John Lamont MP: speeches

Speeches

• 26 Jun 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Research shows that 91% of farmers see poor mental health as the industry’s biggest hidden issue. Last year, Kelso farmer Neil Stewart very sadly took his own life. His friends and family have since raised over £80,000 for RSABI, which provides support for people working in farming. Will the Leader of the House join me in paying tribute to them and may we have a debate on mental health in farming?

• 25 Jun 2025 · Access to Banking Hubs: Hertfordshire · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech about banking services in Hertfordshire, but I want to make a broader point about the criteria for allowing banking hubs. To be fair to the Minister, she has engaged well with me, too, but surely the point has come for Government intervention, to try to persuade—or tell—Link that the rules have to change, because they are no longer fit for purpose, and that those communities that desperately need these banking hubs should be allowed to have them.

• 25 Jun 2025 · Access to Banking Hubs: Hertfordshire · Hansard source

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  In addition to some customers not being comfortable using digital, some are unable to do so because they do not have broadband. I am sure the hon. Lady’s constituency is like mine. For some communities, if the bank branch has gone, using the banking app is not possible because the broadband capability is not there.

• 25 Jun 2025 · Access to Banking Hubs: Hertfordshire · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech. I have had similar challenges in my constituency in the Scottish Borders. Like him, I have been campaigning for banking hubs—in Selkirk and Eyemouth. Indeed, I presented a petition in the House of Commons a few weeks ago. The banking hub we have in Jedburgh is working very well, but part of the problem for getting new banking hubs is the criteria that Link uses to determine whether a community is suitable. Does my hon. Friend share my concerns, and will he put further pressure on the Minister to persuade Link to extend the criteria, so that more communities can get the benefit of banking hubs?

• 16 Jun 2025 · Smartphones in Schools · Hansard source

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  7. If she will take steps to stop the use of smartphones in schools.

• 16 Jun 2025 · Smartphones in Schools · Hansard source

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  Mobile phones in classrooms are linked to disruptive and violent behaviour. Does the Minister agree that mobile phones should be banned in all schools so that children are focused on their education, not glued to Instagram and TikTok?

• 16 Jun 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T4. Scottish education was once the envy of the world, but under the SNP it is being destroyed. Data shows that a quarter of 11-year-olds in Scotland are not achieving expected literacy levels. Does the Minister agree that the SNP needs to drop its weird obsessions and get back to the basics of sorting out Scotland’s education?

• 12 Jun 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  It is common ridings and festival season in the Scottish Borders, a spectacular and ancient tradition dating back to the battle of Flodden in 1513, bringing together each of the Borders communities to celebrate, so may we have a debate on the importance of the Scottish Borders common ridings and festivals? Will the Leader of the House join me in congratulating Selkirk’s Royal Burgh standard bearer, Darren Knox, and to wish him very well for this week’s Selkirk common riding?

• 10 Jun 2025 · Planning and Infrastructure Bill · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend makes an excellent point, and I agree with him. I am sure he will speak to those points further when he contributes later. We should be protecting the market value and not doing anything to interfere with the market—not least because if my new clause were accepted, it would improve the community benefit fund, which in turn would benefit the local residents who are directly affected by these types of projects. If the Bill could be improved in this way, it would be better for the people who live in rural communities, such as those in the Scottish Borders. As we saw again yesterday, this UK Labour Government have U-turned a lot over the past few months. I hope they will take this opportunity to listen to right hon. and hon. Members from across the House so that we can protect our beautiful environment, protect nature, and do better for rural communities.

• 10 Jun 2025 · Planning and Infrastructure Bill · Hansard source

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  I share my right hon. Friend’s concerns. Ultimately, this is about choices. The choice that this Government and the Scottish Government are making is whether we protect our natural environment, and the rural communities that have sustained food production for many years, or turn them into an industrial wasteland. The compulsory purchase powers in the Bill that affect my constituency in Scotland will affect many similar communities in England. My constituents in the Scottish Borders have had their fair share of new developments. In the Scottish Borders, the countryside is where we live. It is not some distant, remote area that is occasionally visited by tourists from Edinburgh or London; it is the place we call home. Compulsory purchase powers must be exercised with appropriate checks and balances in order to protect our communities, whether in Scotland or in other parts of the UK. I now turn specifically to the amendment that stands in my name, new clause 128, which deals with compulsory purchase and the community benefit related to it. We all know that when compulsory purchase takes place, it is difficult and often devastating for those who are directly affected. Too often, though, we fail to recognise the impact on the wider community, especially when it comes to new energy infrastructure. We have to improve the relationship between those affected and those acquiring the land. Compulsory purchase can be a complex and intimidating process.

