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9 Apr 2003 : Column 374—continued
Health Services (Isle of Wight)
7.7 pm
Mr. Andrew Turner (Isle of Wight): On the Bench beside me are just some of the 60,761 signatures—almost half the population of my constituency—collected on a petition launched by June Mortlock and the townswomen's guilds, with the assistance of the Isle of Wight County Press, Isle of Wight Radio, Meridian
television and the The Southern Daily Echo (Southampton). It was also launched with the help of the leaders of the three political groups on Isle of Wight council: Island First, Labour and the Conservatives.The petition concerns suggestions for the future configuration of health services on the island. It states:
- To the House of Commons.
The Petition of residents of the Isle of Wight and others declares that the Hampshire and Isle of Wight strategic health authority is suggesting the removal of accident and emergency services, some maternity services and other vital services from St. Mary's hospital, Newport to the mainland.
The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons require the Secretary of State for Health to do all in his power to meet the health needs of the people of the Isle of Wight by ensuring that these essential services remain available on the island.
And your Petitioners remain, etc.
Tourism (Exmoor)
Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.—[Mr. Kemp.]
7.8 pm
Mr. Ian Liddell-Grainger (Bridgwater): Like many people, I have listened very carefully to the Chancellor's Budget speech. He did not have much in the way of surprises, did he? I did not hear him mention tourism once. In Somerset, however, we will give him a muted cheer for freezing excise duty on cider, which is most important as it keeps us going, but I am afraid that that was our lot. Perhaps he needs a break. So rather than waiting for the next reshuffle, may I earnestly recommend that the Chancellor take a holiday on Exmoor, and soon? I can guarantee him a warm welcome. Indeed in some parts of this beautiful corner of England, he may be the only tourist; and in many ways, that may be his fault.
Perhaps the Minister can exert some of his legendary Welsh charm on the Chancellor. I understand that the Minister has enjoyed many happy holidays in the west country not far from Exmoor, and occasionally on Exmoor, so he is already an expert. Perhaps the Chancellor could let off some steam on the splendid west Somerset railway. What about a day-trip to Willaton—a very pretty place—which is literally the crossroads to the moors, or to Watchett, where Samuel Taylor Coleridge was inspired, as he gazed through the window of a pub, to write "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"? Many things go on in my constituency, thanks to cider. Perhaps the Chancellor could potter out to Porlock, which has a picturesque waterfront and one of the steepest hills in the country. Perhaps he could visit the proud town of Bridgwater, home to the annual spectacular firework carnival, which is attended by 150,000 people. It is by far the best in Britain and the biggest lit carnival in the world. Eat your heart out, Rio!
Mr. Adrian Flook (Taunton): I cannot let my hon. Friend get away with mentioning only places in his constituency. He has obviously forgotten Dulverton and other beautiful villages that are well worth visiting, such as Withypool with its royal oak, and Winsford, which also has a royal oak.
Mr. Liddell-Grainger: I thank my hon. Friend, who has worked hard on Exmoor, especially during the foot and mouth crisis, which affected us all. His attempts to help so many people on Exmoor have been exemplary.
Although the places I have mentioned are trying hard to win back visitors for the benefit of the whole area, the problem is the simple question of money. Tourism is the only viable major trade for most of Exmoor. In Minehead, Butlins is the biggest employer, employing 2,300 people at the top of the season, serving 9,000 clients a week. Thankfully, Butlins has managed to keep its end up despite the battering that tourism in the area has received. During the foot and mouth crisis, it bussed people on to the moor and did a phenomenal job by making a video to highlight the plight of the west country.
Tourism has been battered by a vicious double whammy. First, the area was out of bounds for months because of foot and mouth disease, and then the
Government—under pressure from their Back Benchers, who are not representative of rural Britain and certainly not of Exmoor—decided to kill off hunting. I shall not revisit the moral arguments about hunting, but it remains a fact that many people, rich and poor, young and old, regard it as a vital sport. They travel from all over Britain to hunt on Exmoor. There are stable yards, farriers and hotels that rely on that aspect of the tourist trade, and many hundreds of jobs are at risk. Some of those jobs have already vanished under the mounting threat of an outright ban.I could take the Chancellor to Dulverton, in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Taunton (Mr. Flook), where one of the main hotels for the whole of Exmoor has shut, because of the threat to hunting. I could introduce the Chancellor to decent, honest folk who run high quality bed-and-breakfast establishments and are now slaves to their overdrafts, just so that they can keep going. They never really recovered from foot and mouth. The flood of tourism has slowed. It is not yet a trickle, but things are much more difficult. Unfortunately, the Government appear to have turned off the taps of support, now that foot and mouth has gone away.
