Alex Brewer MP: speeches

Speeches

• 27 Feb 2025 · Rural Crime · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under you in the Chair, Ms McVey. Last week, one of my local farmers told me that in the last two years there have been fewer thefts on his farm. I was thrilled and asked him what had led to that—and he told me that everything worth taking had already been stolen. My constituency of North East Hampshire is a beautiful part of the country. Rolling countryside is peppered with picturesque villages, farm shops and even a vineyard. Despite being officially classed as semi-rural, it has all the hallmarks of idyllic country life. But beneath that is a troubling picture. Day in, day out, farmers face theft, fly-tipping and hare coursing on their land, and this is often accompanied by threats, violence and intimidation. These are not small, isolated incidents in rural pockets; every farmer I speak to has plenty of experiences to share. As we have heard, these crimes are linked to and a major source of funding for organised crime such as drug trafficking and gambling. This in turn affects our towns and returns to our communities in the form of shoplifting, car theft and county lines drug dealing. Last year, an estimated 6,600 active county lines were in operation, generating an annual criminal profit of £800,000—a figure likely to be a significant underestimate. The profitability of rural criminal activity and competing county turf wars in turn increases violence and rural knife crime. There are 22 active organised crime gangs across the country that are specifically involved in rural crime. The organisation of these groups enables them to take stolen goods across international borders, and farming equipment is frequently traced to eastern Europe and Africa. The more valuable the crime is to the criminal, the more aggressively they will protect it, and farmers are experiencing the impact. Isolated farms are exposed, and farmers tell me that they receive direct threats of retribution for reporting crimes. We know that these rural crimes are often under-reported and difficult to prosecute, especially given the ways in which police weaknesses are exploited across county boundaries. Despite the precautions of CCTV, extra locking on gates and digging ditches, the police are usually just too far away to be able to reach the farms quickly enough. The impact of Conservative cuts to policing is still being felt despite recent recruitment of new officers. We are not back to former police officer numbers and many are not experienced enough to manage the complex and violent nature of rural crime. Hare coursing is particularly lucrative, with betting proceeds running into tens of thousands of pounds on each race. The money goes to criminal gangs and the farmers are left with damaged fields and dead hares. Criminals know the land so well that they can simply duck for cover when they see the blue lights of a police vehicle. If they do end up in a police chase, they drive so dangerously that the police are often forced to give up pursuit. The knowledge that they can avoid police action and prosecution has made criminals in rural areas, including mine in North East Hampshire, increasingly brazen. They will drive over fields of crops three or four times a season, damaging fields that support our food security, pushing farmers’ insurance bills through the roof and making farmers feel so threatened that some physically cover their heads when they move around their own land at night because they expect to be attacked. This is a complex problem that requires a co-ordinated, deliberate and targeted solution. Hampshire was promised a rural crime taskforce, but where is it? There has been a lot of talk and very little action. All the while, farmers continue to experience an escalation of crime that is costing Hampshire at least £1.4 million a year. We know what needs to be done, so I call on the Minister and the Government to work with local communities to build up dedicated rural crime units, increase specialist training for new police officers and forge collaboration across county boundaries. Many of the solutions lie in planning policy partnerships, partnerships with industry, and prevention, as much as with policing. We have the knowledge; now we need the strategy, the leadership and the action. Farmers have had a hard deal recently and our food security is at risk. It is time for the Government to step up to ensure the safety and dignity of our farmers and to put an end to the distress that rural communities are facing. Our farmers are the backbone of this country—it is time we gave them the fair deal they deserve.

• 12 Feb 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Q15. Basingstoke hospital, which is used by residents of half of my North East Hampshire constituency, has had its rebuild delayed by 15 years, despite no ministerial visit to see the worsening conditions. It is estimated that maintaining the hospital for those 15 will cost almost as much as the rebuild itself. Will the Prime Minister explain the logic of making taxpayers pay twice?

