Charlie Dewhirst
MP for Bridlington and The Wolds · Conservative · United Kingdom
“In the same month, the DCMS spent £2,000 on an away day at the British Museum. The following month, in April 2026, the Cabinet Office spent over £33,000 hiring the Hartwell House luxury hotel and spa, and its swanky restaurant with a 20-page wine list, for another retreat for its top tier of civil servants.”
House of Commons29 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade also spent £50,000 on three, including one at the Emirates stadium because no “alternative venues were available.” The MOD and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office could not tell me whether they had had any away days, as it would cost them too much to answer the questi…”
House of Commons29 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Even after the exceptional need to support jobs and businesses through the global pandemic and the Ukraine war, that deficit rose to 4.4%—less than half of the legacy left by Labour in 2010. Here we are again, with Labour’s fiscal irresponsibility and no plan to deal with the deficit.”
House of Commons29 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“In conclusion, it is time to bring back common sense and fiscal responsibility. Taxes are at a record high, growth is down, borrowing is higher, debt is up and living standards are down. We cannot keep spending more on the country’s credit card than we earn.”
House of Commons29 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I would like to address briefly some of the issues around the mismanagement of public money in the civil service. This Government, to their credit, pledged to reduce the size of the civil service, but I have bad news: the headcount has risen by 11,000 people since they took office.”
House of Commons29 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The Department for Transport managed to spend £9,000 on an away day at the Foreign Office and £14,000 on one at the HS2 offices. The Northern Ireland Office spent £4,000 meeting in a castle.”
House of Commons29 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
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“That is important, because the AHDB is a non-departmental Government body, not a lobbying organisation. Its analysis, using data from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the farm business survey and the Scottish Government, says that over 75% of farms will be affected by this measure—three times the amount that the flawed Treasury modelling said. Most of those farms simply cannot afford a large inheritance tax bill because, as we all know, they do not have the income to pay it. The result will be the sale of land upon death, most likely to the wealthy individuals or businesses that this very policy was allegedly meant to deter. In turn, that will take land out of production, risking both our food security and local agricultural economies. My hon.”
House of Commons28 January 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Then the OBR said, “Well, actually, it’s not going to raise the revenue it says it’s going to raise,” so the whole thing has unravelled week after week. We have heard from other hon. Members today about the issue of the APR analysis not taking into account the BPR effect, and what that does for tenant farmers and farmers who have used BPR as one vehicle to wrap everything into in the event of a death. We have farmers, agricultural organisations, supermarkets, tax experts—even The Observer this weekend—coming out against the policy. It is truly remarkable that the Government have managed to unite all those people against one single measure. Today, quite significantly, we had analysis from the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board.”
House of Commons28 January 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“It is starting to feel a bit like groundhog day, because the Government are clearly not listening to the entire agricultural economy, community or experts. Let us go back to the beginning and have a brief history lesson. The hon. Member for Great Yarmouth (Rupert Lowe) just mentioned that the Government said prior to the election that they had no intention of changing APR. At the Budget, the Chancellor told us that this was a measure to prevent very wealthy individuals from buying up agricultural land to avoid inheritance tax. That was proven by analysis of the policy to be untrue, so there was a pivot and we were told that the measure was about raising revenue for public services in rural areas.”
House of Commons28 January 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The Minister has just confirmed that the Treasury’s modelling is based on agricultural property relief and joint agricultural and business property relief claims, yet tax experts have said in evidence to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee that many family farms will wrap their agricultural land into a single business property relief claim, so the Treasury’s modelling does not take into account family farms that have used a BPR-only claim, tenant farmers who use BPR, and the many rural family businesses that will also use BPR. Will the Minister please take this opportunity to look at this again, before his Government wreck the countryside?”
House of Commons23 January 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I thank the Minister for his reassurance to leaseholders, but what message does he have for freeholders, such as the residents of the Wolds View development in Driffield, who are trapped at the mercy of an unaccountable management company? Will he legislate to protect not just future homeowners but those currently stuck in these contracts?”
House of Commons20 January 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Germany is a timely reminder of the livestock diseases that threaten the UK every day. The Minister has said that he will take every precaution available to him, so will he use this opportunity to permanently ban all personal imports of meat, and to ensure that both the public health authorities and Border Force are resourced to tackle illegal meat importation?”
House of Commons15 January 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The increase in employer national insurance contributions comes at a time when we simply cannot afford to lose any more provision from care providers. Age UK estimates that 2 million people aged 65 and over already have unmet care and support needs. What assessment has the Minister made of the potential increase in unmet care needs as a result of the increase to employer national insurance contributions?”
