Sir Alan Campbell

I wish you, Mr Speaker, and everyone across the House a happy new year. I congratulate parliamentarians past and present who were recognised in the new year’s honours. It is right and proper that people who make an exemplary contribution to public service are recognised, like so many others across our country. I was saddened to hear about the passing of Sir Patrick Duffy at the age of 105. He was a committed Member of Parliament for Colne Valley between 1963 and 1966 and then for Sheffield Attercliffe between 1970 and 1992, and he served as Minister for the Navy. He is the longest-lived MP in British history, and I send my condolences to his friends and family. I must say that it is a shame that the shadow Leader of the House, the right hon. Member for Hereford and South Herefordshire (Jesse Norman), is not here today. I understand that he has been described in Tatler as “the last upper-class” Tory MP and the “truest renaissance man in parliament”. He does always bring some class to our proceedings, but I am delighted to be responding to his more than capable deputy today. This week the Government have published the road safety strategy. The strategy makes our roads safer and will cut road deaths by 65% by 2035. We will save thousands of lives on our nation’s roads and are taking decisive action to make our roads safer for everyone. We will tackle drink driving, improve training for young drivers and introduce mandatory eye tests for older motorists. This is another example of the Government responding to the concerns raised by Members across the House, including at Business questions, and the Transport Minister will say more in her statement later today. But that is not all: thousands more free breakfast clubs will open in the coming months, 3,000 more neighbourhood police officers will be on our streets by March, almost 120 community diagnostic centres will be open seven days a week across the country by April as we bring down waiting lists and renew our NHS, and new rights for renters and workers will come into effect in the spring. That is why, after 14 years of decline and drift under the previous Government, our aim is that 2026 is the year of renewal, when it becomes real, visible and felt. The shadow deputy Leader of the House asked about announcements. He knows my view, because he has quoted it back to me, that wherever possible announcements should be made in this House first, but the reality was we were very aware of the concern among the farming community. We have listened to the farming community, and at the earliest opportunity we wanted to inform them of our plans. I have to say, contrary to the impression he has given today, that the announcement has been warmly welcomed by farmers. We will have an opportunity to debate this matter more fully because I have just announced that we will debate the Finance (No. 2) Bill shortly. On whipping, I am delighted to say that whipping is a matter for the Chief Whip, no longer for me. In terms of Government being better led and more stable, it is not in our gift alone to decide that, because that was decided by the country at the last general election, when they were very clear that they voted for a stable, well-led Government, and that is what we are delivering. We have said that the King’s Speech will be in spring 2026. That will obviously depend somewhat on the progress of business. Finally, the hon. Member raised the issue of hospitality. The Prime Minister has been absolutely clear that we are listening and actively looking at further measures to help the hospitality industry and pubs, whether they are in rural or urban areas. But we are not going to take any lessons from the Conservatives, because a record number of pub closed during their 14 years, and they did nothing to help the situation, which is why we have a job to do, and we are getting on with it.