Charlie Dewhirst
MP for Bridlington and The Wolds · Conservative · United Kingdom
“Despite the recent successes of two new dental contracts in Bridlington and the decision to postpone the closure of the care unit at the hospital, I am sure the Leader of the House is aware of the challenges of optimising health services in coastal towns, particularly in Bridlington and Hornsea in my constituency.”
“Without wishing to disappoint colleagues who have excellent local agricultural shows, the Driffield show is the biggest and best one-day show in the country, and this month it will celebrate its 150th edition.”
“I am sure the Minister will join me in paying tribute to the team at the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre at Bridlington, who keep people safe all the way from Northumberland down to Suffolk across 250 miles of coastline 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.”
“Further to the excellent point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Dumfries and Galloway (John Cooper), the Minister will no doubt be aware that Bridlington is the lobster capital of Europe, and therefore any delays at Dover have a serious impact on our vital export market.”
“The Secretary of State seemed to ignore the question from my right hon. Friend the Member for Louth and Horncastle (Victoria Atkins) about the use of land and increasing food production, so I will ask specifically again: how are our farmers expected to increase food production if we are taking 9% of agricultural land out of productive use…”
“May I echo the Secretary of State’s comments in relation to the sad passing of Sir Desmond Rea? In response to the Dillon judgment, a Northern Ireland spokesperson said on 7 May: “We welcome the clarity provided today by the Supreme Court, which has confirmed that the ICRIR is fully equipped to deliver human rights-compliant investigation…”
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“Further to that point, Russia has been able to triple its ballistic missile production because it has access to Chinese rocket fuel, Chinese machine tools and Chinese microprocessors. In return, China is receiving vast quantities of discounted oil, gas, aluminium and other natural resources. China is quite literally fuelling the war in Ukraine, so I ask the Prime Minister once again: what specific guarantees did he receive from the Chinese Government that they will work to de-escalate the conflict in Ukraine?”
“Hundreds of thousands of freeholders up and down the country who are locked in financial arrangements with unaccountable estate management firms will be very frustrated by this statement, because it focuses solely on leasehold. Will the Minister very clearly set out the next steps to tackle this enormous travesty, which involves fleecehold and estate management companies?”
“The Paymaster General has told the House this morning, on more than one occasion, just how wonderful his new EU deal will be for British food and drink manufacturers, so why is he refusing to appear in front of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee to discuss the matter in more detail?”
“My right hon. Friend the Member for Hereford and South Herefordshire (Jesse Norman) mentioned PFI contracts earlier—a particularly pertinent subject as many of them come to an end. That is impacting a number of schools in my constituency, where work is suddenly not being done and costs are going up. One school has carried out a survey that says it will cost £3.5 million to bring the school back up to a safe standard, but it is concerned that the company that should be doing the work will declare itself bankrupt, leaving the school and the local authority with the bill. I suspect that that is not an isolated case and that Members across the House will be aware of similar issues. Can we have a debate in Government time on PFI contracts and their impact on public services?”
“We have heard from Members today about the challenges of juggling space for renewable energy, and there are very large offshore wind farms in Hornsea.”
“In a harbour like Bridlington, the cost of a major upgrade, or in fact just normal maintenance to harbour walls, often runs into millions of pounds. I fear that we could quickly run out of money for major capital projects, but I hope that those capital projects can apply to this fund and that Bridlington will be able to benefit from it. I also hope that we will be able to address the skills issues, which are key for the fishing industry. We need to attract school leavers into the industry and ensure we have the next generation of people out there at sea; this is a real problem up and down the country at the moment. Another issue I would like to talk about is spatial squeeze. The Government are consulting on a land use framework, which is welcome, but we need something similar for the marine environment.”
“I thank the right hon. Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr Carmichael) for applying for today’s very important debate. I would like to start by paying tribute to the fishermen and women of Bridlington and Hornsea in my constituency and to the RNLI and inshore rescue teams who keep our fishermen safe right across the UK. The House will be well aware that Bridlington is the lobster capital of Europe, landing over 300 tonnes every year, and the largest shellfish landing port in the UK. I hope that next time the Minister is back in Brid, she has the opportunity to sample some of our fine fresh seafood at Salt on the Harbour or the Old Lifeboat Station opposite the Spa. I welcome the fishing and coastal growth fund, but I caution that it is £360 million over 12 years, which is £30 million a year.”
