Ms Polly Billington
MP for East Thanet · Labour · United Kingdom
“I am grateful to my hon. Friend for coming to the House and providing clarity and reassurance that the allegations will be taken seriously, but does he agree that alongside the transparency of this process comes the need for responsible reporting and a responsible Opposition?”
“I refer the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. I am honoured to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy (Melanie Ward), and I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield Central (Abtisam Mohamed) on securing the debate.”
“In Khirbet Zanuta, I saw the remains of a school partly funded by UK aid. It was destroyed by sustained settler attacks, which forced the community to flee. The British Government should seek compensation from the Israeli Government for the destruction of infrastructure funded by UK taxpayers.”
“We have a responsibility to make that state viable, and that starts with banning trade with illegal settlements. The UK should not allow goods produced on occupied land to enter our markets, and nor should British businesses profit from activity that our own Government say is illegal.”
“They are about defending international law, supporting those on both sides working for co-existence, and preserving any realistic prospect of a negotiated two-state solution. My hon. Friend the Minister is a man of principle, and of strong values and determination, and he will resist excuses for not acting.”
“I recognise what my hon. Friend says, but as my hon. Friend the Member for Suffolk Coastal (Jenny Riddell-Carpenter) pointed out, these are guidelines at the moment rather than obligations. Because they are only guidelines, they can be ignored.”
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“Those people chose to record the world around them. They chose to leave a mark. They expressed themselves and the lives they lived. The need to express ourselves flows through human history and exists in every single one of us, but the ability to tap into it is artificially limited by an inequality of access to the arts. That is a failure of previous Governments, and because of it, we have fewer skilled creators and less well-rounded individuals, and society is depleted. Talent is found everywhere in our country, but as so many hon. Members have pointed out, opportunity is not. If we do not allow every child the right to an arts education, we will miss out on the next Tracey Emin or Bob and Roberta Smith.”
“Margate was buzzing. It was a clear demonstration of my three key arguments today: first, creativity is valuable not just because it is enjoyed by the consumers, but because it benefits the creators. They must be appreciated. Secondly, the creative industries have a crucial role to play in revitalising our coastal communities, where so many creatives choose to live. Thirdly, if this fundamental element of our society and economy is to thrive, we must develop the pipeline—the next generation of artists—by enshrining creativity in our national curriculum. However, if we think of creativity simply as an industry, we lose something that makes it special. Creativity is fundamental to the human condition. It is woven into our daily lives and our history. The first example of civilisation is carvings on the walls of caves.”
“At the weekend, the innovation, energy and entrepreneurship of the creative community in my constituency was on full display. Off Season Margate—part of our shared commitment to developing a year-round economy—was a weekend-long, town-wide exhibition of art created by a wide range of skilled creators, initiated by the award-winning artist Lindsey Mendick. From oil paints to embroidery, sculpture to ceramics and photography to screen prints, a whole range of skills were on display in the form of incredible art. This was a democratic exercise in the power of creativity, involving world-renowned artist Tracey Emin and raw artists—people displaying their work in front rooms and cafés, as well as galleries, telling their stories, and reflecting their experience of the world through art. The weather played its part, because the sun was shining.”
“Coastal communities across the country are often places people escape to in order to find a place where they can really thrive. That is why coastal areas will be so important in developing a proper creative industry strategy. East Thanet has long been an engine room for our country’s creative industries. If its future is to be as glorious as its past, and if we are to continue to use our soft power globally through our internationally famous artists and creators, creativity needs to be valued in and of itself. Creators need to be able to create with dignity and security, and all generations should be able to access art education to enhance their lives and society as a whole.”
“Members of the school council of Bromstone primary school in Broadstairs visited Parliament yesterday and wanted me to convey in the strongest terms to the Secretary of State the importance of learning art, not only because they love it but for the skills they learn from it. Is she doing all in her power to ensure that creativity will have a prominent and central place in the curriculum?”
