Brian Mathew
MP for Melksham and Devizes · Liberal Democrat · United Kingdom
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Desmond. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Wells and Mendip Hills (Tessa Munt) for securing this important debate. Planning and local development is one of the most commonly raised issues in my email inbox, as I am sure is the case for many others in the room.”
“It does sound most odd, if I may say so. That principle lies at the heart of the Bath and Wiltshire metro proposal, which I support. It has the potential to unlock brownfield regeneration in Melksham town centre, revitalise the riverside and strengthen the high street through sustainable, rail-connected growth.”
“Local people and local elected officials should have a role in deciding the future of their area, because they best understand it. When local people are given the opportunity to help shape their future, it can be a roaring success.”
“That demonstrates what rural communities can achieve by working with partners, such as local councils and Homes England, for the benefit of residents and the environment.”
“The offending landfill vaults are being closed and additional landfill gas wells will be installed to increase gas capture and reduce emissions from the site. Additionally, there has recently been a spate of fires at Lower Compton landfill, caused by batteries in vapes, endangering residents and staff.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Murrison. I thank the hon. Member for Blackpool North and Fleetwood (Lorraine Beavers) for securing this debate. Residents of the part of Calne that is in my constituency have long reported strong and unpleasant sulphurous odours from the Lower Compton landfill.”
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“Their decision to blockade and stop electricity entering Gaza is wrong, and it will only exacerbate the suffering of the Palestinians in the strip. Beyond the immediate maintenance and progression of the ceasefire, a just, long-term peace must include the immediate recognition of the state of Palestine. My hon. Friend the Member for Oxford West and Abingdon (Layla Moran) has introduced a Bill in each of the last three Sessions calling for the immediate recognition of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders. My noble Friend Baroness Northover has done the same. We must also work closely with those Israelis and Palestinians who are advocating for a just peace based on a two-state solution, which would bring security and dignity for all.”
“It is a pleasure to speak under your chairmanship, Mr Twigg. I also thank the hon. Member for Mansfield (Steve Yemm) for bringing this issue to the Chamber. The Liberal Democrats have long called for a two-state solution to the conflict in the middle east based on the 1967 borders. In the immediate term, the current ceasefire in Gaza must be maintained, and both sides must advance talks on phase 2. That must include the release of all remaining hostages, including the bodies of hostages killed in Hamas captivity, and it must ensure that aid can flood into Gaza to relieve the suffering of Palestinians after 18 months of devastation. The UK Government must also urgently engage with the Israeli Government to ensure they reopen aid routes and the supply of electricity, in line with Israel’s obligations under international law.”
“I have a Syrian family living in my constituency. The wife is from a small village in Tartus and her husband is from Salamiyah, a town in Hama. Both of their families are still there. They are both part of a religious minority, the Ismaili community, and come from a very diverse area that has Alawite, Muslim and Christian villages. The mountainous areas around Tartus are currently being ravaged by extremist Muslim groups, killing whole families. The area near the husband’s family is preparing for an imminent attack. My constituents are terrified for the safety of their families. They are pleading for an urgent intervention from the international community to stop the killings and to protect civilians.”
“The UK Government must use their diplomatic channels to promote peace, hold human rights violators to account and support those affected by the conflict. We stand for a peaceful, just and humanitarian approach to resolving the situation and helping to build a better, more prosperous future for the people of Jammu and Kashmir.”
“The UK must also reverse cuts to official development assistance and ensure that aid focuses on poverty reduction and protecting human rights in places such as Kashmir, where an estimated 655,000 people are living below the poverty line, with about 47% of the population living without adequate sanitation. The UK’s international development spending must be used effectively, with a primary focus on poverty reduction as we reverse the ODA cuts and get back to 0.7% GNI, putting the United Nations sustainable development goals—including access to clean water, sanitation and health and to quality education, and achieving food security—at the heart of our international development policy. The Kashmir crisis is a long-standing issue that cannot be ignored.”
