Jamie Stone

As the MP who represents the furthest away constituency in the British mainland, the words “growth in every postcode” interest me hugely. In preparing for my contribution today, I thought perhaps I would talk about the lack of affordable housing or efforts to promote employment opportunities for the young, but I did something last week that made me think. As some colleagues know, my wife is disabled. That is not what I am on my feet to talk about—she is a brave lady, she puts up with it, and it is all great. I thought it would be kind to order her a fireside chair. I found one online at a very good price, reduced, called a jubilee fireside chair, in the colour mineral. It was virtually the first one that came up when I googled “fireside chair for the disabled”, so I clicked on it. There it was, and I thought, “Yes, we’ll have that.” The website said that there was free delivery—great!—and yet, when I came to look more closely at the amount of money, £50 had been added on because of my postcode. I went back to the page, and in very small print, under “Free delivery”, it says, “Perhaps not everywhere”. I can afford that, but lots of people out there cannot afford an extra 50 quid when they want to buy something for somebody they love. In preparing yesterday, I remembered what happened last week, and I thought, “Right, let’s have a little look at the various postcodes.” I worked my way down Scotland. First, I looked at Orkney: delivery costs £50. I looked at Wick: £50. I went down and down and got as far as Perth: £50. So I went east to St Andrews: free delivery. I thought I would then look at Land’s End, in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for St Ives (Andrew George): there is a £50 charge for delivery. Then there was a little bit of good news. I looked at the Western Isles, represented by my very good friend the hon. Member for Na h-Eileanan an Iar (Torcuil Crichton). In Stornoway, delivery is free. In Castlebay in Barra, down the bottom of the Outer Hebrides, they can get their fireside chair for the disabled in mineral colour—whatever mineral is; I think it is green—delivered for free. I do not begrudge the hon. Member for Na h-Eileanan an Iar; jolly good luck to him. Out of devilment, I then put in EH99 1SP, the postcode for the Scottish Parliament, and guess what? John Swinney gets it delivered free. My point is that we have these extra charges that we have to pay in the remotest parts of the UK, and it has been going on for years. I spoke in a debate about this issue back in December 2017, when I was first elected to this place, and yet we still have the problem today. It is an iniquitous and completely unfair extra tax on people who really cannot afford to pay it, and it is not in the spirit of fairness one little bit. I have had a good reception from Ministers in the previous Government, but at the end of the day, it was fine words, or, as we say in the highlands, tea and sympathy. I do not expect an instant answer from the Government on this. There are so many demands for things that should be put right, but I would respectfully add these iniquitous extra charges to the list. I would be very, very happy on behalf of all the people who pay these extra charges to sit down with a relevant Minister, outline the problem in detail and help to think of how we can sort it out.