“Much of the campaign against it misrepresents the industry; it is not as damaging as some organisations say it is. I hope that the Minister will take up the issue with the industry, and will ensure that bottom-trawling is properly represented in any negotiations about the use of that technique. In conclusion, I am proud to represent such a successful fishing industry. I know that Bridlington is close to the Minister’s heart, and I would love the opportunity to meet her, perhaps even in Bridlington, and local fishermen to discuss the future of the industry, so that we do what we can, together, to support the lobster capital of Europe.”
“More troubling still, the rules will be more lenient in EU waters.” That says to me, “sell out again”, and it sets a direction of travel as we negotiate an SPS deal with the European Union. It is clear that we are negotiating from a very weak position, and are willing to do whatever the EU pleases to have a deal done by the end of this year. This Government could perhaps learn lessons from the previous one about setting false deadlines for trade negotiations. I am happy to admit that we made mistakes in the early days post Brexit, and I caution against doing the same now. It would be remiss of me not to touch on bottom-trawling. The issue has become a focus for anti-fishing groups, but if it were to be banned across our marine protected areas, that would destroy the industry overnight and decimate certain coastal communities.”
“As well as deciding fish quotas for 2026 as expected, the two sides also agreed new technical fisheries management rules for their respective national waters. We are told that the EU proposed these measures and that the UK negotiating team was blindsided by their inclusion in the talks. Nevertheless, they agreed to them. Rules that govern how British fishermen can work in British waters were changed, at short notice and without consultation, at the request of the EU. This is unprecedented.” It went on to say: “It was startling to learn… that the collaborative, evidence-based process that we all thought we were working within had been set aside in favour of a bargain struck between civil servants over a few days in London and Brussels.”
“On that second point, we will have to agree to disagree, but my hon. Friend is right in terms of spatial squeeze. If it is not an issue, I do not understand why it takes up so much of the briefing from the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations; they, I suspect, are the real experts in this area. I turn to the EU deal and the frustration that our fishing industry has been sold out for the next 12 years in return for an SPS deal that has yet to be negotiated. I fear that things have got worse since that announcement was made. In fact, the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations has contacted MPs to say: “In last year’s annual negotiations between the UK and the EU that concluded last December, something new happened that has deeply alarmed UK fishermen.”
“The issue is that it adds costs and lowers production levels because producers are not able to use outdated methods, particularly sow stalls. That puts us at a disadvantage with some trading partners. In my previous life, before being elected to this place, I was closely involved with the negotiations on the Canada deal. That was a similar challenge: Canada has methods that we would not accept in certain areas. In the Australia deal, pigs were not included at all because we felt that the welfare standards were not sufficiently high enough for us to import them. The Minister is definitely aware of that. It is important that we all work together to ensure that in any moves we make on trade and food imports, we are always mindful of protecting the great British farmer.”
“They must ensure that we do not diverge from or move too far ahead of European Union producers, because we are reliant on a huge amount of meat from the European Union. If we put greater production costs on our farmers, we will disadvantage them and naturally they will be displaced. It is a really important issue. The hon. Member for North West Cambridgeshire was right to raise the US. The US still has sow stalls, which were banned in this country 27 years ago. The US does not have ambitious targets to reduce antibiotics, as we do. The UK pig industry has reduced antibiotics by 69% since 2015, so we have been making real progress without the intervention of Government, and there is a recognition that we need to use fewer antibiotics.”
“I am sure that the Minister is aware that the issue with the sow stall ban in 1999 was that there was not a sufficient transition period. I hesitate to say this, but I think she is experienced enough to have been here at the time. [ Interruption. ] Yes, she was here at the time. We lost 50% of the British pig industry. That did not mean that we ate 50% less pork; it meant that we imported a load more from abroad. Whatever happens and whatever measures are taken on pigs, poultry or anything else, it is really important that we do not reduce our domestic food production, lower our food security, reduce British jobs in farming and replace them with jobs abroad and meat produced abroad, often to standards that we would not like. That will be a key issue as the Government take forward their animal welfare strategy.”