“But it is up to the Governments of India and Pakistan to undertake to engage in a peace process that delivers a sustainable, just and lasting settlement. Our Government must play their part to help find the best way forward. We are profoundly concerned by the Indian Government’s abolition in 2019 of Kashmir’s special status under article 370 of the constitution of India, along with the continuing unrest and human rights abuses. We believe that the UK must use its influence to support UN inspections and engagement in Kashmir. The Liberal Democrats believe in defending human rights and equality across the globe and think that UK foreign policy should promote these values internationally.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Allin-Khan. I thank the hon. Member for Hyndburn (Sarah Smith) for bringing forward this important debate. The Liberal Democrats are deeply concerned about the ongoing tension between India and Pakistan over Jammu and Kashmir. This is not a new conflict; it has been a long and oppressive one. It affects many in the UK, particularly those in communities with strong personal ties to the region. We are concerned by the ongoing tension between India and Pakistan, two nuclear powers, and we want the UK Government, with the international community, to play an active role in advocating for peace and reconciliation between India and Pakistan in this troubled area, and in recognising the human rights of the residents of Jammu and Kashmir.”
“Asylum seekers come here full of hope for a better future for themselves and their families. They want to work. We should give them the chance and the support to do so, instead of leaving them in administrative limbo in hotels around the country, costing the taxpayer billions. If they have the chance to work their way into our society, instead of remaining a burden on the Exchequer and a burden to themselves, it would free up a large part of the remaining aid budget that could be spent on improving lives in the developing world, so that people do not need to risk their lives to come here in the first place. People come here risking their all and that does not cease once they enter our borders. To protect them from the clutches of human trafficking— [ Interruption. ] I had better sit down.”
“For example, approximately £4.3 billion is spent on asylum seekers arriving in the UK each year, a large proportion of the overall aid budget, leaving only £4.9 billion for actual aid work overseas. Now that budget has been further depleted to increase defence expenditure, it is vital that we bring down the costs associated with asylum seekers urgently. That could be done in the following way. Asylum seekers arriving in the UK illegally, in small boats or by other highly dangerous means, need protection. They need support, they need compassion—they are people—but what they do not need is to be put in hotels with no plans for their future. As anyone who has been cooped up in a hotel for more than a few weeks will know, that will cause their mental health to suffer, and their drive and determination to wane.”
“I believe the UK’s international development spending must be used effectively, with a primary focus on poverty reduction, and we must reverse the ODA cut and get back to 0.7% of GNI, which was probably our proudest achievement as Liberal Democrats in the coalition Government. We must put the United Nations sustainable development goals at the heart of our international development policy, including access to clean water, sanitation, health, education and achieving food security. However, for now we are where we are, and with our total aid budget likely to be cut to around £9 billion a year, we must strive to get the very best value for our money—not just for the sake of the Exchequer, but for the massive good that British aid can still do in the world if it is not squandered.”
“Immediately, however, we must provide vulnerable households such as those in Melksham and Devizes with more support to pay unaffordable energy bills, and we must restore the winter fuel allowance for all pensioners.”
“It is worth noting that just 1,372 pensioners in my constituency—6% of the total number—are on pension credit. That raises further questions about those who did not apply for pension credit, even though they may deserve it, or who fall just outside the limit but are actually in fuel poverty. In a first-world, highly developed country, that is unacceptable; it is unacceptable that people in one of the richest nations of the world struggle to keep their homes warm in winter. Fuel poverty has impacts outside of energy policy: it affects people’s physical and mental health, and it adds demands to the NHS’s winter crisis. We must tackle fuel poverty by looking for both long-term and immediate solutions. In the long term, we must retrofit houses to make them more energy-efficient, insulating homes and installing heat pumps.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Efford. I thank the hon. Member for Normanton and Hemsworth (Jon Trickett) for securing this important debate. All of us have heard heart-wrenching stories from our constituencies of families struggling to heat their homes. Vulnerable pensioners are worried about staying warm in what has been a cold and damp winter. Nearly 5,000 households in my constituency, or 11.3%, are classified as being fuel-poor or in fuel poverty. They struggle to keep their homes warm, spend a high proportion of their household income on heating their homes, or live in energy-inefficient homes that make keeping warm incredibly difficult, with the choice of keeping warm or putting food on the table a real one.”