House of Commons7 January 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Will the Minister join me in congratulating East Riding of Yorkshire council on achieving the armed forces covenant employer recognition scheme gold award, and pay tribute to both the council leader Anne Handley and our armed forces champion Councillor Liam Dealtry for their roles in achieving that? Could he also tell the House what he is doing to encourage more organisations to achieve this highest standard in veterans’ support?”
House of Commons6 January 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“There appears to be inconsistency between what Ministers are saying about the report by the National Energy System Operator and what the CEO of NESO told the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee last week. Can the Secretary of State answer this clearly: does the NESO report forecast higher or lower energy bills under his policy?”
House of Commons17 December 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“On SEND funding, the East Riding of Yorkshire is the lowest funded local authority for SEND per pupil. Children in the Prime Minister’s constituency get three times more funding than children in mine, which is a travesty in itself. This policy will put even more strain on my local authority and the children who desperately need support from it.”
House of Commons11 December 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Friend the Member for Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge (Sir Gavin Williamson) said, the CLA has highlighted that the average 300-acre arable farm owned by a couple would have to spend 99% of its yearly profit over a decade to afford an inheritance tax bill. More starkly, a single farmer with 200 acres would have to pay 136% of their yearly profit to cover the bill. Clearly, that is unaffordable. A real-life example was sent to me by a constituent. He is a farmer whose elderly father is still alive but no longer works, and whose son is at a local agricultural college and hopes one day to follow in his footsteps. Such an inheritance tax bill makes his farm unviable and puts his son’s future in doubt. His father is distraught. He said to his wife that morning, “What is the point of even going to work?””
House of Commons4 December 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I share the frustration of my right hon. Friend shadow Secretary of State that the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs cannot be with us today. I wanted to offer him some sympathy, because I do not believe that either he or the farming Minister cooked up this terrible plan. It was thrust on them by the Treasury because, as has been said before, the Treasury knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. It clearly does not know the value of a family farm or the value of our farmers to this country. The purpose of this policy, as was outlined by the Chancellor in her Budget statement, is to stop wealthy individuals avoiding inheritance tax, but to protect family farms. As my right hon.”
House of Commons4 December 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The only way to make farms profitable that quickly is by greatly increasing food prices. If we are to go down the route of food inflation and of inflation more widely, then fine, but the Government are going to have to explain that to consumers in the supermarket.”
House of Commons4 December 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“If we take the Treasury’s figures, which show that £500 million will be taken each year by these taxes, that is £500 million that will no longer be spent in the rural economy. For example, a farmer who wants to expand his livestock herd needs to build a new shed, and that means paying a planning consultant, a construction firm, a mechanic and an electrician. It means a greater feed bill for his new livestock, and he has to buy the livestock. All of those things are part of the wider economy. It is not just the farmers who will be hit by this policy; it is everyone in rural communities. The Secretary of State told us at the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee that it will all be fine because farms, under his tutelage, will become more profitable.”
House of Commons4 December 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“My right hon. Friend is absolutely correct. Farming is a lonely existence at times, and farmers have traditionally suffered from mental health difficulties. This policy is making things far worse, and for small family farms it really is devastating. As others in the House have said, tenants have not been taken into account in any of this. The impact of business property relief is far greater than any of us have discussed so far, because it does not just relate to farms. It relates to any unquoted business, which could be a local haulier, an abattoir or a feed merchant. All of these—the tapestry of our agricultural economy—are impacted by these measures. It really is a devastating attack on our way of life.”
House of Commons4 December 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“My hon. Friend is absolutely correct. Farmers are of course price takers, not price setters, and they have always been under great pressure from the retail chain to keep their prices to a minimum, so that we can all enjoy cheaper food. That is a fact of life, and a very difficult challenge.”
House of Commons4 December 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“We are going to have to agree to disagree on that point. Frankly, this is a policy dreamt up by the Treasury on a spreadsheet. There has been no impact assessment, and there is no understanding of its impact on rural communities. This is not just an assault on farmers; it is an attack on the entire agricultural economy. The end result will be less British food, reduced British food security and fewer British jobs. Will the Minister please give our farmers some hope this Christmas, and look at this again?”
House of Commons4 December 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The shadow Secretary of State, my hon. Friend the Member for South Suffolk (James Cartlidge), alluded to the presumptive nominee Marco Rubio’s comments that the deal represents a serious threat to US national security. Does the Minister agree?”
House of Commons2 December 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“T6. The teachers and staff at Hornsea school and language college do a fantastic job for their 1,300 pupils, including 90 with SEND, but they do so in crumbling buildings with leaking roofs. With the news in last week’s Budget that this Government will continue the Conservative’s school rebuilding programme, will the Secretary of State prioritise Hornsea school?”