“I mean no criticism of the hon. Member for North West Cambridgeshire (Sam Carling)—it is all quite technical—but sow stalls are not the same as farrowing crates. The sow stall ban in 1999 was a challenge because the EU did not implement it immediately, and that caused us a lot of problems. Farrowing crates are a topic of conversation at the moment. They are part of the animal welfare strategy that the Government have published, and the industry has been working very closely on them for a number of years. About 60,000 traditional farrowing crates are in place in the UK. To convert to a free farrowing system would require planning permission; the crates cannot just be pulled out and replaced. It will be a huge challenge.”
“That all adds value and achieves a better price for our hard-working farmers. It is important to point out that the sanitary and phytosanitary agreements that we have been talking about do not cover some of the welfare issues that we have discussed, which are separate. The challenge of those agreements, as our trade negotiators are very aware, is that a country can fall foul of World Trade Organisation rules by telling another country what welfare standards it expects it to employ, so it can find itself in difficulties. In making any trade agreements with other countries, we need to be conscious that we should allow market access only where we are satisfied that welfare standards have been met. At the moment, when it comes to EU-UK import-export relations and livestock and meat, we are at a relatively similar welfare standard.”
“I will start by setting the scene to explain why we import so much food and why we are not self-sufficient. We are never going to be self-sufficient in food—certainly not in bananas or avocados, but not in some meat sectors either. Although we produce very large quantities of lamb and beef, we are only 58% self-sufficient in pork; I think the figure is a little higher in poultry. If we were 100% self-sufficient in pork, we would have to export so much more to achieve a carcase balance and achieve value for the farmer from the pig that it would be quite a challenge. As a great nation of bacon butty lovers, we eat a lot of bacon, to the extent that we have to import a certain amount. We are therefore exporting other cuts of a pig, such as belly pork to Europe and fifth quarter to China.”
“The hon. Member highlights an important point about the challenges of potential welfare labelling. If imports are not labelled in the same way, as they probably would not be, British producers could be put at a disadvantage when it comes to what a consumer might think about how something has been produced. We must be conscious of that.”
“My right hon. Friend has long been a doughty champion for animal welfare. The strategy includes other measures around slaughter, such as on the use of carbon dioxide stunning. The industry has looked at various ways to reform that, but it would be very challenging and potentially very costly. Like a number of other measures in the strategy, we must ensure that transition is done with the industry and does not impact British food production or our food security.”
“The Prime Minister may be aware that my local authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire is the lowest-funded per pupil for children with special educational needs and disabilities, and his local authority in Camden is the highest—an inequality that he has repeatedly pledged to end. Well, the results are in: next year, children in my local area will receive just under £1,000, and children in his local area will receive over £3,800. The gap is getting wider. Will he explain to the House why he thinks that children in my constituency are worth so much less than children in his?”
“T6. The Secretary of State and I have had a number of exchanges over the past 18 months about the historical formula that leaves children with SEND in the East Riding as the worst funded in the country. I am sure she understands my frustration about the latest settlement, which will increase that inequality—our frustration is reflected in the fact that I am the third Member of Parliament from the East Riding to raise this issue today. Will the Secretary of State assure the House that this is not the end of the matter, and will she meet me and East Riding colleagues to find a constructive way forward?”
“T4. My local county football association has contacted me, deeply concerned about plans to remove Sport England as a statutory consultee on planning, a point raised earlier by my hon. Friend the Member for Droitwich and Evesham (Nigel Huddleston). I am not entirely sure that he got a full response, so in the spirit of charity may I ask once again what protections will be put in place to ensure that we do not lose our sports facilities?”
“I must congratulate the Minister on doing an excellent job as a human shield for the Prime Minister. He says that this scheme will bring down the number of people crossing the channel on boats, but that is clearly a farce. You have just said that you will be able to access—”
“My apologies, Madam Deputy Speaker. The Minister has just said that once he has rolled out this digital ID scheme, we will be able to access certain things that we cannot currently access. Can he list exactly what services we will be able to access?”
