life, and with hotter summers set to become more frequent, we need a lasting solution. Even in normal times, the line is fragile. It depends on a long single-track section, which means that if one train is late, other trains are delayed, too.”
“I was listening to Radio 4 yesterday evening, and I was hearing about transport problems in London. Let’s face it: when we hear about transport problems in London, we know exactly what they mean, but pity also the poor people in the provinces who rarely come to London but have to hear all about London’s daily problems. In Devon, the struggle with our rail infrastructure is not just an occasional disruption; it is an everyday reality. Every year, there are around 50 million rail journeys to, from or within the south-west of England, yet according to the Office of Rail and Road, between January and March this year, only 67% of South Western Railway services ran on time, meaning that one in three trains arrived late.”
“It is time for the Government to demonstrate that attention to transport in the south-west is just as necessary as that in London.”
“Reliability is failing and spare parts are running out. We need Government decisions on new trains—battery, electric or hybrid—so that by the early 2030s we might have a modern, clean, reliable fleet. Rural and coastal communities such as Honiton and Sidmouth must not be left behind. South Western Railway is doing what it can. Since I asked the Rail Minister a question this morning at Transport questions, South Western Railway has announced replacement buses from Axminster to Exeter, and between Feniton, Whimple and Exeter. But that is a sticking plaster. What we really need is investment that would allow it to run reliable trains, not just replacement bus services. People in the south-west pay many of the same taxes as those in London, but face long delays, overcrowding and fewer trains.”
“My hon. Friend is absolutely right. He points to how it is much more affordable simply to dual a piece of track than it is to invest in new railway lines, as we talked about a lot in the last Parliament. For students studying at Exeter college, for workers heading into Exeter and for businesses trading across the south-west, such a solution would be transformative. It would make the railway more resilient. When there are delays, whether they are because of flooding, autumn leaves or dry clay embankments, trains could pass more easily. With the Government planning around 20,000 new homes along the line between Axminster and Exeter, demand on this stretch of railway will only increase. Finally, we cannot ignore the rolling stock—the trains themselves. The diesel fleet is nearly 40 years old.”
“Qatar has used its good offices for diplomatic negotiations for many years. Taliban representatives secretly arrived in Qatar 15 years ago and subsequently attended peace conferences in Japan, Germany and France. If the UK and our allies let these strikes by the Netanyahu-led Government go, they could be a precedent for strikes on other intermediaries. How are the Government encouraging our allies to introduce sanctions on members of the far-right Israeli Government?”
“The Russian drones over Poland were tracked by Polish aircraft but also by Dutch aircraft stationed in Poland. That reminds us that four years ago Putin sought a roll-back in NATO deployments from central and eastern Europe. In 2021 Russia outrageously demanded that NATO allies deploy no forces in countries that joined the alliance after 1997. Does the Minister agree that had the US acceded to those demands, we might be seeing devastating consequences in Poland today?”
“My hon. Friend talks about the economic benefits of national trails. In my constituency, we have the South West Coast Path, which attracts 9 million visitors every year and is reckoned to support them spending about £500 million. Does my hon. Friend recognise that a south-west inland path would maintain more hospitality jobs in Devon? Does he recognise the value for the hospitality sector in his constituency too?”
“The King Charles III coastal path will be an impressive achievement, if we can make it happen. Would the Minister commend the section between Lyme Regis and Sidmouth in my constituency? Would she also pay tribute to the National Trust, which does great work in maintaining our coastal paths?”
“The Minister talked about a cross-Government approach, and last week the Ministry of Defence stood up the cyber and specialist operations command, building on the foundations of strategic command and bringing together more than 26,000 specialists. Can the Minister comment on what collaboration exists between officials at the Department for Business and Trade and those working in this area in the MOD?”
“Mr Justice Chamberlain granted the judicial review on the basis that the Home Secretary had not consulted Palestine Action before proscribing it. The judge ruled that it was “reasonably arguable” that there was a duty to consult Palestine Action before proscribing it, as reported in The Guardian . If organisations meet a high standard and a high threshold for proscription under the Terrorism Act, why should there be a duty to consult that organisation before proscribing it?”
“Over the summer I joined the Chief of the General Staff on a visit to Supacat at Dunkeswell in Devon. I learned there that to keep supply chains active, manufacturers need continuous orders that keep British-made capabilities sharp. I am pleased to hear that Plymouth is going to enjoy a cut of the £250 million pledged for defence growth deals, but can the Minister let us know about the next order for the incredible Jackal 3 high mobility transporter?”
“Ukrainians are resisting Putin’s attempts to dictate their future, and in so doing, they defend democracy and the rule of law for the rest of Europe, just as we did in 1940. As we remember the courage on our cliffs, the squadrons at Exeter and the courageous servicemen we lost, we must also face today’s reality. Europe is turbulent, even though the threats do not now start at our shores and, of course, the battle of Britain was not fought alone by Britain; it was flown by pilots from across the Commonwealth and from across Europe. It reminds us that we are most secure when we stand with our allies and with our friends. Let remembrance be matched by resolve to work again to protect our nation, strengthen our shared security, and keep the democratic, liberal ideals that were bestowed on us by the few.”
“92 Squadron through the fiercest months of 1940, recording 11 confirmed victories over the Luftwaffe before being shot down near Brighton in September and awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in October 1940. In Devon itself during the battle, our farms, our coves and our clifftop posts became part of that national nervous system that we have heard referred to by my hon. Friend the Member for Tewkesbury and the right hon. Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Sir Iain Duncan Smith). Observers’ eyes and telephone wires fed the Dowding system that cued the fighters on to their targets. The young men and women of 1940 fought for a Europe where free nations decide their own future, and today those ideals are being tested once again in Europe.”
“RAF Exeter, to the west of today’s Aylesbeare, was a No. 10 Group sector station. It is now Exeter airport, but at that time was for the benefit of the Royal Air Force. From there, Hurricanes of 87 and 213 Squadrons took off to protect the channel and support the hard-pressed south-east of England. The station opened on 6 July 1940, and by August its pilots were already intercepting raids along the coast and near neighbouring Dorset and Portland. It was on 20 August 1940 that Churchill said those famous words, “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” —[ Official Report , 20 August 1940; Vol. 364, c. 1167.] Devon was home to some of the few. Born in Teignmouth, Group Captain Alan Richard Wright flew with No.”
“It is an honour to serve with you in the Chair, Sir Desmond. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Tewkesbury (Cameron Thomas) for choosing and securing this debate. In June 1940, with France fallen, Hitler expected Britain to negotiate a peace deal. When Britain made it clear that it would fight on, Hitler prepared the invasion of Britain, Operation Sea Lion. But first, he had to win command of the air over southern England. It sounded simple, but Devon had other ideas. Devon became one of the most militarised parts of England—the beaches of Beer, Seaton and Sidmouth were lined with barbed wire and scaffold barriers. Eighty-five years later, defensive bunkers still sit above Jacob’s Ladder in Sidmouth and at Beer beach. These are blunt reminders of how close invasion then felt.”
“A constituent got in touch with me because sadly his daughter did not see her 30th birthday owing to an eating disorder. The point that my constituent made was that that was in part because of a lack of adequate services for those affected by these life-threatening conditions. Does the hon. Member agree?”