• 17 Jan 2025 · New Homes (Solar Generation) Bill · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is of course correct. This should not be just about cost savings for those who can afford installation in the first place. In North East Hampshire, we have some fantastic examples of community investment in renewables. Hart district council has installed 121 photovoltaic panels on the roof of its offices, generating as much as 57,000 kWh of electricity per year, which is enough to power around 20 average homes every year. Hart leisure centre has seen £200,000 of investment in solar panelling on its sports hall, which reduces the demand put on the energy grid as a result of heating the swimming pool. If you will permit me a “Sliding Doors” moment, Madam Deputy Speaker, my house was built in 1961, when this technology was not around. Had solar panels of today’s quality been installed then, not only would our energy bills have been significantly lower, but we could have saved in the region of 800 tonnes of carbon—roughly equivalent to 140 London to Sydney return flights. Given the Government’s ambitious house building targets, and as retrofitting is more expensive than installing at the build stage, it makes sense to ensure that we do all we can right now to protect our environment, to reduce energy bills and to secure this industry for the future. Each house built without renewable energy is a missed opportunity to save carbon and money, and to grow our economy. Furthermore, each house built without solar panels increases the pressure to put panels elsewhere, including in our fields. Sustainable energy development is critical, but in North East Hampshire, as elsewhere, we do not want it to come at the cost of our countryside and our agricultural land. That is why I support this Bill, which prioritises putting solar panels on the roofs of new homes.

• 17 Jan 2025 · New Homes (Solar Generation) Bill · Hansard source

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  People in my constituency are passionate about protecting our environment, and they know that if we are to do that, we need to produce more renewable energy. However, in North East Hampshire, as in many other areas of the UK, we are also protective of our arable farming land, which is so essential for our food security. Passing the sunshine Bill, which has been brought to the House by my hon. Friend the Member for Cheltenham (Max Wilkinson), would challenge the presumption that the principal way to increase our solar capacity is through solar farms and large-scale industrial solar power generation. Prioritising solar panelling on new homes will allow us to create the right energy mix and to produce energy in a sustainable way. Not only that, but it will help us to address some of the challenges with economic growth. Reducing energy bills, especially for those in social housing or on lower incomes, is an essential part of tackling the recent cost of living crisis, and developing the industry through innovation is of course good for jobs.

• 15 Jan 2025 · Local Government Reorganisation · Hansard source

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  People in North East Hampshire have told me loud and clear that they want their democratic right to vote in May. Given that councillors up for re-election were elected in May 2021, does the Minister think they still have a mandate to make decisions for their local communities?