“Local rugby clubs such as Bridlington, Driffield and Hornsea do an enormous amount to engage young men and women in sport, and 2026 is Driffield rugby club’s centenary. Will the Leader of the House join me in congratulating Driffield on its first 100 years? Can I tempt him to don his kit when the Commons and Lords rugby team play Driffield in a charity match for the Injured Players Foundation at Twickenham in March?”
“Not only is the despotic Iranian regime gunning down protesters in the street, but it continues to support terrorist proxies such as Hamas and Hezbollah, it provides drones to the Russian military in Ukraine and it remains a very real threat to this country. While I welcome the statement, will the Foreign Secretary assure the House that the police and the security services have all the tools that they need to keep Britain safe from Iran and its proxies?”
“It is hugely important to my constituency of Bridlington and The Wolds, and to neighbouring constituencies such as that of my hon. Friend the Member for Thirsk and Malton (Kevin Hollinrake). A town like Helmsley brings in around £1.5 million a week from shooting alone. It is very important that we take that into account. It is important that we mention the sanitary and phytosanitary deal—that wonderful thing that is being trumpeted by the Government and the Liberal Democrats, and for which we sold out our fishing industry for 12 years. It has yet to be negotiated, and farming representatives tell me that it is likely to cost farmers hundreds of millions of pounds, reduce our food production and increase our reliance on imports. I will always stand up for our farming community and for our rural economy, and I commend the Opposition motion.”
“When we consider animal welfare matters, such as farrowing, it is very important that the Government work with the industry, so that any changes and transitions do not affect our ability to produce fantastic British pork and support our farmers, or affect British food security. There are other measures that need to be discussed, such as the use of CO 2 in stunning, another technical matter that needs to be worked through with food processors and abattoir owners to ensure that we do not damage our food security. There are lots of other things to discuss. My hon. Friend the Member for North Cotswolds (Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown) mentioned the issues with shooting, and the changes to firearms and shotgun certification and licensing. He said that 67,000 people are employed in that industry; there are over 600,000 people engaged in it.”
“I pay tribute to the Labour Members who quietly campaigned against those taxes and have achieved some changes, but the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away: although changes were announced just before Christmas, we also saw the arrival of the Government’s animal welfare strategy, a document that could have been written by the non-governmental organisations and animal rights activists themselves, and which contains some potentially extraordinarily damaging measures that could harm farming well into the future. These are often technical and quite complex matters. I mentioned 1999 because it is very important to remember what happened then. The Government at the time rightly took the view that there should be an end to sow stalls, but instead of phasing them out, they banned them overnight and destroyed 50% of the British pig industry.”
“It very much feels like we are back to the future, and like the Minister is channelling her inner Charli XCX and just wants to go back to 1999, because 27 years later, here we are with a Labour Government who are at war with the countryside, discussing issues like hunting, potentially enormously damaging changes to the pig industry, and enormous changes that could affect our countryside and rural economy. We had the hammer blow of the family farm tax and family business tax over a year ago.”
“The Government’s troubles Bill contains no provisions to prevent former members of the IRA or other paramilitary groups from sitting on their proposed legacy commission. Northern Ireland veterans and victims are rightly outraged, so will the Minister use this opportunity to assure the House that the Government will table amendments ensuring that terrorists will not sit on that commission alongside the families of victims?”
“The Minister will be aware that in certain parts of the country the agricultural planning system has ground to a halt, preventing modernisation on farms, stifling investment and damaging British food security. I welcome today’s measures on biodiversity net gain, but may I ask him to go further by tackling Natural England’s barmy guidance on nutrient neutrality and preventing vexatious judicial reviews against planning applications, to free up the hundreds of millions of pounds in the system?”
“His Majesty’s official Opposition will continue to work with the Government to ensure that we keep British people safe at home and abroad, and that we protect the United Kingdom from those who wish to harm us.”
