Marcus Fysh: Madam Deputy Speaker, many congratulations on your election, and I am glad to have caught your eye on this occasion, so as to make my maiden speech. I am very pleased to rise today as the first Conservative since 1951 to be newly elected to serve the people of the Yeovil constituency. Therefore, this is the first of Her Majesty’s Gracious Speeches since then to be welcomed by an incoming...
Marcus Fysh: rose—
Marcus Fysh: I thank my right hon. Friend. The A358 runs from my constituency up to the M5 and all the new jobs that will come on stream at Hinkley Point. Before the election, the Labour party planned to cancel the dualling of the road. Will my right hon. Friend confirm that that will not happen under t his Government?
Marcus Fysh: It is a pleasure to follow such excellent maiden speeches, not least that of my hon. Friend the Member for Hertsmere (Oliver Dowden), who gave us a wonderful tour of the massage parlours of his constituency. The amount of value we create in our work is key to what we can expect to earn over the long term. We heard earlier this afternoon from the Secretary of State for Education how this...
Marcus Fysh: That is a very good point, and we are pursuing it in the south-west. People are not just productivity statistics from a survey in a report. What suits one person will not necessarily suit another, and it is wrong to say that lower-paid work is necessarily bad or should not be respected. It is a good thing that all types of jobs are being created. Things are getting better in our country and...
Marcus Fysh: In order to recover, Greece needs bigger debt relief than is currently on the table and massive pro-market structural reform and support. Neither the EU, the international institutions, nor Syriza currently offer those things. This problem presents serious ongoing economic and strategic risks for us in Europe and beyond. What are our Government doing to ensure that Greece gets what it needs?
Marcus Fysh: What plans he has to strengthen the armed forces covenant.
Marcus Fysh: May I start by expressing my gratitude for the covenant funding that Somerset has received, including for the Tall Trees family centre in Ilchester, which serves the Fleet Air Arm at Yeovilton and their families? It has been brought to my attention that the criteria for fertility treatment for those serving in the Army can be more restrictive on the issue of existing children than those of...
Marcus Fysh: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the progress of negotiations to reform (a) the EU and (b) the UK's relationship with the EU.
Marcus Fysh: In 2003 the former Member for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath was spending 0.9% of GDP on tax credits. Under his stewardship that rose to 1.9% of GDP in 2010. By 2020, this Government will have brought that down again to 1.2%, which will still be one third more than the highest levels of spending on tax credits under Labour from 1997 to 2003. I support the Government’s desire to focus our welfare...
Marcus Fysh: We need to enable more people to get better work, and that is what my Government are focused on doing. There are other very good measures in this package, such as keeping financial support for people in difficulty with their mortgages, and ensuring that people who claim benefits now face the same choices as people in work. We need to ensure that a job always pays better than welfare and turns...
Marcus Fysh: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that economic instability in parts of the Eurozone does not have a detrimental effect on the defence-industrial relationship between the UK and (a) Italy and (b) other EU member states.
Marcus Fysh: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his European counterparts to ensure that economic instability in parts of the Eurozone does not have a detrimental effect on the defence-industrial relationship between the UK and (a) Italy and (b) other EU member states.
Marcus Fysh: The neighbourhood of Brympton, in my constituency, contains an estate where a school off Stourton Way was not provided with road safety protection and signage to slow traffic on a major and fast estate road. The Liberal Democrat council failed to address that at the time of approving the planning, and has failed to deal with it since. Will my hon. Friend please look into the issue, and tell...
Marcus Fysh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to improve the safety of the Ilminster bypass on the A303; and if he will direct the Highways Agency to revisit this matter in the light of recent serious accidents on that road.
Marcus Fysh: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress his Department has made on its review of business rates; and what the projected timetable is for that review.
Marcus Fysh: South Somerset District Council recently changed its approach to housing land supply, which means that despite spending £3 million on developing a local plan, it is now, after only five months of operation, likely to be considered out of date under the national planning policy framework. In situations of this kind, when serious questions need to be asked about the competence and/or...
Marcus Fysh: The Conservative party is the party of jobs, opportunities and higher wages, not of borrowing for ever until we go bust. There is nothing whatever compassionate about running out of money. My right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Rushcliffe (Mr Clarke) made some very good points, not least that, given the conditions, this is a good time for employers to deal with the subsidy that has...
Marcus Fysh: I spoke the other day about how tax credit reform is part of moving to the higher wage, higher productivity, higher opportunity economy that the Government are building. I have been talking to the Chancellor behind the scenes about welfare reform for many months, and he is listening. Welfare reform is, however, an essential part of the broad package of reform that is helping to return our...