• 9 Jan 2025 · Violence against Women and Girls · Hansard source

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  Nine years ago or thereabouts, I was sitting in a courtroom supporting victims of domestic abuse. I saw at first hand how our systems of justice were failing women and girls when they were at their most vulnerable. That was my first motivation to enter politics, and it is a privilege to stand here and speak today, in this Chamber, in honour of all the women and girls who have faced abuse, violence, misogyny, harassment, stalking, spiking, non-consensual image abuse and everyday sexism. Violence against women and girls is systemic. It transcends constituency boundaries and national borders, and it is embedded in a global culture of discrimination and inequality that is even present in this House. I have heard casual sexism roll off the tongue as a female MP’s domestic context was used as a reason she should not progress. To those who believe that feminism has gone too far or that equality is here, I say this: the evidence shows otherwise. As if all the shocking statistics we have heard so far were not enough, here are some more. There is still a 13% gender pay gap. Some 41% of women provide unpaid care for children, grandchildren, older people or people with a disability, compared with 25% of men. Despite significant progress, we still do not have a Parliament that is representative of society with 50% women. This inequality manifests itself in discrimination across our systems, which just do not work for women. Our society still sees femininity as “less than”, and too much violence is tolerated. Some 3,000 crimes of violence against women and girls are recorded every day, and that is just a tiny part of the story. We have heard already about the number of women murdered every week by a partner or ex-partner, a figure that has not changed in decades. At least one in four women has been raped or sexually assaulted since the age of 16, and hundreds of thousands of crimes against women and girls every year have an online element. Given the fear and shame around reporting, it is certain that in reality, the figure is significantly higher. A woman in a domestic abuse situation will experience an average of 35 assaults before calling the police. We are not talking about a few isolated incidents; 2.3 million people aged 16 years and over experienced domestic abuse in the year ending March 2024. Those numbers seem abstract, but they represent real women, real children and real lives. That violence is enabled by a bedrock of inequality and a culture of disbelief. The experiences of women and girls are ignored, deprioritised and doubted. The Jay report on child sexual exploitation—yes, the same report on which the former Government took no action—found in 2022 that individuals and institutions often thought children were lying when they tried to disclose what was being done to them, and found that victims were frequently blamed for their own sexual abuse. We are not beyond the days of saying, “She was asking for it.” That disbelief has consequences for abusers. Last year, fewer than three in 100 rapes recorded by the police resulted in someone being charged in the same year. The Government must do what the previous Government did not: tackle violence against women and girls head-on. I support the Government’s ambition to halve violence against women and girls in a decade. It is a bold aim, but a vast undertaking. To achieve it, we must have cultural and legislative change. We have the opportunity in this House to create laws that not only protect women and girls, but effect significant cultural shifts. Passing the Domestic Abuse (Aggravated Offences) Bill, introduced by my hon. Friend the Member for Eastbourne (Josh Babarinde), would enable domestic abuse to be considered an aggravating factor in assault cases. That would distinguish it from other offences, and its severity and gravity could be understood more clearly. The Bill would exclude domestic violence perpetrators from schemes for early release from prison, and protect survivors of domestic abuse. In a survey conducted for a Crown Prosecution Service report on prosecution of rape and sexual offenses, 92% of CPS staff agreed that current court backlogs inhibit the prosecution of rape and serious sexual assault. The Government must address these backlogs, improve safety for women in the justice system, and fully support the staff who are working daily to support victims of trauma and abuse. Training of those who work with victims is of the utmost importance, but has not been prioritised. From my previous work supporting victims, and from my casework, I know that victims of domestic violence have had their and their advocate’s safety compromised because details have been shared with an abuser by someone working in the statutory services. All reports and information surrounding domestic abuse must be handled with exceptional sensitivity. That highlights the need for more specialist training, not just for our police forces—that will be welcomed—but in social services. The majority of cases in children’s social care involve domestic abuse, but the training done on it as part of social work qualification is insufficient. We must ensure that funding for services supporting survivors of domestic abuse is sufficient and secure. Charities that provide refuge and community services for victims inherently require long-term decisions and planning, but are frequently left with one-year funding agreements and one-off grants that limit their capacity to operate effectively. What about the men? I was pleased to see that a debate on paternity leave was extremely well attended by male MPs, who clearly wanted more time with their children. I am also pleased to see so many men supporting this debate. Unpaid caring work is still disproportionately done by women, but men are also disadvantaged, as valuable time with loved ones is lost. Our culture maintains an imbalance in expectations and opportunity for both men and women. The UK’s two weeks of statutory paternity leave lags far behind the entitlement in most advanced economies, and I call on the Government to make improvements to all parental leave, so that parents in every family have the opportunity to bond with their children in those first crucial months. Financial independence is a significant factor in women being able to leave an abusive partner, so for both men and women, we need to tackle the gender pay gap. We also need to tackle paternity leave, pay for carers, violence and issues with the criminal justice system, so that we stop seeing femininity as “less than”. We must tackle all aspects of inequality that underpin violence against women and girls for justice to become a reality.

• 17 Dec 2024 · Women’s State Pension Age Communication: PHSO Report · Hansard source

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  On the Secretary of State’s website is a picture of her holding a sign that reads, “I will work with WASPI to identify and deliver a fair solution for all women affected”. Does she think that today’s announcement is a fair solution?

• 27 Nov 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Q11. After years of neglect under the previous Conservative Government, GP surgeries are at breaking point and across North East Hampshire they are preparing now for huge bills to pay increased employer’s national insurance contributions. Hart Health Partnership in Fleet estimates that this will cost it three nursing salaries and it has already reduced staff hours by 50 per week, with more cuts due in January. Can the Prime Minister please tell GPs in my constituency which patient services they should cut in order to pay the bills?

• 13 Nov 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Q12. Chalk stream rivers are rare and have a unique ecology. Most of them are in the UK, and two are in my constituency of North East Hampshire. Last year, chalk stream rivers were hit with 14,000 hours of sewage discharges, but the previous Government did nothing, despite calls for action from my hon. Friend the Member for Chesham and Amersham (Sarah Green). Will the Prime Minister introduce a special protection for our chalk stream rivers?

• 6 Nov 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Jo Hamilton, my constituent and a former sub-postmistress, has long campaigned with Alan Bates for compensation following the Horizon Post Office scandal. Can the Prime Minister give an exact timeframe in which those who have been waiting more than a decade might finally be compensated?

