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1.58 pm
Mr. Don Foster (Bath): It is a great honour to follow the hon. Member for Hamilton, South (Mr. Tynan). He told the House that he hoped that, in due course, he would learn the skills of presentation in the House. The truth is that he is well ahead of many of us already. He rightly praised his predecessor, whom I am sure the whole House wants to wish the very best in his new job as Secretary- General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. The hon. Gentleman spoke with great knowledge and passion of the concerns of his constituents, whom he will undoubtedly represent with great energy.
The hon. Gentleman must have had a somewhat nail-biting end to his election campaign. As we have been talking about freedom of information legislation, I suppose that it is only right to place on the record the fact that he mentioned the relatively few votes that the Hamilton Accies gained in the election. Sadly, the candidate for my party received even fewer votes on that occasion. Nevertheless, as the Scots were saying after last night's match, we shall be back.
The sad truth is that the hon. Gentleman's speech and some of the earlier speeches have not given me the opportunity to get my breath back following the speech by the right hon. Member for Wokingham (Mr. Redwood). Trying to follow the twists, turns and U-turns of Conservative party policy in this area has given a new meaning to the words "common sense".
However, common sense was spoken by the hon. Member for Crewe and Nantwich (Mrs. Dunwoody), who rightly praised just about everybody involved with her Select Committee, including the Clerks and all the helpers. I am sure that the whole House wants to thank her for her tremendous contribution on transport issues in recent times.
I am sorry to see that the right hon. Member for Henley (Mr. Heseltine) is no longer in his place, because he spoke a great deal of common sense, somewhat to my surprise. I found myself in considerable agreement with what he was saying. I hope that he will check this out in Hansard, because I would be happy to stand at one end of a banner proclaiming "Free Local Government" if he is willing to stand at the other. That theme chimes well with my party.
We have learned a great deal in the past 24 hours. We have learned something remarkable about the Deputy Prime Minister. Many of us enjoyed his performances on the "Today" programme yesterday and today. This morning's performance was particularly revealing, when he revealed that he has known all along that there was not going to be a transport Bill for three years after the election of the Labour Government. We thought that he was battling away with the Treasury and No. 10 Downing street, but the reality is that he is a man of great generosity who agreed to stand aside and let his colleagues take all the credit for their Bills.
However, the wait has been worth it. It is a bit like waiting for one of the buses that so rarely come. If we wait long enough, eventually three of them will come along. The Deputy Prime Minister has waited long enough and got his three Bills. Broadly speaking, we welcome his success in securing those Bills and much of their content. I shall comment on those three Bills in turn, but it is a pity that there is one Bill missing. I should very much have liked to see a warm homes Bill in the Queen's Speech. As we all know, 8 million people in this country suffer from fuel poverty. Far too many deaths--between 30,000 and 60,000 a year--are linked to hypothermia. We desperately need to take action to improve the quality of those homes.
The Deputy Prime Minister might well point out that the Government have taken action. We welcome the reduction in VAT on fuel and the £100 addition for pensioners. However, he will know that even the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pointed out recently in a letter to Friends of the Earth in his constituency that there is little point in throwing money at the problem if the vast majority of it is simply burned to heat the air above houses. We need to have properly insulated, warm homes if people are to be able to benefit from the reduction in VAT and the £100 fuel allowance.
Mr. John Heppell (Nottingham, East):
Under the home energy efficiency scheme, the Government have put an extra £260 million into ensuring that pensioners' homes in particular are adequately insulated.
Mr. Foster:
I was trying to point out that the Government have taken some action, but I am sure that the hon. Gentleman will have looked at the report of the Environmental Audit Committee in the previous Session, which referred to the issue as "a continuing national scandal" and said that it
Mr. Prescott:
I am happy to respond and to tell the hon. Gentleman that the process is already under way. In the past two years, more people have started to use public transport, which is the first stage of achieving our goal. In many areas, such as Manchester and Brighton, where public transport has been improved, people now use their cars less and public transport more. I readily set the target for myself and I am glad that we are on the way to achieving it.
Mr. Foster:
From that, I take it that the right hon. Gentleman intends to stick to his absolute commitment to acknowledge failure if the level of car use does not decrease in real terms during the five years to which he referred.
We are delighted that there is to be a draft Billon leasehold reform. As the right hon. Gentleman acknowledges, such legislation is long overdue. We are also delighted that there is to be a water efficiency Bill, even though the Minister for the Environment appears to have been as surprised as anyone by its inclusion in the Queen's Speech. We also welcome the three major Bills to be promoted by the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions.
Liberal Democrats acknowledge that opening access to the countryside is important. However, the Deputy Prime Minister has acknowledged that that cannot be an unfettered right. For us, the devil will be in the detail: when the Bill is published, we shall want to know about the constraints that are to be imposed, and about safeguards, provisions for local consent and opportunities for local variations. I hope that the Government have also considered the very different circumstances in Wales and that there will be a separate section in the Bill dealing with the right to roam in Wales.
We welcome the greater protection for wildlife, which is an issue on which my hon. Friend the Member for Carshalton and Wallington (Mr. Brake) and hon. Members from both sides of the House have worked tirelessly. I hope that the Bill will provide protection for wildlife outside sites of special scientific interest; that it will include provisions for the financial support of important wildlife sites; and that it will provide SSSIs
with protection against any exploitation of minerals, especially peat--currently, about 4,000 SSSIs are subject to peat extraction.
As I said, I entirely agree with the views on local government expressed by the right hon. Member for Henley. We have to free local government from the chains imposed on it by Governments of both complexions and Whitehall. I am absolutely delighted that the local government Bill is to repeal section 28. That was an illiberal measure, which should never have reached the statute book. We are delighted that it will be removed at long last.
We are worried that there is an overall lack of flexibility in the proposals to modernise local government. If we are to free local government, we should allow it, with the agreement of local communities, greater opportunity to decide how best to conduct its business. That decision should not be made centrally. There is too much concentration on structures rather than on outcomes, about which we should all be concerned. I am worried that the centralising tendency will be perpetuated in the Bill. Three items are missing from the measure.
"should be addressed with the sort of urgency and determination usually reserved for more sudden crises here and abroad."
18 Nov 1999 : Column 161
The Government have already taken some action, but more work is needed. I hope that the Deputy Prime Minister will be prepared to consider that.
As I deal with aspects of the Queen's Speech that fall within the remit of the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, I hope that he will intervene. He and I agree on the need to reduce congestion on our roads. To achieve that we have to reduce the number of car journeys and increase the use of public transport. The question is: how far are we prepared to go? The Liberal Democrats' view is that we must not only reduce the rate of traffic growth, but achieve an absolute reduction in traffic on our roads. On 6 June 1997, the Deputy Prime Minister stated:
"I will have failed if in five years' time there are not many more people using public transport and far fewer journeys by car. It's a tall order, but I urge you to hold me to it."
The right hon. Gentleman's clear intention was to reduce the absolute number of journeys taken by car. I shall be grateful if he intervenes to confirm that he intends to hold to that promise.
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