Ms Julie Minns
MP for Carlisle · Labour · United Kingdom
“There is something powerful about the fact that primary school children have recognised a problem that we as lawmakers have yet to address. I would like to be clear: the issue is not e-bikes. It is illegal e-bikes.”
“Since then, with thanks to Maisie Stewart and Clark Becken in my team, I have had the privilege of meeting manufacturers, retailers, charities, the bicycle and motorcycle industries, and police and community groups, not just in Carlisle but well beyond.”
“On a positive note, I have been delighted to spend time visiting and speaking with some of the amazing legitimate cycle businesses and organisations in my constituency, including Rebike Cumbria, which refurbishes bikes, helping people on low incomes to enjoy the physical and mental health benefits of cycling.”
“I thank the Minister for her response; I know that she shares my concern about the increasing use of illegal e-bikes on our streets. When I visited Palace Cycles in Carlisle, the owner told me that he is increasingly under pressure from people who have illegally modified bikes to do repairs on them.”
“One of the things that Sir David understood well is that the best causes we take up as parliamentarians begin not in Westminster but in our constituencies. Like the hon. Member for Stockton West (Matt Vickers), I have had many constituents come to me worried about the growing presence of illegal e-bikes on our streets.”
“It is about public safety, crime, antisocial behaviour, consumer protection and business, and—most importantly for all of us—it is about our communities. Next year, the Tour de France comes not just to Britain but to my constituency of Carlisle.”
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“The reality is that if someone lives in a big city with access to a university teaching hospital, their access to cancer treatment will be different from those who live in a town or small city like Carlisle, where we face challenges in recruiting and retaining specialist consultants. Does the Minister agree that this plan, combined with the pioneering approach to training doctors at the new Pears Cumbria School of Medicine, will begin to fix those inequalities that my constituents experience?”
“The hon. Gentleman is talking about mobile outreach services. One of the things that concerns me is that when the Post Office closes a bricks-and-mortar branch, it is required to carry out a six-week consultation with the community, but when it closes a mobile outreach service, there is no requirement for a consultation, even though that service may have been put in because of a branch closure. Does he agree that, regardless of whether we are talking about bricks and mortar or a temporary desk in a village hall, the Post Office should be under the same obligation to consult with the community?”
“Q2. Every month, people across our constituencies are injured by illegal e-bikes being ridden at 30, 40 and 50 mph through our town centres and parks, but for every illegal e-bike that the police seize and crush, another 10 hit our streets, because they are too freely available to buy. That is why Cumbria’s police, fire and crime commissioner and 28 other police commissioners across the UK are now backing my Bill, which would ban the sale of illegal e-bikes. Will the Prime Minister set out what action the Government will take to protect the public and ban the sale of these monster bikes?”
“My hon. Friend makes the point about people needing to feel safe in their communities. One of the issues that many of us hear from our constituents about is illegal e-bikes speeding through our parks and town centres. Many reputable dealers, such as Bikeseven and Palace Cycles in my constituency, would never sell an illegal e-bike, but they are widely available. Does my hon. Friend agree that the time has come to ban the sale of illegal e-bikes and cut the problem off at source?”
“Last week I visited the brilliant family-run Clark Door company in my Carlisle constituency. Clark Door designs, manufactures and exports right across the globe, and supplies venues such as the Tate Modern, the Qatar national centre and, topically as we approach next weekend’s super bowl, the National Football League media centre in New York. What support can the Government give to exporters such as Clark Door so that their pioneering research and development ensures their continued export success, and will the Minister visit Carlisle to take a look behind the—Clark—door?”
“The Royal National Institute of Blind People’s 2024 report, “Turned Out”, found that disabled people face significant barriers when it comes to casting their vote, a finding echoed by the Electoral Commission in its report last year. Both those reports informed my ten-minute rule Bill on this subject, which I presented to the House last year. Could the Leader of the House arrange for the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government to make a statement on improving accessibility at our polling stations for disabled people ahead of this year’s elections?”