• 31 Oct 2024 · SEND Provision: Hampshire · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Member for Basingstoke (Luke Murphy) for securing this debate and it is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Sir Mark. In North East Hampshire, as in many other places, special educational needs and disabilities come up repeatedly in casework, constituency surgeries and local council meetings. The system, frankly, is broken. I welcome the calls from the hon. Member for Basingstoke to work across parties on a solution. Children are frequently not getting the support that they need, schools do not have the funding for further provisions, and Hampshire county council is running at an £86-million deficit trying to meet the need. As a result, children and their families suffer, despite the hard work of headteachers, teachers, teaching assistants and parents. I have met constituents to talk about these challenges, as well as meeting charities that support families in the local area and local councillors to talk through the concerns. I pay tribute to all those who support our children with additional needs, despite the complexity of the system as it stands. Raising a child with additional needs is hard. We cannot deny that there is an additional parenting burden, although parents, of course, bear it willingly. There is also an additional administrative burden, and council budgets are squeezed so hard that they cannot meet that need. The number of parents who have to make appeals for SEND support has more than trebled since 2014. When provision is scarce and parents have to fight for it, it becomes an exhausting battle just to have their child’s needs met. The increasingly cited narrative—that pushy parents are just trying to get a bit of extra help for their child—is utterly nonsensical given how much work it is to ensure even the most basic provision. North East Hampshire is a beautiful place to live, but as a largely rural area with many small villages, hundreds of children have to travel a long way to their nearest school. Those families who live a long way from their nearest suitable provision have to deal not only with the stresses of the system, exclusion, lack of academic progression, high levels of anxiety and the opaqueness of the process, but with transport. Due to the severe lack of public transport, they often have to take private taxis. According to the Department for Education, the net planned expenditure on SEND transport in Hampshire for the ’24-25 financial year is £56,795,000, yet I hear time and again from my constituents about the failure to secure transport in time for the start of the school year. The lack of a secure transport route can have a huge impact on a child’s relationship with school and their real and perceived safety. It also increases the pressure on working parents, who frequently must leave work or reduce their hours due to the lack of accommodation for their child’s needs. The result? A postcode lottery in access to support. One of my constituents had SEND transport approved in June. We are now on the last day of October and they have not received any further information—two months of the school year have been missed. That is not good enough, and the situation is not unique in my constituency. Another child in North East Hampshire has been told to use a bus stop a mile away from her home, but because of her disability, she and her parents are understandably anxious about the safety of this journey each morning, given the challenges and dangers she faces when crossing roads. Prior to being elected this year, I was the chief executive of a charity that supports children and young people with Down’s syndrome and their families. I saw at first hand what those families must grapple with to secure the right educational support for their child. The charity provides specialist support throughout a child’s education —a service that used to be provided by many county councils across the UK. Charities are often left to pick up the pieces. I recently met Special Needs Jungle, which analyses the sector, provides recommendations and supports families. The Hampshire Parent Carer Network is also a helpful source of support and information. But these organisations cannot find additional services out of thin air. In the Budget yesterday, the Chancellor stated that she wants “to improve outcomes for our most vulnerable children”, —[ Official Report , 30 October 2024; Vol. 755, c. 822.] but she also announced that VAT will be charged on private schools. That is highly concerning for North East Hampshire: we have at least four independent schools, each of which has explicit provision for SEND pupils, and our state schools not only are full but are telling us clearly that they cannot meet the needs of many children with additional needs under the current funding models. There is a budgetary disincentive to including children with additional needs in mainstream schools, which the Liberal Democrats have said we would halve. The announcement of a £1-billion funding uplift for SEND in the Budget yesterday was welcome, but we must go further to clean up this mess. The system needs a complete overhaul, not just an increase in funding. We must undo the damage inflicted on our wider education system by the previous Conservative Government. We must ensure that early help is restored so that children develop the tools to navigate the school system as early in their lives as possible. We must rebuild play into our early years programme and dispense with testing at age five. We must build outdoor learning into our core curriculum and much more besides. One school in my constituency is building a new room. It is not for teaching and it is not a classroom; it is a welcome room where children who are refusing to go to school can come and feel safe, secure and welcome. It is a bridge between school refusal and school acceptance. It is a great idea, but it should not be needed. SEND provision must be flexible, tailored and suitable for all communities, both urban and rural. Most of all, it must be available, and that includes the transport required to get to the school gate. I close with a sentiment from an assistant headteacher in North East Hampshire, who said: “Parents and families shouldn’t have to fight against systems that are meant to be helping their children.”