“I pay tribute to my right hon. Friend, and indeed to the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Lincoln (Mr Falconer), who has played such an important role in working tirelessly for justice. Following on from the question from my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool Wavertree (Paula Barker) about recognition of the state of Palestine, what role will the British Government play in creating the conditions that mean a two-state solution is finally in reach and we could declare that we recognise the state of Palestine?”
“I am keen to make sure that the water commission can tackle some of the most egregious failures of the water industry. For example, yesterday Southern Water dumped sewage into the sea alongside Ramsgate. This issue is fundamental to the environment and the economy in a seaside community such as Thanet, and it needs to be part of our overall drive for growth. The new independent water commission needs to explore different governance models and introduce local accountability, or the water companies will continue to fail as they have done up until now.”
“I welcome my right hon. Friend’s statement. Could she elaborate further on how this visit and the discussions she has started are not only consistent with the Government’s approach to China, but a vital part of it—co-operate where we can, compete where we need to, and challenge where we must?”
“The shadow Minister comes to the House with no shame. As has been referred to by my hon. Friend the Member for Sefton Central (Bill Esterson), the shadow Minister’s party closed Rough in 2017, leaving us exposed. I commend the Minister on taking urgent steps through our clean power mission to secure our energy system, and I urge him to ignore the political distractions of the Conservative party.”
“2. What steps his Department is taking to protect the copyright of people working in the creative industries in the context of artificial intelligence.”
“I thank my hon. Friend for that answer. However, visual artists earn far below the minimum wage, and rely on copyright royalties to finance their work and continue to contribute to our world-leading creative industries—in Thanet and across the country. What reassurances can the Minister give that the plans for a copyright exception for AI learning will not further contribute to that financial instability and weaken the lifeblood of our creative economy?”
“I am sure my right hon. Friend will share my delight at the fact that in our growing community of Thanet, the NHS is looking to open the Thanet integrated hub in one of the most deprived parts of Kent. However, Tory-run Kent county council has put in spurious objections to the development. Does he share my concern that such unnecessary objections block access to healthcare and make it harder for the Government and the NHS to cut waiting lists?”
“I thank you, Mr Speaker, for granting this urgent question, and I thank my hon. Friend for all his hard work in these difficult situations. Eight members of the Knesset have penned a letter to the Israeli Defence Minister demanding that Israel destroy all sources of water, food and energy for Palestinians in Gaza. They argue that Israel should do to the rest of Gaza what it has been doing to the north. Will the Government ban entry of those eight Knesset members, who are openly calling for the extermination of Palestinians in Gaza?”
“I am struck by the fact that many of the people living in the hon. and learned Gentleman’s constituency will be dealing with extremely high energy bills in poorly insulated houses, and will be desperate to see those energy bills go down and to see decent jobs come back to Northern Ireland, and for them and their communities to thrive. I also recognise the value and importance of heritage sites. My constituency in Thanet is surrounded on three sides by sea and has enormous opportunity for offshore wind, but we also want to retain the value and beauty of our surrounding environment. Can the hon. and learned Gentleman not see that these things are reconcilable? This is not a theology, but a science and an economic requirement of this country so that it can serve his constituents, as well as mine.”
“The new Government have taken positive steps by outlining the vast potential of the creative sector, but if they want to unlock the real potential of the industry, they need to enable creative education to thrive, not wither.”
“The crisis in our education sector for those young people is particularly significant, because creative education is a way of their accessing learning and helps them to live their fullest lives. I pay tribute to Sammy’s Foundation, which was set up by Patricia Alban, one of my constituents, after her son, Sammy, tragically died. It teaches heritage craft skills to neurodivergent young people to help them to realise their potential and become master artisans. The reality is that young people such as Sammy who are consistently failed by mainstream education could find their passion and career in creative education, and fill a huge skills gap in the craft and heritage workforce.”