“Other measures included the defending democracy taskforce, which aims “to protect the democratic integrity of the UK from threats of foreign interference”; the Elections Act 2022, which tightens rules to prevent foreign money from influencing UK elections; the National Security Act 2023, which introduced new offences relating to foreign interference and the foreign influence registration scheme; and finally the Procurement Act 2023, which introduced enhanced powers for public bodies to exclude suppliers from procurement on national security grounds. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to contribute to the debate. Defence of the realm, and therefore national security, is the No. 1 priority of any Government. While we will continue to debate and scrutinise the detail, it is something that unites us all.”
“Will the Minister outline the work that the Cabinet Office is doing with other relevant Departments to protect and enhance our national security? Will he pledge to build on the work of the last Government, who introduced measures such as the Counter-terrorism and Border Security Act 2019, which provided powers to stop, question, search and detain people entering and exiting the UK to determine whether they had been engaged in hostile state activity? As mentioned, the National Security and Investment Act introduced powers to investigate and intervene in company mergers, acquisitions and other deals that could threaten the UK’s national security.”
“The regime has sought to deepen military links with other authoritarian states, complicating the broader strategic landscape, and its involvement in the Russian invasion of Ukraine is well documented. North Korea operates largely outside international norms. It is driven by secrecy and control, and is willing to exploit vulnerabilities wherever they arise. We have heard some excellent contributions from across the House. I particularly thank my hon. Friend the Member for Dumfries and Galloway (John Cooper) for his excellent contribution and the concerns that he raised about the SNP Government in Edinburgh. We should not underestimate the severity of the threats posed to this country by the likes of China, Russia, Iran and North Korea.”
“Despite the recent success of Israel in degrading the capabilities of Iranian proxies such as Hamas and Hezbollah, we must continue to confront the reality that Iran is an acute threat with its own global networks and its own methods of exerting pressure on Britain. North Korea is often overlooked in debates about our national security, yet it poses a significant and evolving threat. Its cyber-activities go beyond the attack on NHS systems in 2017 and extend to attempts to access contract specifications, design drawings and project details from defence, aerospace, nuclear and engineering entities, as well as from medical and energy companies. Pyongyang’s covert digital operations have been used to distort public perceptions abroad, and to influence narratives in ways that serve its own interest.”
“MI5 has confirmed that more than 20 potentially lethal Iran-backed plots were identified in the last two years alone, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, operating both at home and abroad, has demonstrated a willingness to target perceived opponents on British soil. The Intelligence and Security Committee’s recent report on Iran highlights the extent of the challenges, which include, but are not limited to, a nuclear programme inching closer to capability, sophisticated espionage networks, credible kidnap and repatriation schemes, and a pattern of operations that disregards international standards.”
“Beyond those actions—the actions we are supposed to see—the Intelligence and Security Committee also notes that the business interests and financial activities of Russian oligarchs in the UK continue to provide opportunities for influence that must be robustly guarded against. That is why my party brought in the National Security and Investment Act 2021 and strengthened sanctioning powers. That has certainly improved our resilience, but the Kremlin’s methods are adaptive, and we must remain vigilant. The threat from Iran is also increasing, and stems from an ideological opposition. That requires a tailored approach—one that does not allow Iran to be overlooked —in the context of wider disruption outside the middle east.”
“Though this threat is sadly more familiar to us, it is no less serious. The Intelligence and Security Committee described Russian interference as “the new normal”, and that should be a constant consideration for British security. It uses a combination of cyber-attacks, disinformation, covert influence and grey-zone and sub-threshold operations to attempt to destabilise western democracies and test our resilience. We saw that recently, when the Yantar vessel intentionally positioned itself near undersea cables and energy infrastructure and aimed lasers at RAF planes. Such provocations are designed not only to intimidate us, but to test how we respond.”
“We come to the frankly extraordinary saga of the Chinese super-embassy at the Royal Mint Court. Tower Hamlets council rejected the plans on entirely legitimate grounds, yet unlike the previous Conservative Government, this Government chose to call in the application and seem determined to approve it. That is despite warnings from MI5, which is concerned about the site’s proximity to major communications cables. When that is paired with the fact that the embassy blueprint submitted to the council has basement rooms blanked out for security reasons, it raises serious questions. At a moment when China is increasing its activities against Britain, the Government should not be supporting this; instead, they should be firmly defending our national security and critical infrastructure. I come to Russia.”
