Sojan Joseph

I pay tribute to Sir David Amess. I wish to speak about a number of transport issues relating to my constituency. Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of welcoming the Rail Minister to Ashford, where we attended the opening of a new career and skills hub for Southeastern. After the opening, I took the Minister on a tour of Ashford International station, and the part of the station left abandoned since Eurostar decided in 2020 that international rail services would no longer stop at either Ashford or Ebbsfleet. Those parts of the station stand ready for international passengers to use once again. It was great to have the noble Lord Hendy reiterate his and the Government’s support for our campaign to have international rail services return to Kent. In my year in the House, the other transport issue I have raised just as regularly as the return of international rail to Ashford is the deployment of Operation Brock on the M20. I am sorry that it was necessary to present a petition to the House on the subject last week, on behalf of my constituents. It is hugely disappointing that Kent county council and the Kent and Medway resilience forum have introduced Operation Brock once again, and that it will remain in force until at least 4 August. The recent announcement that the Dart charge will increase from September has disappointed many of my constituents. If we take that together with the tolls now in place for the Blackwall and Silvertown tunnels, the result is that all those routes will now cost more. We should, of course, encourage people to take public transport wherever we can, and I recognise that the charges are in place to manage traffic numbers. However, many of my constituents will have no option but to pay the increased charge, as they have only one route to work available to them. Potholes are a blight on the roads in my constituency, just as they are in the constituencies of most Members. It is wrong that, as a result of under-investment by the Conservatives, our constituents have been expected to deal with the repercussions of poor roads and the maintenance backlog that has built up. I welcome the fact that the Government are committing additional resources to fix this problem; they are providing £500 million in extra funding for highway maintenance across the country this year, and Kent county council will receive up to an additional £16 million. If those problems are to be fixed, there will of course need to be roadworks, but I plead on behalf of my constituents for much better co-ordination to ensure that any disruption is kept to a minimum. I conclude by thanking you, Madam Deputy Speaker, as well as Mr Speaker, all my colleagues and the staff of this House.