“It must be the case that when a product is capable of killing or causing injury, and its sale cannot be reasonably regulated, it simply should not be sold. Let us be clear: lawful, safe e-bikes are part of our future. What the Bill would do it introduce measured, necessary steps to make our streets safer, to protect our constituents, and to stop the sale of monster e-bikes. I commend it to the House. Question put and agreed to. Ordered, That Ms Julie Minns, Luke Akehurst, Liam Byrne, Anna Dixon, Tim Farron, Fabian Hamilton, Tom Hayes, Alex McIntyre, Jim Shannon and Bradley Thomas present the Bill. Ms Julie Minns accordingly presented the Bill. Bill read the First time; to be read a Second time on Friday 27 February, and to be printed (Bill 372).”
“Cutting off the sale and marketing of illegal e-bikes would remove dangerous products before they reach our streets. The Bill recognises that enforcement must be paired with support. It would give trading standards bodies, the police and other regulators targeted powers to act against sellers and online marketplaces. It would require clear consumer information so that buyers are not misled into thinking that high-powered machines are road legal. It would also help riders who rely on e-bikes for work to continue to access safe, legal e-bikes. The Bill is a practical, evidence-led measure that is intended to reduce the harm we see in our communities, protect the vulnerable and make our streets safer. As I have set out, it draws on the same logic that led Parliament to ban the sale of other dangerous items.”
“We ban the retail sale of flick knives because they are capable of killing and causing serious injury; we restrict the sale of F4 fireworks to those who are trained to use them safely; and we ban the use, import and supply of asbestos-containing materials, because they can kill. Those bans are about removing from the market products that are known to harm and kill. Monster e-bikes harm and kill. The Bill is targeted and proportionate. It would continue to allow the sale and enjoyment of legal e-bikes, but it would shut down the sale and marketing of illegal monster bikes and the kits used to create them. It would give regulators and the police powers to seize and destroy non-compliant bikes and conversion kits at the point of sale, and it would create clear offences and penalties for retailers of illegal products.”
“Cumbria’s police, fire and crime commissioner, David Allen, who is in the Public Gallery today, believes that the time has come to stop the problem at the source by banning the sale of these illegal e-bikes and the conversion kits that create them. I agree, which is why I am introducing the Bill. Online marketplaces and overseas suppliers sell high-powered e-bikes and conversion kits with minimal checks, scant safety information and no clear liability. Too often, buyers assume that a product is legal because the website does not say otherwise. We already accept that some dangerous items simply must not be sold to the public.”
“Last summer, in Greater Manchester, a 70-year-old woman was left in a coma and with life-changing injuries after being hit by an e-bike advertised with a top speed of 47 mph, and in 2024 an 86-year-old man from Lancashire was hit and killed by an illegal e-bike. We cannot continue to let this happen. These, frankly, are illegal, unregistered, untaxed monster bikes without MOTs. These bikes have become a menace not just on the streets of Carlisle, but in communities across the UK. Their speed and lack of traceability makes them the perfect accomplice in robbery, phone theft and drug dealing. Our local neighbourhood police teams have done a good job of seizing and crushing these illegal machines, but they are fighting a losing battle.”
“Those e-bikes and the conversion kits used to create them are being sold with batteries capable of reaching speeds far beyond 15.5 mph. A bike seized and tested earlier this month in my constituency of Carlisle found that the bike was capable of 37 mph. Another e-bike seized in my constituency was found to have a battery capable of achieving 56 mph. Nationally, police have seized e-bikes capable of 70 mph. These are not minor issues. These are illegal vehicles that can, and do, kill. Last year, in Australia, a pedestrian was killed after he was struck by an illegally modified e-bike. Last October, a 60-year-old woman was killed in New York by an e-bike capable of travelling at 30 mph.”