House of Commons4 November 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The Minister implied earlier that farmers in my constituency of Bridlington and The Wolds support this measure. I can categorically tell him that they do not; they are shattered by this announcement. The impact on my community will be devastating. I ask the Minister today to do the right thing and withdraw these plans.”
House of Commons4 November 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The Secretary of State mentioned the importance of drainage in reducing incidents of pollution caused by flooding. Will he therefore commit today, while we await the outcome of the commission, to distributing the £75 million allocated by the previous Government to internal drainage boards, so that farmers in my constituency and others in the River Hull catchment do not have to spend another winter under water?”
House of Commons23 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“T7. What guarantees can the Secretary of State give to steelworkers in Scunthorpe that the grid connection required for a new electric arc furnace will be ready on time next year?”
House of Commons8 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Out-patient appointments are a particularly key metric, as they make up a large bulk of the interactions between the NHS and older people in Bridlington. The number of out-patient appointments at Bridlington hospital that are offered to residents in Bridlington, Driffield and the surrounding area has reduced from 46,500 in 2019-20 to just over 27,500 in 2023-24—a reduction of more than 35% in just four years. Ophthalmology appointments are down, audiology appointments are down and rheumatology appointments are down. Instead of recognising that an ageing population will result in greater demand for out-patient services locally, we are seeing these services being provided at sites away from the town.”
House of Commons8 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“It recently enjoyed an investment of £4.7 million in 1,500 solar panels, making it one of the greenest NHS sites in the country. However, the site is chronically underused. I am not suggesting for a second that the Bridlington hospital site could be a major trauma centre or large infirmary, but it can and should be a vital community asset for health. It has the potential to be a health hub for the town, bringing together a wide array of local health services. York and Scarborough NHS trust might not be the owner of the site, but it is the provider of secondary care there. Many people in the town feel that its focus, which is naturally leaning towards North Yorkshire and not East Yorkshire, means that investment and new services are being prioritised in York, Scarborough and Malton.”
House of Commons8 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Will the Minister agree to look again at NHS dental contracts, so that they incentivise dentists to open practices in areas where there is such a clear and obvious shortage? Access to primary care has seen some recent improvements, but the consolidation of GP practices from six to two has not been without its problems. Local patients still find it challenging to secure appointments at one of the two practices, but I know that GPs operating across the town have worked tirelessly to improve services in the wake of the pandemic and the shortage of local healthcare professionals. The direction of travel for secondary care, however, is not positive. Bridlington is blessed with a fantastic hospital site, which opened in 1989.”
House of Commons8 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“In terms of length of life, quality of life and the amount of people with long term health conditions, Bridlington has got the worst levels in all of the East Riding…So this is a wake up call to do something about it.” I certainly cannot disagree with that sentiment. As for the supply of health services, the House will no doubt be shocked to hear that there are entire classrooms of children in Bridlington who have never seen a dentist. One patient needing emergency dental work was sent more than 60 miles to Doncaster, and in January there were 8,500 people on the waiting list for the only local NHS dentist. Many people have been forced to go private, but that is not a solution affordable to most.”
House of Commons8 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Indeed, data shows that two of the three wards covering the town are the two most deprived in the county, and the other is the fifth highest of a total of 26. The age profile is equally stark. One third of the population are over 65, and that rises to 44% of residents in Bridlington North, where a significant number are over 80. Bridlington has the highest percentage of people with limiting long-term illness or disability in the York and Scarborough NHS Trust catchment area, and Bridlington residents have the highest levels of health inequality in that catchment. The director of public health for East Riding of Yorkshire county council has said of the town: “we have found that the inequalities are growing, they’re large and they’re serious.”
House of Commons8 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I will describe the demographic backdrop against which these issues have arisen, the challenges over supply of services, and, lastly, the need for a robust strategy to tackle the various problems faced by local people in the town. Bridlington is a fantastic coastal resort on the edge of the rolling hills of the Wolds, and it welcomes millions of visitors every year. It is world famous for its seabird colony, and is the lobster capital of Europe. However, like many seaside towns it has significant challenges, and the demographic data is stark. It has the oldest and most deprived population in the East Riding of Yorkshire, and men living in the Bridlington South ward have a life expectancy 10 years lower than those living elsewhere in the county.”