• 10 Jun 2025 · Planning and Infrastructure Bill · Hansard source

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  I will speak to the amendments relating to compulsory purchase powers, and to my new clause 128. I note that much of the Bill and most of the clauses will not affect Scotland, but, unusually for a planning Bill, there are components that do affect it. Before I talk about the detail of my concerns about compulsory purchase powers, I want to set out a little of the context, and say why the issue is exercising so many of my constituents. I am privileged to represent the Scottish Borders—the place I call home. It is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful parts of the United Kingdom, but it is under attack. The net-zero-at-all-costs agenda of this UK Labour Government, backed by the SNP in Edinburgh, is causing huge concern to my constituents. Massive pylons, solar farms, wind farms and battery storage units are ruining the Scottish Borders as we know them, and compulsory purchase powers are a key part of delivering many of those projects.

• 10 Jun 2025 · Planning and Infrastructure Bill · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech. Does he agree that one of the flaws of the Bill, which his amendments attempt to address, is that it overreaches not only in attacking property rights in this country and interfering with the market, but in taking away key aspects of democratic accountability? That is why so many of our constituents across the United Kingdom are so concerned about what the Bill attempts to do.

• 9 Jun 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T4. Oxton in my constituency has a newly refurbished community shop, and it exists thanks to the hard work of local volunteers. The Plunkett impact report highlights how community-owned shops are at the centre of the local economy. What are the Government doing to support the ownership of community shops?

• 9 Jun 2025 · Winter Fuel Payment · Hansard source

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  A shocking 75% of Scottish pensioners said that they were left cold in their home last winter. Does the Minister agree that the Scottish Government must use the additional funding from today’s announcement to ensure that pensioners in Scotland receive the same amount of winter fuel payment as they did under the previous UK Conservative Government?

• 4 Jun 2025 · Swimming Facilities · Hansard source

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  I should declare an interest: I learned to swim in Seamill in the hon. Lady’s constituency. Does she agree that there is a particular challenge in Scotland because the Scottish Government are underfunding local authorities, which makes it much harder for councils to support swimming pools in the way they might want to?

• 4 Jun 2025 · Swimming Facilities · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech, and he is being very generous with his time. My constituency has six swimming pools. Much has been made of the health benefits, but does my hon. Friend agree that, for those of us who represent coastal communities or constituencies with large rivers, being able to swim is an important life skill?

• 4 Jun 2025 · Veterans · Hansard source

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  The previous Conservative Government had a dedicated Minister of State for veterans sitting at the Cabinet table, but that job was taken away by the new Administration. How are the interests of veterans in Scotland being raised in Cabinet under the new Government?

• 3 Jun 2025 · Banking Hub for Selkirk and Eyemouth · Hansard source

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  I rise to present this petition from my constituents in the Scottish Borders to the House of Commons. It calls on LINK to set up a banking hub for Selkirk and Eyemouth. I want to record my thanks to the many local residents who have signed this petition. The petition states: The petition of the residents of Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk, Declares that residents of Selkirk and Eyemouth are being left without proper access to cash and banking facilities. This is causing significant concern and worry for the local community, and that LINK should take the necessary steps to tackle this by setting up a banking hub in each of the towns. Further that a separate online petition on the same issue has generated 1,456 signatures. The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urge the Government to consider the concerns of the petitioners and take immediate action to ensure that the residents of Selkirk and Eyemouth have access to a Banking Hub, with proper access to cash and banking facilities. And the petitioners remain, etc. [P003079]

• 2 Jun 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T2. On Saturday, 1,200 illegal migrants poured into the United Kingdom by small boat. Many gave spurious reasons to stay here, so when will the Government repeal the Human Rights Act 1998 for immigration cases and take back control of our borders?