“E-bikes, when they conform to the law, are a force for good. They mean cleaner journeys, better public health and less congestion. By law, e-bike motors should have a maximum continuous power output of 250 W and should cut out when the bike reaches 15.5 mph. Going faster than that is perfectly permissible without a motor. Indeed, I am told that for some people it is entirely possible—a fact that I am sure I will see at first hand when the Tour de France travels through my constituency next summer. But those speeds, as those athletes will demonstrate, will be reached without motorised assistance. The sad reality, as Members know, is that right now, as I speak, there are illegal e-bikes on the streets of our constituencies that are reaching dangerously high speeds.”
“I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to prohibit the marketing, sale, and supply of electrically assisted pedal cycles that fall outside the class of electrically assisted pedal cycles prescribed under the Electrically Assisted Pedal Cycles Regulations 1983 and of equipment capable of converting a pedal cycle into a such a vehicle; and for connected purposes. The Bill is without doubt a mouthful, and it may seem technical and dry, but at its core it is about safety, clarity and responsibility. It is about protecting pedestrians, other road users, lawful cyclists, constituents and our communities from vehicles that look like bikes but behave like motorbikes. It is about stopping the sale of illegal e-bikes and the kits that turn ordinary, everyday pedal bikes into illegal monster bikes.”
“In other words, we need a training pathway that allows people to specialise with Cumbria, not away from it, because if we allow the system to pull trainees out of Carlisle at the very moment they are beginning to put down roots, we will simply recreate and repeat the cycle that has left rural areas like mine short of doctors for too long. The Pears Cumbria School of Medicine is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reshape the medical workforce in Cumbria, but it will fully succeed only if training programmes are aligned with its purpose. In welcoming the Bill, I urge Ministers to ensure that its implementation meets the requirements and needs of remote communities. Prioritisation is important, but place matters too.”
“Pears medical school believes that a new approach to specialist training is the way forward. I recently wrote to the Secretary of State seeking a meeting between him and representatives of the medical school to explore that approach, and I very much hope that he will soon accept that meeting. I also ask Ministers to consider seriously how specialty training can be structured so that trainees who complete F2 in Cumbria are supported to remain based in the region, even if their specialist rotations take them elsewhere for short periods. That could mean funded return-to-base arrangements, rotational models anchored in Cumbria, or formal partnerships between specialist centres in UK cities and community providers in Cumbria.”
“Even if we successfully retain Pears medical school doctors in Cumbria for their foundation programme training, the risk of losing them when they come to their specialty training programme is even greater, because doctors will overwhelmingly choose to settle near to where they complete their training, particularly their specialist training, and Cumbria will never be able to provide every specialty training pathway within the county to retain our home-grown talent. We simply do not have the population size or the case mix to deliver all specialisms in our trusts. However, that does not mean that we cannot design a system that keeps trainees connected to Cumbria throughout their training. I therefore urge the Minister to consider how the regulation-making powers granted by the Bill can address that issue.”
“The North Cumbria integrated care trust is able to provide places for some foundation trainees, and others will find F1 and F2 posts in primary and community care settings, but further accredited places will be required at foundation level. I ask the Minister to explain, in her response, not just how the new powers will prioritise UK medical graduates and members of the priority group, but how the powers might be used to widen the availability of accredited F1 and F2 posts in areas such as Cumbria, where there is a shortage of doctors.”
“The Bill represents a significant and welcome step towards restoring confidence in the training pipeline, addressing the growing mismatch between the number of medical graduates and the number of available posts, and ensuring that those who have invested years of training in our NHS are not left without a route on which to progress. It is a sensible, fair-minded reform that will bring much-needed stability to a system that has been under real strain. For Carlisle and Cumbria, however, the issue is not only who gets priority but where the training posts are located. At present, although foundation training can be delivered locally, it can be delivered only where accredited F1 and F2 posts exist. In Cumbria, the number of those posts is limited.”
