Graham Stuart

I join the Minister in saluting the heroic rescuers and mourning the loss of the seaman. Mr Speaker, you may share some of my frustration at the lack of communication with Members of this House regarding yesterday’s maritime disaster off the Holderness coast in my constituency. Apart from a brief phone call following my reaching out to the Secretary of State for Transport, I spoke to the leader of East Riding of Yorkshire council, the police and crime commissioner and local councillors. All were struggling to get information as to what was going on just miles off the coast. My constituents from Kilsney, Easington, Withernsea, Aldborough and beyond deserve better. I must ask the Minister why it took so long for the local resilience forum to be set up. Is he confident that we have the proper structures of governance in place when a disaster such as this happens? How can we ensure that communications are improved? What work is being done to protect the puffins, wildlife and beaches in our area? And how can we ensure that the agencies responsible are held to account? Perhaps the Minister can comment on why he was missing in action yesterday. We would have loved to have heard not just from 24-hour rolling media but from a member of our own elected Government about what was happening with this terrible disaster.