“If the Government’s plan comes into effect unchanged, Darcy and her family will somehow have to find nearly £500,000 to keep their farm, with barely any notice. If they cannot find the money, because they, like most small farmers, do not have hundreds of thousands of pounds to spare, they will lose their farm—a small, sustainable family business that will likely be replaced by a corporate with no connection to the local community. The Government need to acknowledge the effect that this sudden rise in inheritance tax will have on small family farms—on people whose families have been working hard for generations to put food on Britain’s tables.”
“Earlier today I had the opportunity to meet a constituent, Darcy Johnson, and I want to share her and her family’s story. Four generations of Darcy’s family have worked Dogwood farm, which is a small, family-run beef and arable farm of about 250 acres. Her grandfather is the current owner. The plan was always to follow the sensible business advice that they and other farmers were given: to wait until her grandfather’s death to pass the farm on to the next generation. Her parents currently manage the farm, and Darcy is studying agricultural business, hoping to take it on herself later. Generations-worth of planning has followed the suggested advice, but that was suddenly changed overnight with the Budget announcement. Because Darcy’s grandfather is now 92, beyond insurable age, they do not have seven years to wait.”
“I thank my hon. Friend for those comments. These small family-run businesses cannot afford it. If the plan continues, many will be wiped out completely. Such farms are often the backbone of rural communities, doing everything from clearing snow in winter to providing hay bales for village fairs. The loss of the farms will not only devastate the families that own them, but completely change rural life in England— I would argue for the worse. Farmers like Darcy, who is here with us and travelled up for the day to make her voice heard, need to be given a seat at the table so that they can give the Government useful advice on how to dig themselves out of the hole they have unfortunately dug.”
“With the Russians using drones to drop CS gas into the trenches of the Donbas, and Avon Protection in my constituency ready to manufacture the residue of the 300,000 gas masks that Ukraine requested, will the Government put in an order as soon as possible, please?”
“We must restore our aid spending to what it was before, and restore our leadership in the field of international development; in doing so, we will restore our reputation as a kind and generous nation.”
“Furthermore, while in debt distress, countries may look to quick solutions that involve exploiting or exporting their natural resources to do so—extracting fossil fuels, mining or logging—and, in the process, worsening climate change. That disproportionately affects those in the global south, but also affects us here at home. The UK has a significant role to play in solving this problem. As we have heard, 45% of all foreign sovereign debt is governed under English law. The Government have promised to tackle unsustainable debt and must hold private lenders and creditors accountable for that. Furthermore, the previous Government cut international aid from 0.7% to 0.5% of gross national income—an act that withheld billions of pounds from those most in need.”
“It is 25 years since the last jubilee debt forgiveness, known as Jubilee 2000, when 40 countries called for the cancellation of third-world debt. Biblically, an important part of the jubilee celebration was the cancellation of debt to give those in need a fresh start. We are told in the Bible not to be hard-hearted or tight-fisted towards others, but instead to be open-hearted and freely give what is needed. For this jubilee year, Pope Francis has made debt cancellation a priority, stating: “More than a question of generosity, this is a matter of justice.” We must act now to end the vicious cycle that these countries are trapped in. Without being able to invest in development, countries are unable to grow their economies or fully escape debt.”
“I commend the hon. Member for Southgate and Wood Green (Bambos Charalambous) for organising this debate on a vital and extremely timely topic. As all hon. Members present are likely aware, we face the most acute debt crisis in history. According to CAFOD, more than 3.3 billion people are living in countries where they are forced to spend more on debt servicing than on providing for their citizens. Such high debt-servicing costs prevent those countries from spending on vital public services such as education and health, and investing in sustainable development goals. Private lenders make up the largest group of creditors, with many based in the UK and 90% of their contracts governed by English law. Many hon. Members will also be aware that 2025 has been declared a jubilee year by Pope Francis.”