“In geographically remote areas such as ours, the ability to train and retain our own doctors is critical. It matters enormously. Cumbria faces some of the most entrenched health inequalities in the country. We have struggled for years with recruitment and retention across both primary and secondary care, and our hospital trust relies heavily on locums. We know all too well that the traditional model of medical education, centred on large metropolitan teaching hospitals, simply does not produce or attract the workforce that rural areas such as mine need. That brings me back to the Bill before us today. The Government are right to prioritise UK graduates for foundation and specialty training places.”
“As with the Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill before us today, the Pears Cumbria School of Medicine purposefully prioritises home-grown talent. The school also seeks applications from students from non-traditional backgrounds, encouraging applications from groups that are less well represented in medicine. As part of the school’s commitment to widening access, the four-year graduate programme has no GCSE or A-level requirements. The reason for this approach is simple: it provides the best chance, year in, year out and generation after generation, for Carlisle and Cumbria to produce our own doctors. These doctors will often come from the surrounding communities and, in part because of where they are trained, will be deeply committed to the local area and its people.”
“I would like to place on record my interest as the mother of an NHS nurse. It is a privilege to speak in today’s debate and to do so on behalf of my Carlisle constituency, which I am proud to say has recently taken a transformative step with regard to medical training, with the opening of the Pears Cumbria School of Medicine. This new graduate school of medicine is being jointly pioneered by Imperial College London and the University of Cumbria, and I put on record my thanks to Professor Martin Lupton, Professor Mary Morrell and Professor Brian Webster-Henderson, whose vision the medical school is, and to Sir Trevor Pears and the Pears Foundation, whose generosity has made their vision a reality.”
“Last Friday I held a community meeting with Cumbria’s police, fire and crime commissioner, David Allen. Since his election just 20 months ago, he has been focused on taking those officers who were forced into the back room under the last Government and putting them back on the frontline. Can the Home Secretary please reassure me, and our police, fire and crime commissioner, that the reforms she has outlined today will continue to strengthen frontline policing, particularly in rural areas such as Cumbria?”
“I recently met representatives of Cumbria Council for Voluntary Service and ACTion with Communities in Cumbria to discuss community resilience in Carlisle and north Cumbria. One of the challenges we face in geographically remote areas such as mine is the speed with which local authorities and other agencies are able to deploy staff to close floodgates and shut roads when we have an area affected by flooding. Will the Minister set out what steps the Government are taking to encourage statutory bodies to train and equip community emergency volunteers to carry out those vital tasks?”
“The hon. Lady is making a powerful point about the number of children who are outside of the classroom globally and the impact that has, but it also happens in our own country. I recently visited the Gillford Centre pupil referral unit in my constituency. It does phenomenal work and, unlike other schools, the hallmark of its success is pupils leaving and going back into mainstream education. Does the hon. Lady agree that pupil referral units like the Gillford Centre make a huge contribution to closing the opportunity gap that we know exists abroad and at home?”
“My hon. Friend mentions food imports and illegal imports. Next month will be the 25th anniversary of the devastating foot and mouth outbreak. Nowhere knows better than my Carlisle and north Cumbria constituency just what happens when foot and mouth takes hold. Does my hon. Friend agree that illegal meat imports heighten the risk of animal diseases such as foot and mouth, and that we need a co-ordinated strategy that involves the Government, local authorities and local port authorities to ensure that we counter such biosecurity risks?”
“It is 20 years since I co-authored the first code of practice on new forms of content on mobile. In the intervening 20 years, we have seen the proliferation of over-the-top services that bypass the network-level filters that we introduced as part of that code of practice. However, social media does not neatly fall into a categorisation of either age-inappropriate or harmful, so will the Secretary of State please commit to working with the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, which is working already to gather evidence on the harm to ensure that our conclusions from this consultation are evidence led?”
“My constituents, like those of so many of us, have written to me about this. I want to talk about Jessica, who wrote to describe how the impact that fireworks had on her father reduced him to a near panic attack. She also has a friend who served in multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a dog who is reduced to panting and drooling to the point where she fears that he is going to have a heart attack. At the weekend, the owner of Eden Valley Pet Foods spoke to me because the impact of fireworks on one of his dogs—a gundog—leaves him very traumatised. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that this is not about backing a ban, or banning the bang, but about achieving a solution that balances enjoyment with mitigating the trauma that so many people and animals experience?”