Scores of decent people are trying desperately to win back trade. I have been impressed by everyone employed by the national park, which covers my constituency and that of my hon. Friend. They have used their imagination well to encourage new visitors. I must also mention West Somerset district council, which is the smallest authority in England, with a budget of only £4 million. It balances its books—something of which the Chancellor would be proud—but given everything that it has to do, it cannot keep money aside to assist the vital industry of tourism. The council has looked after the moors in a forthright and heartfelt way, and it sets an example to which every council in the country should aspire. The council needs more money and that is not its fault but the Treasury's.
The Minister will no doubt reply by describing efforts to help Exmoor in glowing terms. He may mention the input of Business Link, which has public funding to try to improve trade after foot and mouth. That is fair enough, except that so many businesses are on their last financial legs. The problem with Business Link assistance is that it can come too late in many cases, and can offer bizarre help. What is the point of telling a beleaguered café owner who has had no custom at all during foot and mouth and who has a bank manager breathing down his neck that what he really needs is a properly structured business plan? That is patently ludicrous. By the time he has got a plan together, the business will have gone.
Public funds to alleviate foot and mouth were channelled through the South West regional development agency, which was then chaired by Sir Michael Lickiss; an accountant, picked for the job by Downing street, who has recently, and thankfully, left his job. Sir Michael's reputation in Somerset can be measured on the head of a pin, leaving room for thousands of participants in the Bridgwater carnival. I note that you can't keep a man down. He is now heading the English Tourism Council; two days a week at, I am
told, £45,000 a year. Who wants to be a millionaire? Perhaps somebody coughed when he was answering questions at his interview.A couple of months ago, we had a meeting with the Minister for Rural Affairs and Urban Quality of Life, attended by myself, my hon. Friend the Member for Taunton and representatives of the national park and the district council. We tried to find a fair compromise on the Hunting Bill before it was presented to the House. I and many others were approached for advice, and we were told that if Exmoor lost the legal right to hunt deer, public money would be made available.
The Minister was not trying to buy our support, but he obviously recognised that the wide economic impact of a ban would be catastrophic. The right hon. Gentleman never gave precise figures, and because the proposal was not before Parliament, we never expected him to do so. However, the clear implication was that large sums of money could be found to help Exmoor.
The money could have been filtered through the RDA—by then no longer under Sir Michael's control—or other bodies, but the RDA was the obvious one. It seemed to be a sensible solution to a difficult problem, as stag hunting and hare coursing were the only two activities for which the Government were seeking an outright ban. Sadly, I do not think that the money is still on offer. We saw nothing in the Bill, and neither I nor my hon. Friend the Member for Taunton have had other approaches on the matter. Will the money filter through near to Exmoor if it does come? I wonder. My constituents, and those of my hon. Friend the Member for Taunton, will feel let down on the matter. I wonder whether the Minister will shed any light on this point.
The Minister can absolve himself of any blame on that score and deny all knowledge of negotiations conducted by his colleagues at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. However, therein lies a fundamental mistake in the Government's attitude to tourism. I have a horrible feeling that the philosophy is, "It's not my problem, guv." Tourism is the number one industry in so many parts of the south-west; it is our lifeline. Yet, under the Government, tourism seems to be an after-thought. Luckily the Minister did not shake his head at that point; perhaps we are making ground.
If tourism is so important, why is there not a Secretary of State for Tourism, with his own Department? Instead, it just a part of another Ministry, at the bottom—dare I say it?—of the food chain in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. I had almost forgotten that tourism was a part of that Department. No offence was meant.
Here we are on the eve of Easter, the normal start for the tourist trade in west Somerset, with the opening of Dunster castle, Dulverton and many other areas of the moor, which looks absolutely beautiful at the moment. If you want to get away from it all, you can always come down to Exmoor in the Easter break. But the tourists have gone away and we must get them back.
Our constituents do not want sympathy; they want help. Almost like a petitioner, we ask the Minister, "Please give us some idea of your thoughts, as we need input." If the Chancellor is looking to kick-start rural economies—something about which he so proudly boasted—surely this is one of the most important things
that he can do. Giving money to the Eden project and others has been useful in objective 1 areas, where half the money is provided by the Government. That is fine, but in Exmoor—where little is provided by the Government because of objective 2 funding—we need help.Every rural strategy meeting we have had, through the Curry report, the Dearing report and others, has come up with many ideas, but we are waiting for solutions. We do what we can in our constituencies. My hon. Friend the Member for Taunton and I visited the Exmoor tourist association, where we spoke. The people there are passionate believers in the moor. There is no straight road to the national park, but it does very well and fights very hard. I know that the Minister will agree with that, given his experience with Ilfracombe. The hon. Member for North Devon (Nick Harvey) has also been a great advocate of the moor.
On behalf of constituents, however, I plead with the Minister to give us a chance. I hope that he will give us what help he can. If he gives us the ammunition, we will fire the guns to bring people back to the moor. One more event like the foot and mouth outbreak could damage irreparably everything achieved by all the work and effort and time devoted by so many very small businesses in the area. People on Exmoor and in the surrounding areas have only one chance, and that is tourism.
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