“Let me start by saying that I am in in favour of the motion, so I will vote for it, if it comes to that. However, would the hon. Member for Spen Valley (Kim Leadbeater) and the Minister consider the inclusion of two social workers on the group, made up of two GPs and a High Court judge, that assesses requests for assisted dying?”
“There would be added expense. Social workers are trained in understanding family dynamics, and need desperately to be involved in these situations.”
“Does the hon. Member agree that if the Government feel that some minimum income requirement is necessary or appropriate, it should never be greater than that necessary to render an immigrant unable to claim benefits, as Theresa May’s original sum was intended to do?”
“The Aberthaw to Minehead line has the added advantage that it has no mud—unlike Weston-super-Mare, as anyone who has visited Weston in the summer will know. Its seabed is rock all the way across and so has greater possibilities for locking tidal caissons holding large turbines to the sea floor. The design of the reef would allow for a maximum of 2 metres head on both the incoming and outgoing tides, which would mean that fish could safely swim through the large turbines without getting hurt. That is a big factor, and one reason for the rejection of previous tidal schemes in in the Bristol channel. Other factors to consider are, first, that 30.4 TWh per annum is larger than the expected annual output of Hinkley Point C, which is 30.2 TWh. Secondly, a degree of energy storage from the reef would be possible.”
“The idea of a tidal barrage in the Bristol channel is not new, and the location of the reef on the Aberthaw to Minehead line was first suggested in the 1930s as being the best place to generate electricity and energy from the tides in the Bristol channel. In 2010, when the current Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero was Secretary of State for the then Department of Energy and Climate Change, he announced funding for investigations of embryonic tidal technologies. Rolls-Royce and Atkins won the contract to do the study, and their work showed that a tidal scheme on the Aberthaw to Minehead route would generate per year 30.4 TW hours of electricity, significantly more than the Cardiff to Weston-super-Mare line, which was in the region of 20 TW hours per annum.”
“I thank my right hon. Friend the Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr Carmichael) and everyone who has spoken so far in the debate. Back in 2009 I was involved in an as yet conceptual tidal project known as the reef. It was projected to stretch from Aberthaw in south Wales to Minehead in Somerset, a distance of some 17 km. It was designed by Rupert Armstrong Evans at the behest of the University of Southampton, which asked Mr Evans to design a scheme that would be environmentally benign and would generate significant energy for the UK. You will no doubt be aware, Ms Jardine, that the tidal difference in the Bristol channel is the second largest in the world.”
“I thank my hon. Friend for his points, which of course are true. This technology could be employed right across the United Kingdom and its amazing coastline. A third advantage would be that ships could pass up and down the Bristol channel via large floating lock gates. Fourthly, the project could be upgraded over its life so that it would effectively be time-unlimited, even with sea level rises. A fifth point, which could well be applied to renewable schemes across the UK, is that the excess energy—or the energy that the grid cannot use at any particular time—could be diverted into the manufacture of synthetic fuels. That would be one way of dealing with the problem of what to do when we generate energy and there is no call for it. In short, this project is well worth further investigation.”
“I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Wimbledon (Mr Kohler) for bringing forward this important debate, and all hon. Members for speaking with such compassion. Although the £100 million for hospice capital projects is to be welcomed, it is cash that is most needed. Julia’s House, a children’s hospice in my constituency that has already been mentioned, will find itself out of pocket by £242,000 per year because of the rise in national insurance. Dorothy House hospice, which is also in my constituency, will lose even more. That is a lot of sponsored walks and parachute jumps—perhaps too many—if the hospices are to avoid cutting their services. I urge the Minister to think again, and to provide the funds that our hospices need.”