“As the Minister has already mentioned, the previous Government postponed elections in 2021, including in my constituency. Does she agree with the words of the right hon. Member for Newark (Robert Jenrick), who was the Communities Secretary at the time—and whom I note is not in either of his recent places in the Chamber this afternoon—that holding elections “in such circumstances”, namely local government reorganisation, risks “confusing voters and would be hard to justify where members could be elected to serve shortened terms”? —[ Official Report , 22 February 2021; Vol. 689, c. 24WS.]”
“Next year, the Tour de France will return to the UK for the first time since 2014, starting in Edinburgh. The route through northern England has yet to be determined, but does the Minister agree that there could be no finer starting point than my constituency of Carlisle and Cumbria, and will she ensure that the excitement that the tour engenders translates into support for cycling right across our country?”
“I very much welcome the fact that, from next year, an estimated 85% of farms will pay no more inheritance tax on their farming and business assets. I agree with the Minister that it is a proportionate measure that aims to prevent the wealthy from abusing APR, and I know that he is mindful of the profitability of our small and medium-sized farms. Will he undertake to work with colleagues in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to make sure that we get the definition right for the new sustainable farming incentive, so that as many of those small and medium-sized farms as possible are eligible for it?”
“I join the Minister in congratulating our rural crime teams on their work. I invite her to pay tribute to Special Constable Susan Holliday who has served almost 40 years as a special constable and was awarded the British empire medal in the new year’s honours. I am delighted to invite the Minister to my constituency to meet Susan Holliday.”
“Happy new year, Mr Speaker. I pay tribute to Carlisle NFU and my constituents who have raised this issue with me over the last 14 months, and I thank the Minister and his colleagues for engaging constructively and listening to those representations. North Cumbrian farmers face land price increases as a result of forestry firms snapping up large parcels of land and large landowners seeking to abuse the IHT system by hiding their wealth, and this is an important step in balancing the need to tackle that abuse and rising land prices and the need to raise the revenue required for our village schools, local health services and to tackle crime. Does the Minister agree that this now achieves that balance?”
“In praising these women, we praise Austen’s vision—a vision that still speaks to us today. Her heroines remind us that strength comes in many forms: in wit, in kindness, in perseverance and the in courage to choose one’s own path. Those are heroines I feel we need now more than ever.”
“I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight years and a half ago. Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you. Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant.” By the way, if anyone is looking for an Austen to watch over the Christmas period, I strongly commend the BBC’s 1995 adaptation of “Persuasion”. Austen’s heroines are not rebels in the loud sense. They do not storm barricades or shout slogans. Their rebellion is subtle, yet profound. They insist on being true to themselves in a world that often demands compromise. They value love, but never at the cost of dignity. They seek happiness, but never by surrendering principle.”
“She refuses to marry for convenience, choosing instead to marry for love and equality. Elinor Dashwood, calm and rational, teaches us the strength of quiet resilience, while her sister Marianne embodies the beauty and the peril of unguarded passion. Then there is Emma Woodhouse, clever and confident, whose journey from vanity to humility shows that growth is the true mark of greatness. My favourite is Anne Elliot, whose quiet endurance and steadfast heart reveal that patience and hope can triumph over time and circumstance. In my favourite passage, she moves Captain Wentworth to declare: “I can listen no longer in silence. I must speak to you by such means as are within my reach. You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever.”