House of Commons8 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I am grateful for the opportunity to debate this important subject. I thank the Minister for being here this evening, and I thank everyone I spoke to before the debate, particularly the Bridlington health forum and representatives of local NHS trusts and the integrated care board. Bridlington is not alone in needing improved access to health services, but I will seek to explain today why that has become an extremely acute problem in the town. Constituents of mine living in and around Driffield, Hornsea, Market Weighton and the remote Wolds villages will have valid concerns about their own public services, but I hope they will forgive me for taking this opportunity to speak in depth about Bridlington and why it is in so much need of extra support.”
House of Commons8 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“If he wants to make a real difference today, will he please focus some of his Department’s collective effort on tackling the enormous health inequalities in seaside towns such as Bridlington, and will he please take the recommendations of Lord Darzi and Sir Chris Whitty and apply them to our town? We are happy to be his pilot scheme or his trailblazer. I know that with the right energy and direction, we will not be left with a generation of children who have never seen a dentist and we will not have elderly people travelling long distances for regular routine appointments. Instead, we will have a health service to be proud of and a happier and healthier local population. I implore the Minister and his Department to work with me to ensure a better future for the brilliant people of Bridlington.”
House of Commons8 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“This is not a criticism of the performance of my local ICB, which is working hard to tackle the challenges, but I think we would all benefit from greater clarity of purpose. In conclusion, we cannot escape what is in front of us. As one senior local authority figure commented to me: “The health crisis in Bridlington is not a car crash waiting to happen, it is happening right now.” My appeal to the Minister today is simple. I have no doubt that he has the very best of intentions when it comes to improving the nation’s health, but realistically many of those ambitions will take decades.”
House of Commons8 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The Humber and North Yorkshire integrated care board is trying to address these issues, but I am concerned about exactly what its role is, or should be. Some ICBs interpret their population health duties as requiring them to act upstream of healthcare needs on the social determinants of health, where the NHS has few direct levers. Other ICBs interpret their duties as requiring them to understand and adjust healthcare services to match the needs of the population that they serve, in line with the NHS operating framework. Some interpret them as both and others as neither, preferring to focus on what they see as their traditional role of performance managing providers. Ultimately, their roles and responsibilities need to be clarified so that they can be better held to account.”
House of Commons8 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“As a result, deprivation and ill health at the coast is hidden by relative affluence just inland which is lumped together.” In conclusion, he recommended: “Given the health and wellbeing challenges of coastal communities have more in common with one another than inland neighbours, there should be a national strategy to improve the health and wellbeing of coastal communities.” Unfortunately, and perhaps as a result of the health service working its way through the impact of the pandemic, the report has been somewhat sidelined and the recommendations have yet to be acted upon, so what should be the solution? We need a comprehensive strategy, bringing together all parts of the health service, that recognises the challenges and put together an immediate action plan.”
House of Commons8 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Coastal communities have been long overlooked with limited research on their health and wellbeing. The focus has tended towards inner city or rural areas with too little attention given to the nation’s periphery.” He went on to add: “Data is rarely published at a geographical level granular enough to capture coastal outcomes, with most data only available at local authority or Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) level.”
House of Commons8 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The frequency of their interactions with the health service means that their care is more complex and therefore requires coordination.” Finally on this point, Lord Darzi is right to say that “care should be delivered in the community, closer to where people live and work”, and that “hospitals should be reserved for specialist care. This is more convenient for patients—especially for those with long-term conditions who will need contact with the NHS more frequently.” I would also like to refer the House to the chief medical officer’s 2021 annual report on health in coastal communities. In this insightful piece of work, Sir Chris Whitty noted: “Given the known high rates of preventable illness in these areas, the lack of available data on the health of coastal communities has been striking whilst researching the report.”
House of Commons8 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Lord Darzi makes the following very pertinent observation: “At the highest level, the NHS has had the strategic intention to shift spending from reactive care in hospitals to more proactive care in the community setting—but care has in fact moved in the other direction.” That is very much the experience of my constituents. The report also makes it clear that “care should be more joined up, or more ‘integrated’…to reflect the fact the people living with long-term conditions” need more support and “a variety of different physical and mental health professionals and often rely on social care too.”
House of Commons8 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“He states that: “An ageing population is the most significant driver of increased healthcare needs since it is associated with the development of long-term conditions” and that “by the time people are aged 65-74, a majority will have at least one long-term condition and some 40 per cent will have two or more. By the time people are aged 75-84, this rises to nearly 60 per cent having two or more, and by the time people are aged 85 or above, 9 out of 10 will have at least one long-term condition.” I remind the House that one third of residents in Bridlington are over 65.”