• 2 Sept 2024 · Technology in Public Services · Hansard source

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  Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Glasgow West (Patricia Ferguson). I congratulate her on a moving maiden speech, and I hope to add another place on her bucket list. I am honoured to have been elected as the first Liberal Democrat MP for North East Hampshire, a constituency that has had only two previous MPs: James Arbuthnot—now Lord Arbuthnot in the other place—who is known for his important role in supporting Jo Hamilton and other sub-postmasters and postmistresses; and Ranil Jayawardena, who likewise wanted the best for our communities and campaigned for better infrastructure locally, alongside carrying out his ministerial roles. Boundary changes mean that those in Lychpit and Old Basing, who are warmly welcomed into North East Hampshire, were previously represented by Dame Maria Miller in the Basingstoke constituency. She was a strong advocate for women in Parliament and encouraged those of all parties. I am only the second woman to stand for Parliament in North East Hampshire, and only about 15 have stood before me in any of the constituencies now covered by the current boundaries, so it gives me great pride to be in the Parliament with the highest number of women ever. That achievement would not have been possible without the support of my dad, my late mum, and my husband and children. North East Hampshire is a place that people often travel through: by train between London and the west country, or by road on the A30 or the M3, stopping perhaps at Fleet services. Those who live there, however, enjoy good schools, good transport links, low crime and plenty of countryside—all the reasons, in fact, why the place often tops the list of the best places to live in the UK, and why my family and I chose to move there 10 years ago. I encourage Members, the next time a journey takes them that way, to stop and visit. If they wish to indulge their interest in political history, they could choose to stay at the Four Seasons. The hotel is situated in the former home of Sir Henry St John-Mildmay, the fifth Baronet of the Dogmersfield estate, who was also, coincidentally, a Liberal political candidate in 1865. Or they might choose Highfield Park, where Neville Chamberlain spent his final months. Once a visitor has arrived, there is plenty to experience. History enthusiasts should visit Odiham castle, Basing House and the Roman city walls at Silchester. Those with a military interest will not be disappointed with a constituency that boasts RAF Odiham; Stratfield Saye House, the home of the Dukes of Wellington; and Blackbushe airport, created as an airfield during the second world war. For nature lovers, there is so much to choose from: the Hazeley Heath nature reserve, or a sturdy walk up Beacon hill to look out over Caesar’s camp. If they like their nature by the water, there is Fleet pond, the Basingstoke canal and our two chalk streams, the Loddon and the Whitewater. After all that, perhaps they might be in need of refreshment. North East Hampshire is home to dozens of village pubs, cafés and bakeries. From the award-winning Street Bakery in Old Basing to the Heron on the Lake at Fleet Pond, looking out over the water, there is something for everyone. We even have a local gin distilled at Upton Grey. One of the joys of the area is that each town and village has its own personality, with a high number of independent businesses that makes each one unique. A walk through Bramley is entirely different from a stroll along Hartley Wintney High Street or a meander through Yately. What unites all of these places is the people. Each unique town or village has a strong sense of community, and the people of North East Hampshire are unfailingly generous with their time and energy in pursuit of this goal. This community spirit was seen most recently when Hook infant school and local homes and businesses were victim to a summer flash flood. People rallied around, helped clean up, raised funds, donated items, hosted friends whose homes were damaged and offered sympathy. It is in this way that all the communities within North East Hampshire are connected. But this place that I love to call home is not without its challenges too. Connecting our towns and villages takes more than good will. Our roads, particularly our smaller roads, are in a terrible state, public transport leaves a lot to be desired, and bus routes are sparse at best. It is also surprising that North East Hampshire is behind the national average in the adoption of 5G mobile services, especially when we consider the above-average employment in the technology sector—one that will be vital for the modernisation of both Government and our public services. The investment that is needed to ensure joined-up and efficient public service processes is as vital as the investment needed in North East Hampshire’s transport. The UK has a proud history of research and innovation, but when nurses are still taking patient notes with pen and paper, it is clear that action is needed. Indeed, the National Audit Office’s report only last year stated that “outdated IT systems…are a key source of inefficiency” in government. We cannot be a country needing to catch up, and I hope that the Government will draw on the expertise of those in the technology sector to quickly implement the best possible solutions, while ensuring that individuals’ personal information is held with the highest possible security. I also encourage the Government, in their review of technology in public services, to consider the role that charities play in supporting the sector. The tireless work of organisations such as Citizens Advice and the Trussell Trust, as well as countless local and regional charities, is the bedrock of our communities. Such organisations support the public sector to deliver many vital services across health, education, housing, criminal justice and more. In my view, it is essential that those organisations are also invested in, and integrated into, the new systems that will be created. I look forward to working with those local organisations, those businesses and the people in North East Hampshire, and I thank them for putting their trust in me.