“Its activities span espionage, cyber-attacks, political influence operations, and exerting pressure through its trade, supply chain and investment decisions. We saw that very clearly in the spying case involving British citizens Chris Cash and Christopher Berry; the Government’s failure to clearly label China a threat collapsed a prosecution that had been years in the making. The Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy said that the handling of aspects of that case was best described as “shambolic”, and that the episode exposed “systematic failures”, and created “a crisis of public confidence and fuelled allegations of conspiracy at the highest levels of government.” The Committee exposed gaps in communication, process and backbone at the heart of our Government. The implications for our national security are profound.”
“That illusion was shattered in 2014 when Russian paramilitaries crossed the border into Ukraine and took control of towns in the Donbas. Since then, Europe has been at war with its enemies, not just on the battlefields of Ukraine but in cyber-space and trade, and we have seen continued efforts to degrade our national security. We should not shy away from who the malign actors are. Let us be quite clear that China, Russia, Iran and North Korea represent a very real threat to the United Kingdom. While their methods may vary, their intention is the same: to weaken our security, disrupt our democratic institutions, and undermine British values. China’s actions present an evolving challenge to our national security.”
“First, I congratulate the hon. Member for Lewes (James MacCleary) on securing today’s very important and timely debate. We live in unprecedented times, in which those who wish to undermine this great nation are doing so daily, and on multiple fronts. The need to co-operate more closely with our global allies is as strong as it has been since the second world war, and the United Kingdom must be prepared to combat the ever-evolving threats of tomorrow. In the aftermath of the cold war and following the end of the conflict in the Balkans, we perhaps took peace in Europe for granted. The prospect of tank battles on the plains of Germany and the ever-present threat of a nuclear holocaust suddenly seemed like a distant memory, as though they were from another era.”
“The east coast main line is a fantastic example of where privatisation has worked. Open access operators such as Hull Trains, Lumo and Grand Central are competing with the franchisee and keeping prices down and service levels up. Does my right hon. Friend agree that the Bill does nothing to protect open access operators, and that there is a real danger that this centralised, Soviet-style monolith will squeeze them out in due course?”
“Tomorrow will mark a year to the day since the Government launched the plan for change, to great fanfare, with its milestones, its mission boards, and its dashboards that never materialised. We have now found out that the five mission boards have been deleted from the latest list of Cabinet Committees. Has there been any change at all from the plan for change?”
“Does the Minister agree that excellent local titles such as the Bridlington Echo , the Driffield & Wolds Weekly and The Holderness & Hornsey Gazette need support? We need to ensure that the income stream from local authority statutory notices continues, so that such thriving local titles continue into the future.”
“The Chancellor’s announcements in yesterday’s Budget in relation to gambling duty could cost the industry up to 16,000 jobs, largely in the high- tech part of that industry, and move £6 billion of gambling stakes into the black market. I know that the Secretary of State is a very reasonable individual—she would make an excellent future leader of her party—so does she agree that taxing something does not necessarily stop it from happening, and that this will move problem gamblers into a less regulated, illegal space?”
“I thank the Leader of the House for that answer, and please can he pass my best wishes on to the Second Church Estates Commissioner? In my area, 26 churches are covered by just five priests, and only three of those priests are paid, so I hope that the Leader of the House will join me in thanking all the regular churchgoers who do so much to ensure the maintenance and upkeep of the beautiful churches right across East Yorkshire. Will he do everything he can to ensure that the Church of England attracts more priests into the fold?”
“The whole House recognises the challenge posed by football hooliganism, but anyone with the slightest knowledge of football would accept that this hooliganism is restricted to a very small minority of fans of clubs and countries across the world. Will the Minister work with colleagues in the Home Office and police forces across the country to ensure that next time an Israeli club draws a British club in a European competition, or the Israeli national side draws one of the home nations in a qualifying competition—or, indeed, if Israel were to qualify for Euro 2028—those fans would be welcome in the United Kingdom to enjoy our football and our hospitality?”