House of Commons8 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I thank the hon. Member for his contribution. I will come to that point shortly. East Riding patients travelled an astonishing 2.7 million NHS miles to attend out-patient appointments in 2023-24, and two thirds of Bridlington residents attend out-patient appointments away from the town. That is not acceptable, and I will not stand by and let it continue. However, part of the problem is that local Members of Parliament have very little, if any, direct influence over the direction of our health services, which is why I am appealing to the Minister for his support. I believe that this is particularly timely. In his recent report, Lord Darzi described the NHS as “broken”, and in the case of Bridlington he is correct.”
House of Commons8 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“On the particular issue of coastal towns, Bridlington is not unique in the challenges it faces. Will the Minister pledge to look at the broader recommendations in Sir Chris Whitty’s report of 2021?”
House of Commons8 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“T3. As was alluded to by my right hon. Friend the Member for Beverley and Holderness (Graham Stuart), children with special educational needs and disabilities in some urban local authorities receive three times more funding than they do in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Will the Secretary of State or her Minister meet me and East Riding colleagues, so that we can secure a fairer future for our local children?”
House of Commons9 September 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Does my hon. Friend agree that it is a travesty that a child with SEND in the London borough of Camden receives more than three times the funding of a child with SEND in my constituency? Every child should have access to the same support, funding and opportunity.”
House of Commons5 September 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“If I can make our beautiful corner of Yorkshire a better place to live and work before I depart this place, I will, I hope, have done some good.”
House of Commons3 September 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I do not wish to test your patience, Madam Chair, by singing the praises of all the many villages and hamlets across my constituency, but it would be remiss of me not to mention Nafferton, where I grew up, and Wansford, where I now live. Both are home to excellent local pubs; if you do find yourself in the area, I would be delighted to buy you a drink. I hope to repay the faith placed in me by the electorate with hard work and diligence. I want to improve access to local health services, increase transport links, ensure access to high-speed broadband for all and address the historical funding formula in education that disadvantages children in rural local authority areas. I am one of the few Members who can claim to represent more pigs than people. Agriculture, fishing and tourism are the foundations of our local economy.”
House of Commons3 September 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Bridlington is the largest shellfish landing port in the UK and the lobster capital of Europe. It attracts millions of visitors every year and is home to many thousands of people who have retired to the area, and I will always fiercely defend our local pensioners. Driffield, my home town, is the capital of the Wolds—or capital of the world, as I thought it said on the road sign as a child—and home to one of the largest one-day agricultural shows in the country. Hornsea boasts not only a beautiful coastline but the largest freshwater lake in Yorkshire, and Market Weighton was once home to William Bradley, who is believed to be the tallest person ever to have lived in this country at 7 foot 9 inches tall, and to whom the town pays tribute every year on Giant Bradley Day.”
House of Commons3 September 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“More seriously, Sir Greg was rightly rewarded with a knighthood for his service to this place, and I place on record my thanks for his support and friendship in recent months. I wish both him and Lady Janet a very happy and well-deserved retirement. I now have the unbelievable privilege of representing my home constituency of Bridlington and The Wolds, and it is truly the greatest honour of my life. I am sure you will agree, Madam Chair, that there is no finer county than Yorkshire, and nowhere showcases it better than the East Riding—from the stunning cliffs and world-famous seabird colony at Bempton and Flamborough Head to the golden, sandy beaches stretching from Bridlington to Hornsea and the rolling hills and picture-book villages of the Wolds. Each of the four towns in the constituency has its own unique appeal.”
House of Commons3 September 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“He then returned to this place in 2001 for the then constituency of East Yorkshire, which has now become Bridlington and The Wolds, and was re-elected on five separate occasions until his retirement this year. Sir Greg served for a second stint in the Whips Office during the coalition years and worked tirelessly behind the scenes on many of Parliament’s less fashionable Committees. I will always aspire to match his dedication and integrity in public life, but there is one area in which I will never be able to compete with him—that is, of course, the election campaign jingle. For any hon. Members who are unaware of his unique impact in this area, I wholeheartedly recommend a quick internet search after today’s debate.”
House of Commons3 September 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Thank you, Madam Chair, for allowing me to catch your eye during this very important debate. I congratulate the hon. Member for Rochdale (Paul Waugh) on a really excellent maiden speech, and I hope that I can match the very high bar that has been set by hon. Members in all parts of the House so far today. I start by paying tribute to my predecessor, Sir Greg Knight. I am very fortunate to be following him; he was a very well-liked and respected Member of this House. His parliamentary career spanned five decades, and he served as a Minister in the Governments of Thatcher, Major and Cameron. He was first the Member for Derby North, from 1983 to 1997, and excelled in the roles of Deputy Chief Whip and Minister for Industry.”
House of Commons3 September 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