“Talent is spread equally across all children, but opportunity most certainly is not. With the EBacc and progress 8, the previous Government created a situation of arts education becoming the domain of those who can afford it. If those children deserve an arts education, so do the 93% of kids in state schools. We risk missing out on so much untapped talent across the country. We do not know who the next Tracey Emin or Bob and Roberta Smith is, and if we restrict arts education, I fear that we never will know. Creativity is fundamental to the human condition. We should expand education, not restrict it. Before I finish, I want to point out the importance of the creative sector to not only our economy, but learning for people with special educational needs.”
“As chair of the all-party parliamentary group for art, craft and design in education, alongside the chairs of many other APPGs that represent creative subjects, I am campaigning for the Department to scrap the EBacc and progress 8, as part of the curriculum review, so that we once again encourage all children to take up the arts. It is important to note that private schools know the value of arts education, which is why they spend so much time, money and effort on encouraging it. We now have a situation in which 40% of people working in the film, TV and music industries were educated at private schools—I remind Members that 7% of the population were educated at private schools—but that is entirely unsurprising, because private schools understand and value the benefits of creative education.”
“There is a long and proud British tradition of talking about the importance of the creative industries, but if we do not also champion creative education, we sentence that extraordinary history to a slow death. Creative education has suffered hugely since the introduction of the English baccalaureate and progress 8, with a dramatic reduction in the number of students taking arts-related subjects. The statistics that the hon. Member for Chichester referred to strike fear into the heart of those of us who know the importance of art and creativity to the wellbeing and advancement of not only our industries, but our young people.”
“Everywhere someone turns in Thanet, they bump into an enormously rich heritage of art and creativity. Thanks to the energy, drive and vision of many individuals in our community, art and creativity are part of our present, too. From the Turner gallery to Ramsgate Music Hall, from Screaming Alley to the Pie Factory, and with award-winning artists such as Lindsey Mendick and our very own globally famous Tracey Emin, our home is the home of many artists. Back in the 1870s, we even had Vincent van Gogh, who taught at a school in Ramsgate. Margate is obviously known as the proud home of the Turner Contemporary art gallery, which is a symbol of the creative sector’s potential to help regenerate coastal communities like mine.”
“It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Mr Mundell. I thank the hon. Member for Chichester (Jess Brown-Fuller) for securing the debate. I must declare an interest as the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on art, craft and design in education. When the sunsets in your town are named after the painter who made them famous, when some of the most loved comedians of the 20th century lived and partied there, when classic books were written or set there, when music hall celebrities made their home there, when one of the most loved Victorian authors lived there and whole weekends are dedicated to celebrating his books, and when actors, musicians and creatives of all kinds flock there, you know that art and creativity are sewn into the fabric of the place that you call home.”
“On my hon. Friend’s point about helping to grow the local economy, can we stop the suggestion that art is anything other than a serious subject? We have had far too much of the idea that it is soft, easy and does not add to wider education and understanding. It is not just an economic driver but fundamental to the human condition.”
“I am interested in the idea that there is a limited amount of time in the state school curriculum, but there does not seem to be a limited amount of time for creative education in private schools. If it is important for private schools, then it is important for state educated children, so why can we not find the time for it?”
“In communities like mine in East Thanet, there is above-average youth unemployment. It is important to be reassured that the “Get Britain Working” White Paper will be designed to help young people, particularly in coastal communities like mine, where we need a year-round economy, and support and activity to get young people into work.”
“In evidence given to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, Ofwat confirmed that had the measures to ban bonuses been in place earlier, the boss of Southern Water—which covers my constituency—would not have received his most recent bonus. It was Tory inaction that allowed it.”
“The hon. Lady and I share concerns about the safety and health of our seawater. I just want to clarify for her that we have accepted the Lords amendment in relation to the enforcement plans, and are ensuring that those plans will be on the face of the Bill.”
“I do not want him spending his time doing that either—that is not what I am suggesting. I recommend that this accountability should be local, rather than at the national level. The new independent water commission could look into how we fine water companies that break the rules by exploring the possibility of taking company stock from them instead of money. We could put any stock in a trust held on behalf of local billpayers, who would then benefit. It may be some time before we can be confident about enjoying our waters again—some time before our rivers and seas are restored to full health—but I believe this Bill will start the process of cleaning up our water industry. It is crucial that we get the future governance right, so that our constituents can feel confident that paddling in poo is a thing of the past.”