“806.] Will the Minister join the Liberal Democrats in calling on the Disasters Emergency Committee to start an appeal, just as it did recently for the middle east? The committee previously communicated to our spokesperson in the other place, Lord Purvis of Tweed, that this conflict is not deemed high-profile enough to start one.”
“We will shortly pass the rotating presidency on to the US. Will the Minister update the House on what conversations she and her colleagues have had with UN counterparts to ensure that this brutal conflict, which sadly has been ignored, is brought to an end so that civilians are protected? With the inauguration of President Trump just weeks away, what representations have we made against the division of Sudan? Will the Minister commit to doing all she can to raise the profile in the UK of that conflict? When my right hon. Friend the Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Ed Davey), raised the conflict at Prime Minister’s questions, the Prime Minister agreed that “it is an important issue” and that he did “not think we discuss it enough in this House” —[ Official Report , 30 October 2024; Vol. 755, c.”
“I thank the Minister for advance sight of the statement and for the UK’s work at the UN Security Council this past month. The Liberal Democrats welcome efforts to secure a ceasefire in Sudan and join Members from all sides of the House in condemning Russia’s attempts to stop one. The UK should not accept that the consequences of the Russia veto are that we cannot act to protect civilians, so what actions are the Government taking? Given that we can act and we do not have to wait, will they consider a UK Sudan-wide no-fly zone, building on the one in place in Darfur? Does the Minister agree that we should not bestow legitimacy on warring groups? I understand that the RSF is days away from claiming that it is forming a Government. If it does, does she agree that it will be civilians who lose out?”
“Some of my constituents in Melksham and Devizes, who until recently have had an NHS dentist in Chippenham, now find that the service has been stripped away from them. They now have to pay a monthly fee, which totals up to more than £150 a year at a minimum. Does my hon. Friend agree that that and the state of children’s dentistry are becoming a source of national shame? Urgent funding is needed now to revive vital services and to ensure that the oral health of the nation’s children and adults is protected.”
“Many Members have welcomed aspects of today’s Budget, and I do, too, especially the additional funding for the NHS and for school rebuilding in the face of the reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete crisis. However, the impact on small farms that are slightly larger than the £1 million threshold will be devastating and will see family-owned farms in my constituency, and no doubt across the UK, selling out to big business as inheritance tax literally tears them apart. I urge the Government to think again on that before it breaks up family farms, threatens food security and destroys communities.”
“Can the Minister assure us that the Government’s commitment to ODA will not be further reduced to 0.3% of GNI? Is there a timeline to restore it to 0.7%?”
“There are things that can be done, which we have heard today, including the release of the hostages and the end of the war, but there are also things that must be done in the future to see Palestine’s future assured, such as the closure of the illegal settlements in the west bank and the rebuilding of Gaza itself. For that to happen, trust needs to be built, and for that to be built, our Government need to be talking to not just the leadership but the opposition in Israel. Jaw-jaw is indeed better than war-war.”
“I speak as someone who knew Gaza in the happy times when, as a young university researcher, I went with my Israeli friends from Kibbutz Re’im to meet their Arab friends in Gaza City to drink coffee and trade. We have heard in the debate about the horror and the passion. We have also heard of solutions, a recognition of the state of Palestine and, indeed, the inclusion of the evacuation of wounded children. War is a horrible thing, and it makes people behave badly, especially when they feel—and, indeed, have been—hurt as the Israelis have been by the events of 7 October last year.”
“I welcome the Secretary of State’s statement, but carbon capture can be done in a number of ways. Anaerobic digestion plants, for example, produce as much CO2 as methane, which can be ducted into greenhouses to produce bigger tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuces. Will such natural carbon capture be included in the project, thereby helping to enhance our food security?”
“I look forward in this Parliament to doing just that, not only with members of all parties in this place but with councillors of all parties, across my constituency.”