• 22 May 2025 · “For Women Scotland” Supreme Court Judgment · Hansard source

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  9. Whether the Commission is taking steps to comply with the Supreme Court judgment in the case of For Women Scotland v . the Scottish Ministers of 16 April 2025.

• 22 May 2025 · “For Women Scotland” Supreme Court Judgment · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to the hon. Member for his response, but the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has said that we “can and must” uphold the “rights, the freedoms, the spaces for women as sex-based rights”. I am therefore extremely concerned to hear reports that the House of Commons is not following the EHRC interim guidance that biological men should not be allowed to use women’s facilities. Does the hon. Member agree that the protection of female Members and women who work here is vital, and that the law, as clarified by the Supreme Court ruling, must be followed immediately?

• 21 May 2025 · Draft Scotland Act 1998 (Increase of Borrowing Limits) Order 2025 · Hansard source

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  Hear, hear!

• 21 May 2025 · Draft Scotland Act 1998 (Increase of Borrowing Limits) Order 2025 · Hansard source

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  I just want to make a few remarks, Mr Efford; I will not detain colleagues for long. I commend the Minister for his remarks, and I associate myself with the remarks from the shadow Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Gordon and Buchan. Just over a year ago that I was moving a similar draft order on behalf of the previous Government, so I congratulate the Minister on reading out those numbers so accurately. It is important to record, as the Minister and my hon. Friend did, that this additional funding will potentially be used by the Scottish Government to fund vital public services that many of our constituents depend on, whether that is schools, roads or other infrastructure projects that are vital to many of our constituents. But it is a great shame that the Scottish SNP Government perhaps do not use all of the resources available to them to fund those types of policy areas, and instead obsess repeatedly about independence referendums. Indeed, just this week, the First Minister spoke about how next year’s Scottish parliamentary election will be about independence referendums—again. From the SNP Government’s record, it is not hard to see how they have failed to deliver for the people of Scotland: one in six Scots is stuck on NHS waiting lists, drug deaths remain the highest in Europe, there are more than 900 fewer police officers today than prior to the pandemic, there are 1,500 fewer teachers, and the Government have failed to close the attainment gap. We also all know how much money was wasted on their reckless gender reform Bill. It is a shame that no SNP Members are present to welcome this additional funding from the UK Government or to defend their record in government in Scotland. As my hon. Friend the Member for Gordon and Buchan said, the SNP Government are accountable to Members of the Scottish Parliament, but is the Minister confident that the SNP Government will use this additional funding for the public services that our constituents use every day?

• 15 May 2025 · Recalled Offenders: Sentencing Limits · Hansard source

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  The Victims’ Commissioner has warned that freeing prisoners early who have been shown to pose a reoffending risk to the public will “place victims and the wider public at an unnecessary risk of harm.” The Domestic Abuse Commissioner has said that it is “simply unacceptable”. What discussions did the Government have with those two commissioners before making the announcement?

• 15 May 2025 · Solar Farms · Hansard source

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  I pay tribute to the hon. Members for South West Norfolk (Terry Jermy) and for Rother Valley (Jake Richards) for taking a brave stance against their Government Whips and standing up for their constituents against these reckless solar farm proposals. Today’s debate is on solar energy, but the points I intend to make apply to more than just this type of energy infrastructure. The manner in which these projects are being pursued—aggressively and without due care—is beginning to cause a major backlash. There are rapidly growing fears that solar and renewable projects are being forced through and greenlit for installation against the wishes of the people who will have to live next to them. The “net zero at all costs” agenda of this Labour Government, which is enthusiastically endorsed by the SNP at Holyrood, causes great concern across the country—and for good reason. Protecting the environment should not come at the expense of our economy, jobs and countryside. The approach of Labour and the SNP needs to change. Major infrastructure projects are a particular issue in rural constituencies like mine in the Scottish Borders, where the countryside is not some far-off place we speak wistfully about; it is where we live. The countryside is part of our community. When solar projects are proposed that are bigger than some towns, it is deeply worrying for local people. Time and again, when I look at projects across my constituency, I see a scandalous lack of regard for the views of local people. They are given little information, are overlooked and even ignored, and then expected to just agree with the project. Labour and the SNP might think that is acceptable, but Conservative Members do not. We believe that it is wrong, and that people should not have to put up with it.