“Residents in Broadstairs have had to cope with their water being off during a red warning for extreme heat and in the middle of winter in the run-up to Christmas, managing on bottled water, because of infrastructure failures. Bills are up, the quality of service is down, the environment is in ruins, and big bonuses fuelled by gorging on debt are being paid. The water companies argue that they may need to pay more in salary bonuses to get the best people in—well, if this is the best they can get, I will be asking for my money back. We need a fundamental change in the way our water system is run, and critically, we need more accountability to bring that change about. I know that the Secretary of State does not want to be spending his time running the water companies.”
“For 250 years, people have come to all three of our towns in East Thanet to enjoy the stunning scenery, breathe the fabulous fresh air and swim in the sea, but as a very wise business owner in my constituency told me, “People don’t come here to paddle in poo.” That is why I and my constituents welcome this Bill, as a great starting point in cleaning up the mess that the Conservative party has left—not a figurative mess, but a literal one in our waterways. For years, the privatised water industry has been under-investing and over-polluting while paying itself millions of pounds in bonuses. That is why the action that the Government are taking through this Bill is extremely welcome and long needed.”
“On new year’s day, I will, like many people in Thanet, take part in a bracing dash into the sea to raise money for worthwhile causes. However, we should not take our health in our hands as we do so. Swimming should be good for you, not a risky adventure because of pollution. Good governance might seem a long way away from the delights of sea swimming, yet we cannot safely have one without the other. Water plays such a huge role in the history and culture of East Thanet, not least because of our fantastic beaches. Margate can claim to be the first English seaside resort—I know there are others, but we are the first.”
“I welcome the new powers delegated to local authorities, enabling them to tackle the blight of empty shop fronts and rejuvenate our local high streets. This will be particularly welcome in East Thanet, where the Ramsgate empty shops action group has been a powerful advocate for addressing this issue. We have a 24% vacancy rate on Ramsgate high street, so what steps are the Government taking to support and encourage local businesses and community projects to take over those vacant properties?”
“I am sure that my right hon. Friend will share my concern about the evidence presented today in Imperial College’s national patient safety report. For the first time in 10 years, more women are dying during or shortly after pregnancy, and more babies are dying within 28 days of being born. This is a particular concern in East Thanet, where our maternity services had to be taken into special measures only a few years ago. Will she ask her colleagues in the Department of Health and Social Care to present a plan to the House for addressing this worrying situation?”
“The issue you will have then is whether, when it comes to funding those reliefs, local authorities will have all the funding. That is where I always say that you cannot look at the property tax and local government financing separately. When you talk of reforming council tax or business rate, you also have to consider local government finance—the two always have to be considered together.”
“The only thing it has to take into account is giving due regard to its taxpayers’ interest—and obviously it is, because the taxpayers are benefiting from having a thriving high street. In a way, that relief system is already there, so I think creating the framework is fine. As I said, yes, there is that concern about the complexities of the whole system itself, but you are trying to direct it to make it more agile—as that term has been used. There is no reason why the framework can be put together through the Bill, but the relief system cannot then be used, say, in the three towns that you referred to—I am a little familiar with those three towns, because one of my council members is from Thanet, so I know it quite well. As I say, I think the relief system is there.”
“At the moment, you have the standard rate and the small business multiplier, and the flexibility with the two lower ones—one or more, depending on how you want to move those forward. From a local authority point of view, there is that national situation, but you then have to look at each of the individual areas, and no one area is the same as another, as I said. They will not always be the same—things will change—and that is where the local authority comes into play, and where you need to have the relief systems in place. The one thing you have in the legislation anyway—I am sorry to bore you with legislation—is section 47, which allows the local authority to give relief to any ratepayer that it wants to.”
