House of Commons
Friday 10 March 2000
The House met at half-past Nine o'clock
PRAYERS
[Madam Speaker in the Chair]
PETITION
Mr. Tony Baldry (Banbury): I wish to present a petition on behalf of the overwhelming majority of residents of the parish of Bodicote in the county of Oxfordshire. The petitioners declare that
- Bodicote is a village of some eight hundred and fifty houses.
That it has taken since before the Domesday Book until present time for Bodicote to grow to a village of this size.
To the great concern of the residents of Bodicote, it is now proposed by Cherwell District Council within a short period of time to increase the size of Bodicote by the building of a further one thousand and one hundred new houses at Bankside in Banbury.
The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Deputy Prime Minister, the Secretary of State at the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, to bring forward legislation to change planning law so that greater powers are given to Local Councils in England to decide themselves the increase in housing numbers in their districts, rather than having such numbers imposed upon them through "predict and provide" policies and Regional Planning controls.
And the Petitioners remain, etc.
Orders of the Day
Warm Homes and Energy Conservation Bill
Order for Second Reading read.
9.34 am
Mr. David Amess (Southend, West): I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time.
If the Bill becomes law, it will undoubtedly improve the quality and well-being of a great many people. I have no doubt that that statement will raise expectations.
People go into politics for all sorts of reasons. I have been in politics for a long time. I decided at the age of 11 that I wanted to be a Member of Parliament, and it was a childhood ambition come true when I arrived in the House in 1983.
As we all know, we are very modest people. None of us really wants to be here; friends, neighbours and relatives twist our arms to stand for Parliament, and hey presto! we arrive here full of modesty. We are all content to be Back Benchers: ambition never enters our minds.
It probably has not escaped the notice of my colleagues that I am neither Prime Minister nor Leader of the Opposition. My mother and my wife still believe that I am a late developer--we shall see what happens--but I believe that, once one realises one's limitations, it is rather churlish to remain here and become bitter and twisted because no one notices the talent that one's relatives alone believe one to have.
When I entered the ballot for private Members' Bills year after year and never got the opportunity to speak, I became rather frustrated. I entered the ballot 16 times and, at last, on the 16th occasion, I was successful. There is no significance in the number 16, but it was third time lucky in this Parliament.
If I had been told that I would have the marvellous opportunity to speak first and not wait to be tail-end Charlie--the opportunity to have a few people listening to what I say, whether the House enjoys it or not and whether or not hon. Members are persuaded to adopt my point of view--I would have said, "How wonderful." However, I never imagined that I would seek leave of the House to present the Warm Homes and Energy Conservation Bill. There were two issues on my agenda that were very dear to my heart: the pro-life issue, and animal welfare.
On the second count, I have convinced myself that I have already done my duty. There is an Act in my name, with which I am sure hon. Members are familiar: the Protection Against Cruel Tethering Act 1988, which prevents horses, ponies and donkeys from being tied up and ensures that they are properly watered and fed. I rather feel that I have done my duty by animals.
I did, however, agonise about the pro-life issue. Would I make a glorious speech, enthral the House, convince it of my argument and win the day? Then, without wishing to stir things up, I pondered on the House as it now is, and concluded that, although I might make a decent speech, I would probably be wasting my time.
I therefore did not have an issue to bring to the House. I found that I had suddenly become popular: people were interested in me. It was a little like the 1992 general
election all over again. For 30 seconds, it seemed that the nation's attention focused on my good self. All sorts of organisations and interest groups suddenly wanted to know me.
My decision to present this Bill was made at the eleventh hour. When a Mr. Martyn Williams first came to see me, I was perplexed by some of the language that he used to persuade me of its merits.
A huge number of Members have signed the early-day motion on this matter--I think about 451 have done so--so one would think the Bill has the overwhelming support of the House, but, after 17 years in this place, I am somewhat realistic and know that it is not always easy to convince all Members.
When Mr. Williams started to talk about fuel poverty, I thought, "Goodness gracious. I am a Conservative and he is talking about poverty." I was born in a little terraced house in the east end of London. We did not have a bathroom: we had only an outside toilet and a tin bath on the side of the wall. We did not have a telephone. We used to throw the window open and shout loudly at each other. We did not have a refrigerator--we had a larder--but I did not think that I was poor.
Then Mr. Williams talked about targets. I thought, "Goodness. Targets. That sounds like the new sort of politics that I am trying to cope with." Then he talked duties and regulations. Again, I thought, "I am a Conservative. I embrace private enterprise and such matters," but, in what will be a relatively short speech, I hope to be able to convince all Members that now, although perhaps not exactly like St. Francis of Assisi--I have no brown habit--I am at ease with some of the language; I am entirely enthusiastic about it.
I pay tribute to a number of people. I do not have to be convinced about the merits of the Bill; it speaks for itself. In my previous constituency, I spent a huge amount of time--it contained more than 16,000 publicly owned properties--dealing with heating problems, so I have no doubt there is a job to do in that constituency.
I have moved to what is described as a posh constituency. Labour Members probably believe that it is posh, but I have had more challenges to meet in my present constituency than in my previous one. Yes, there are bigger houses, but I have found that many elderly people, for whatever reason, are not able to heat their properties properly.
I do not wish hon. Members to get their handkerchiefs out, but a constituent died in my constituency. I am not prepared to talk publicly about it because there is an investigation going on and I do not want to be party to any sensationalism, but the constituent died in a cold house. I and the councillor who dealt with the matter feel that that is appalling.
There are two sponsors of my Bill who are not here. One is Michael Colvin. As we know, he died under tragic circumstances. He had been a regular supporter of the Bill. His record on energy efficiency initiatives was there for everyone to see. I pay tribute to his part in the Home Energy Conservation Act 1995.
My Welsh is not that good, but our former colleague, Cynog Dafis, the previous hon. Member for Ceredigion, was another of the Bill's sponsors and another
unstoppable campaigner for energy efficiency, warm homes and indeed all environmental matters. I am advised that he will continue campaigning--my goodness, I am using the word "campaigning"--on the measure in the Welsh Assembly.
I pay tribute to a number of other people. Without the hon. Members for Nottingham, South (Mr. Simpson) and for Plymouth, Sutton (Mrs. Gilroy), the Bill would never have got to this stage. I eat humble pie. I am being honest. I should take no credit for the measure at all. I was just fortunate enough to draw number five in the ballot. I am providing a mouthpiece for the measure to be taken forward. I particularly pay tribute to those two hon. Members for their work.
I draw attention to my hon. Friends the Members for East Worthing and Shoreham (Mr. Loughton) and for--I cannot remember his constituency at the moment. They drew up a wonderful document in conjunction with the Members whom I have mentioned, using much of their private time. It is called "The Select Committee Hearings Autumn 1999-Winter 2000. The Warm Homes and Energy Conservation Bill. Report and Proceedings of the Parliamentary Advisory Group for the Campaign for Warm Homes". In particular, it addressed how the matter would be funded. I thank them for their work. To unite the hon. Member for Nottingham, South with our former shadow spokesman on the environment, transport and the regions, my right hon. Friend the Member for Wokingham (Mr. Redwood) must say something about the power of the issue that, I hope, the Bill addresses.
As we know, elderly people are particularly hard hit by the cold. It is an absolute disgrace that we have in excess of 30,000 extra deaths each winter compared with the summer: it has risen to 49,000. I am not going to buy all the business about the flu epidemic because then we would get into party politics. That is a huge number of people. Why does this country have so many more deaths in winter than Sweden and other such countries? There must be something that we are not doing correctly. The reason is that we are not addressing the issue.
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