[Mr James Gray in the Chair] — Yorkshire (Tour de France)

Part of the debate – in Westminster Hall at 10:05 am on 18 December 2012.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Martin Vickers Martin Vickers Conservative, Cleethorpes 10:05, 18 December 2012

I welcome my hon. Friend’s intervention. He knows the glories of Cleethorpes, having travelled there only a few months ago in support of my local party, so he can testify to the town’s magnificence. He is quite right to draw attention to the fact that the Tour is a great opportunity to boost our local economies, and I urge all the agencies—tourism boards, local authorities and local enterprise partnerships—to get together and to work closely with the Government and sporting organisations. This is a tremendous opportunity to give a much needed boost to some areas of northern England.

If we can pull this off and get the tour to pass not only through the great county of Yorkshire, but down into Lincolnshire, that will again emphasise the closeness of their links. I urge the Government to co-ordinate every possible agency to work on that, so that we can benefit the whole economy.