“Q Thank you for your evidence. It has been very interesting. My constituency is made up of three towns, Ramsgate, Broadstairs and Margate, all seaside towns and very dependent on all the sectors we have been talking about—tourism, hospitality, leisure and so forth. You have been talking about the centrally decided approach when it comes to those sectors. What value might there be in an approach that recognises the geographical challenges of particular areas, so that we do not just have a complete free-for-all with local government picking and choosing how to do it? We could say instead, “Yes, we need to have a particular approach when it comes to the geographical challenges of some commercial centres and the high streets.” Gary Watson: Yes, I think you could look at the Bill giving a framework.”
“There will be some help, but as I say, it is more second order than first order. I also agree, as I emphasised earlier, that the certainty will definitely help. I also think that we can look at other parts of the business rate system. The treatment of empty properties—empty property relief—is one, which is much more important and more directly targeted at actually getting properties back into use. I know that the Government are concerned, as the discussion paper mentions, about exploitation of empty property relief by people cycling in and out artificially and things like that. I also think that a lot of the struggles of the high street are not caused by business rates. Things such as online competition make a huge difference, and are not driven by business rates.”
“Q We have a 24% vacancy rate on Ramsgate High Street for many of the reasons that Jayne gave in relation to Cornwall. Do you think that the certainty that this legislation brings will have an impact on establishing long-term help for reviving the high street, particularly when it comes to rents and increasing occupancy? The long-term drivers that have been undermining the high streets are new shopping behaviours—not only post-pandemic behaviours but online shopping. If you do not think that this legislation will help, what will? Stuart Adam: First of all, I do not want to say that it will do nothing to help. It will certainly do something in the short run, and I am also giving the quite extreme case—the very purest—in the long run. Even in the long run, it will not be quite as simple as I am painting it.”
“The fact that high street retailers have to pay rent and rates in a way online retailers do not, at least not to anything like the same extent, is absolutely a driver of the difference, but I am just saying that the business rate component of the cost of the premises does not have that much impact on the overall cost of premises, because of the adjustment to rents. There is a broader question as to what can and should be done to protect the high street. That is largely outside my area of expertise, but I know other reviews and studies have been done on that. I am largely going to duck it because it is outside my expertise, but there are things that can be done outside tax.”
“Q Sorry to interrupt, but online competition is genuinely a problem with business rates. Having previously been a councillor in Hackney, I know that we got more business rates from Amazon having its headquarters there than the Treasury did from Amazon’s existence in the first place. So there is a difference. Stuart Adam: What I am saying is that there is a big difference in business rates, but if the business rates are not changing the overall cost of the premises—rent plus business rates—they are not making much difference to the competition. The fact that people can easily shop online is fundamentally what is driving it, rather than business rates.”
“Every day of the week—this is a grassroots, wet-led pub in the community—there is a reason for people to go in. She has a real cross-section of the community and would consider that she has got 150 locals; she knows them by name and their family background, and they go in to connect in the community. That is their hub.”
“There is a natural evolution within the industry. The cost base has fundamentally changed. The profit and loss has changed for new pubs. It is a tight-margin business—tighter than it has ever been. The two outliers of our model are property and people. We need a place to operate in the communities we serve, and we needs lots and lots of people. Both those have been subject to cost increases during that period. Yes, consumer tastes have changed. We know that, and we have some fabulous pubs that have completely embraced it and are full every day of the week because they are creating events. In fact, we have a major platform with our licensee of the year award, which we do every year, and we have a very proud winner who runs a high street pub in Burnley.”
“Q Thank you, Dr Huq. Steve, I would like to ask you a couple of questions on what you were talking about in terms of threats to the pub industry generally. I represent East Thanet, which is made up of Ramsgate, Broadstairs and Margate, which are heavily reliant on the leisure, hospitality and tourism industries. We have a lot of much-loved pubs in our town centres, but I am aware that many have closed over the last couple of decades. What would you identify as the drivers of the closures of those pubs? What are the numbers, just to put some context on the risks you have identified? Steve Alton: I think there are a number of factors. We have seen a real evolution of the pub model. Inevitably, in any market, those that do not evolve and keep that connection and relevancy with their customers do, unfortunately, fall by the wayside.”