“Our home was modest, my parents hard working and, while storybooks were read to me as a child, the books on our shelves in my adolescence were dictionaries and encyclopaedias, not novels. Therefore, I owe a debt of thanks to my English teachers at Trinity school, Carlisle, for opening up a world of Austen, Dickens, Hardy, the Brontës and—perhaps less enjoyably—James Joyce. However, literature does not have to adhere to Joyce’s experimentalism to be good, and I would argue that the strength of Austen’s work, and what we learn from it, lies in the gentle subtlety of her drawn characters. Her heroines are not perfect; they stumble, they err and they learn. That is precisely what makes them extraordinary. Elizabeth Bennet, with her wit and courage, reminds us that self-respect is non-negotiable.”
“I cannot claim a constituency link to Jane Austen, but I would draw members attention to a doctoral researcher at the University of Cumbria, headquartered in my constituency, whose doctoral research explores Jane Austen’s depiction of walking as a form of resistance by her heroines—and it is her heroines that I wish to talk about in my brief remarks. She is a creator of heroines who have stood the test of time. In an era where women were often confined by social norms, Austen gave us characters who dared to think, to feel and to act with independence and integrity. Those characteristics were embodied by my own A-level English teacher, Mrs Nutley, who steered us through the social pretensions and moral hypocrisy laid bare in “Mansfield Park” and unlocked in me a love of Jane Austen. I come from a working-class family.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Efford. I sincerely congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Basingstoke (Luke Murphy) for securing this debate. To take a quote from my favourite Austen novel, “Persuasion”: “I wish nature had made such hearts…more common”. I am also delighted to see the Minister in his place, not least because it has prompted me to consider which of Austen’s clergymen the Minister might best embody. He will be relieved to know I have discounted Edmund Bertram and Edward Ferrars, but I think we might be able to agree that he embodies Henry Tilney from “Northanger Abbey”, with his quick wit.”
“Merry Christmas, Mr Speaker. A recent outbreak of avian flu near Wetheral in my constituency affected 43,000 birds and required the culling of the entire flock. Although I welcome the turkey vaccination trial, I am concerned that it will not conclude in time for the vaccine to be rolled out for the next avian flu season. Will the Minister set out what steps she is taking to remove the regulatory barriers that might prevent a roll-out in time for the next avian flu season?”
“I took the opportunity a little earlier to wish you a merry Christmas, Mr Speaker. May I echo your thanks to all the House staff for everything they do all year round to guide us and keep us safe? I recently visited St James Carlisle Guides and Brownies. I was reminded then, as I was by the recent death of my 100-year-old aunt, who was a Guide leader and county commissioner for many years, of the important and invaluable support that volunteer Guide leaders give to young women and girls. Next year marks 70 years of the Queen’s Guide award. Will the Leader of the House consider how we might best celebrate and thank generations of Guide leaders?”
“My hon. Friend makes an important point about indoor cricket, which is particularly vital in Cumbria because our weather requires slightly more cover-ups than cover drives. I recently learned that, through the Super 1s programme, Cumbria Cricket is now offering table cricket to young disabled people in a number of schools such as James Rennie school and Richard Rose central academy in my constituency. Does my hon. Friend agree that the Lord’s Taverners funding that makes that possible is absolutely vital to ensuring that the game of cricket is inclusive at a grassroots level?”
“Women and girls must have confidence both in the strategy and that the perpetrators of the violence against them will be brought to book. However, when I asked the Crown Prosecution Service to review a decision not to prosecute a case of violent assault against one of my constituents, it pushed back its own deadline for a decision. Can the Minister please reassure me and my constituent that the strategy has the full support of all Government Departments, including the Attorney General’s Office, so that we build a justice system that has the confidence of women and girls?”
“In 1135, Scotland’s King David seized it, turning its castle into the beating heart of Scottish power. Two decades later it returned to English control under Henry II, whose treaty of York in 1237 finally fixed the border—or so Carlisle thought. In 1315 Robert the Bruce, of whom we have already heard mention today, marched south and laid siege to Carlisle, fresh from his triumph at Bannockburn. For days the city’s defenders fought, the walls shook under bombardment, but Carlisle held firm. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Jacobite rebellions again threatened Carlisle’s status. Indeed, it is joked locally that the reason why our old town hall’s clock tower, which has four faces, does not have a clock on its north-facing side is because we people of Carlisle would not give the Scots the time of day.”
“Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker—today is indeed my birthday. I thank my Scottish colleagues for letting me, as an English Member, crash this debate on St Andrew’s day. I have the great privilege of representing the great border city of Carlisle, the only city in the United Kingdom to have been governed by both the Scottish and English Crowns during its history. Standing just a few miles south of the Scottish border, Carlisle is a fortress city, its provenance bloodily contested for centuries. From its origins in Roman times—when not one but two Roman forts were built to defend the empire’s northern frontier—to the Jacobite rebellions, Carlisle has been the prize in a centuries-long struggle between England and Scotland. In the middle ages, Carlisle was a city under siege again and again.”
“It is a reminder that when Carlisle and Scotland thrive together, the whole of the United Kingdom is stronger. I call on colleagues to reaffirm that spirit of unity. I call on the Scottish and Westminster Governments to work together to minimise the friction that too often arises because of divergent policy on devolved matters, such as health and agriculture—friction that causes unnecessary and costly problems for residents of our Border community. Let us invest instead in cross-border co-operation, culture and business, bringing our communities closer and ensuring that the decisions made in Westminster and Holyrood reflect the shared interests of the people who live and work along our historic border. St Andrew’s day is a day of pride for Scotland, but it is also a day of friendship for all of us.”
“Member for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale (David Mundell) for his work on the Borderlands growth deal, a deal that we both wish to see rejuvenated because it offers great potential to the Borders region. Tourism flows both ways. Visitors come to Carlisle for our castle, our cathedral and for the western gateway of Hadrian’s wall. My residents travel north for Scotland’s shopping at Gretna gateway and the fantastic Devil’s Porridge Museum, while Scots come south of the border to discover Hadrian’s wall and Carlisle’s heritage, and to shop in Carlisle’s big Asda, where minimum unit pricing does not apply. Today, let us remember and celebrate the links, not the rivalry, between our two countries. St Andrew’s day is not just Scotland’s celebration.”
“Carlisle cathedral, which owes its existence to the English Crown’s desire to create a diocese to ward off the diocese of Glasgow, still marks St Andrew’s day with prayers for Scotland. The St Ninian’s way pilgrimage links Carlisle to St Andrew’s, and echoes the spiritual roots that unite our nations. Such connections remind us that faith and fellowship have long bridged division. On that point, I pay tribute to the Border Kirk in my Carlisle constituency, which works tirelessly with a number of organisations to offer support and assistance to the refugee community in Carlisle. Today, the ties are practical as well as historical. Our economy depends on cross-border trade, shared infrastructure and cultural exchange. The A74 and the west coast main line are lifelines for businesses and our communities, and I thank the right hon.”
“Members may be interested to know that, thanks to the diligence of her guard, who recorded her every single movement, the Queen’s observance of a football match on an adjacent field resulted in the first written account of a football match played to rules. Just as St Andrew’s day celebrates Scotland’s heritage, it is also a moment for all of us in the Border communities to honour our shared history and the deep connections between Scotland and its neighbouring communities—connections that my constituency of Carlisle and north Cumbria understands better than most. Our shared Christian traditions are a strong bond. St Andrew symbolises humility, and the service values that should guide all Members of this House, regardless of our geography.”
“Indeed, and my hon. Friend makes an excellent point. I was just about to mention Bonnie Prince Charlie and the 300 Jacobite soldiers he left in Carlisle castle after riding into Carlisle, standing on the steps of our historic market cross and claiming the city again for the Stuart Crown, and then riding south to do battle with the Duke of Cumberland. He then turned tail and rode back north, bypassing Carlisle entirely and leaving those 300 soldiers to their fate. As my hon. Friend says, the lyrics of that song are the lament of one of those ill-fated Jacobite soldiers. Of course, Carlisle castle also had the honour of playing host, shall we say, to Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1568.”