“I have already reached out to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to ensure that NHS issues across my constituency are dealt with, including the plight of the GPs of the Three Shires Group of rural surgeries, who have had to take a two-month salary break to keep their surgeries solvent. In Melksham there are calls for the return of basic services at the local hospital, and across the constituency NHS dental services are in freefall, with people wondering how they will be able to afford the cost of basic treatment. I want to end by reflecting on the words of the late Jo Cox, who famously said that there is more that unites us than divides us. There is also more that we can achieve across parties by working together on issues such as health and social care and, indeed, social housing provision.”
“The third former constituency to make up Melksham and Devizes was, of course, Devizes itself, and I look forward to meeting its former MP, who is, of course, still in the House as the hon. Member for East Wiltshire (Danny Kruger), to discuss issues of casework. The Melksham and Devizes constituency stretches from my own Wiltshire council ward of Box and Colerne across the beautiful Bybrook valley and Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s iconic Box tunnel all the way to Devizes, via Bradford-on-Avon, Melksham itself and some of the prettiest villages in England, including Steeple Ashton, Urchfont, the Lavingtons, Seend and Bishops Cannings, to name but a few. Despite the beauty of the place, these communities face the same problems as much of the rest of the country.”
“I should mention James Gray, once of North Wiltshire and known by some as the Minister for Vellum because of his valiant efforts to maintain the use of that material in manuscripts, and the right honourable Michelle Donelan, the former Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology as well as the former MP for the old Chippenham constituency. I first met Michelle in the street in Chippenham some years ago, shortly after she had been first elected. Thanks to a Lyme disease campaigner who had visited her surgery, she had realised that she was suffering from the disease herself. Her openness about that fact has helped to raise the issue of Lyme disease and the importance of early diagnosis, as well as the need for more research on the long-term treatment for victims of the disease, and I commend her for this.”
“Over the last year I have taken part in a number of water blessings with druids, shamans and interfaith practitioners—including Andrew Rumsey, the Bishop of Ramsbury—partly to celebrate our sacred rivers and streams, but also to highlight the pollution threat to our waterways. One of the springs, the Blickmead, is directly threatened by the building of the Stonehenge tunnel. I can testify to the presence of the two huge pike that we witnessed circling the pool below the spring like nature’s guardians. I hope that their future can be assured, and a new way found both to protect and to celebrate our beautiful planet and all the life that lives on it. In a maiden speech, it is traditional that we mention the good work of past MPs. In my case, the wonderful new seat of Melksham and Devizes is made up of three former constituencies.”
“Also welcome would be the opening of a new Devizes Parkway railway station. I welcome the Chancellor’s statement earlier today concerning the review of the Stonehenge tunnel. As a Wiltshire councillor, I have long opposed this abomination of a scheme, given that alternatives exist to solve the problem on the A303—because of its denial of the birthright of everyone, since time immemorial, to see the stones as they travel the ancient way across Salisbury plain by car, by HGV, by charabanc, on horseback, in a cart or on foot, because of the damage that it presents to the environment and, indeed, because of the loss of world heritage status.”
“Thank you very much, Madam Deputy Speaker, and congratulations on your new role. I also congratulate the new Secretary of State. I thank all those who have made maiden speeches, including—I have a list, too—the hon. Members for Hertford and Stortford (Josh Dean), for South Ribble (Mr Foster), for Stevenage (Kevin Bonavia), for High Peak (Jon Pearce), for Smethwick (Gurinder Josan) and for Birmingham Northfield (Laurence Turner), and my hon. Friends the Members for Taunton and Wellington (Mr Amos) and for Thornbury and Yate (Claire Young). I welcome this debate on passenger railway services, as one of many railway users who all too often finds himself standing up on the Great Western Railway service to London from the west country. We need a better service and whatever makes that happen is, to my mind, welcome.”
“I congratulate the Home Secretary on her appointment and on her statements to the House. Following on from a previous question, but perhaps with a nuance, will asylum seekers—perhaps after initial registration—be allowed to work and pay taxes while their applications are pending?”