“These guys are not taking minimum wage for themselves right now. You talk about protecting workers: they are workers in their own pubs, and they are not getting the rewards that they absolutely deserve for their efforts. They are willing to invest and look forward, but they need certainty. That is why the Bill is an integral part of a set of measures that need to provide that certainty, so that we do not lose fabulous publicans, licensees and families who know their communities so well and, as you know there are some fabulous pubs in East Thanet.”
“It is no longer what it was 20 years ago, when it was a far simpler model to execute, and the cost base has fundamentally changed. During that period, tax has risen. Look at VAT as a start point. You have to control pricing with your cost base. We cannot just pass through compound inflation running at 20% a year. There is a dynamic issue at play—trade will fall off a cliff. We have seen it on certain high streets: they have just pushed that pricing too far, and consumers, who are subject to their own challenges, have fallen away. They have held that back to make it affordable, which in itself has eroded the margin and ultimately the profitability. It is a compound of all those things in play. It is a tough business. Running a modern pub, you are full-in. It is a seven-day-a-week business.”
“Q I am really impressed by the resilience of the pub industry in the context of those external drivers, but what legislative, tax or regulatory changes over previous decades have contributed to the crisis in the pub industry? I want to understand the context in which we are operating. Steve Alton: As we know, employment costs have been rising disproportionately, as have the employer’s costs of living, so there is the legislation around that. We are subject not only to licensing but a number of other compound issues that we have to deal with locally with lots of different local stakeholders. All these need to be implemented with costs as well. It is the complexity, accountability and safeguarding. All those elements add layers of cost and complexity to the business.”
“Q I notice that the fees of private schools in the Independent Schools Council have doubled in cash terms in the last 20 years. I would be interested in the explanation for that rise—the causes behind it—and the impact on both numbers and the composition of the pupils attending those schools. Barnaby Lenon: I have been on a number of governing bodies, and have been a headteacher of schools where the fees went up quite significantly. It happened particularly in the period between 2003 and 2008, when the fees were driven by increases in state school teachers’ pay, in national insurance and in pension contributions. We did not suddenly all want to build new buildings; it was more or less forced upon us, but you are right that they were quite big increases, and the impact has been that fewer parents have been able to afford our schools.”
“Q By how much? Barnaby Lenon: I cannot answer that. We do not know, but I am quite confident that plenty of parents will have found it too difficult. Simon Nathan: If you look at the number of pupils in independent schools over the last 10 years according to Department for Education data, on the face of it you could say, “Well, there’s 12,000 more,” but that is during a period when the overall school population went up by 800,000. The proportion of pupils educated in independent schools went down from 7% to 6.5%. There has been a proportionate decrease.”
“The supply of property is relatively fixed, so once there is an oversupply it is difficult to rectify in the short term. Our planning system will play a big role in ensuring that we can reuse those assets for the most appropriate purpose in our current economy. As far as I am aware, the causational relationship is between vacancy and the disposable income of the residents in a local area. Where there is high disposable income there tends to be lower vacancy; where there is relatively low disposable income there tends to be quite high vacancy. To the point about whether there are, at the margins, people who keep their shops empty, that is not something that a rational investor would do.”
“Q I am grateful for your evidence, and I am interested to hear your puzzlement about the reality of empty shops. I represent East Thanet, where there are three towns—Margate, Broadstairs and Ramsgate —all of which suffer from empty shops to a greater or lesser extent. Ramsgate has a 24% vacancy rate. Can you explain to me how that might be, and what impact the legislation might have on tackling some of the challenges around large property owners resisting taking on tenants? Rachel Kelly: The reason why we have a huge amount of vacancy on our high streets must be multifaceted. Obviously, we have gone through a huge transition in our retail sector over the last 10 or 15 years, which has had an impact on some of our high streets.”