Ben Maguire MP Maiden Speech

Tindle News

Ben Maguire, MP for North Cornwall, making his maiden speech to Parliament

Transcript

00:00I congratulate the hon. Member for West Bromwich on an excellent maiden speech. It is the greatest

00:14honour of my life to be giving my maiden speech in this place as the Member for my home constituency

00:20of North Cornwall, where I was born and brought up. I will always be grateful to the people

00:25of North Cornwall for putting their trust in me. There are, unfortunately, too many

00:30supporters and friends and family to thank for their hard work and dedication for getting

00:35me to this place, but I must just give a special thanks to my mother Jennifer, father Joseph

00:41and my husband Manuel for their unwavering love and support. A huge thank you as well

00:47to my agent and sister Rosie. To every single member of my campaign, you are quite simply

00:53the best team that any candidate could wish for, and you showed such amazing dedication

00:58to our area. I would not be here without you, and I will not let you down.

01:03It is also a pleasure to contribute to this debate celebrating our Olympic and Paralympic

01:07athletes. I grew up in the small but now golden rural village of Wytheal, and soon after my

01:14election my former Wytheal neighbour Morgan Boulding won gold in the men's eight rowing.

01:20I commend Morgan and all of our Team GB Olympic and Paralympic athletes for their amazing

01:24successes this summer. I would like to just start by paying tribute to my predecessor

01:30Scott Mann, who supported much-needed transport initiatives such as better rail connectivity

01:36to North Cornish towns. I will continue this work by fighting for much-needed transport

01:42infrastructure, which, despite North Cornwall's large size, does not contain a single mainline

01:48rail station, and vital bus routes are routinely cut. I thank Scott for his service, and I

01:55wish him the very best for his future endeavours.

01:59North Cornwall has a great Liberal tradition, and so I would also like to pay tribute to

02:03my Liberal predecessor John Pardoe, who is still fondly remembered on many doorsteps

02:08for his dedication as North Cornwall's MP in the 1960s and 1970s. In more recent times

02:15Paul Tyler and Dan Rogerson were also fantastic Liberal Democrat representatives who fought

02:20tirelessly for our area. I was honoured to receive the support and advice of all three

02:26former members during my election campaign, and they have set the bar very high for me

02:30indeed.

02:31While the election campaign was mostly a positive experience, we did have one crisis moment.

02:40Having advertised a meet-and-greet where cream teas would be sold, the real dangers

02:45of AI were brought home to me. A volunteer had produced the event poster using ChatGPT

02:51or something similar. They had found a photo of a cream tea, but tragically this was a

02:57dystopian Devon version with the cream on first and the jam on top. Before anyone had

03:04spotted this egregious error, it had been published all over my social media. As a proud

03:11Cornishman, it was indeed a shameful moment, and we immediately went into crisis mode.

03:17Luckily, we survived this unfortunate episode, and I will be sure that I am never again associated

03:22with any cream tea which is not jam first.

03:30Preparing for this speech, I read those of my predecessors and noted the tragic resonance

03:35they still have today. John Pardo, back in 1966, described our area as neglected and

03:41exporting a mass of young people. Paul Tyler, in 1974, explained the housing shortage is

03:48now a major social evil again, and Dan Rogerson, in 2005, said North Cornwall has more second

03:54homes than council houses. As a young person, I felt I had no other choice than to leave

04:01and seek opportunities elsewhere, so I talk from experience when I say that these statements

04:06will sadly remain just as true today. Working to bring well-paid, highly skilled jobs to

04:12our area will be at the top of my to-do list. With the new Government's pledge to build

04:17more houses, are we fighting to make sure we don't continue to just see more and more

04:23executive homes without the appropriate infrastructure and which are far beyond the reach of local

04:29people? I sincerely hope my future successor does not need to again lament the appalling

04:36state of Cornish housing 60 years from now. Everyone in Cornwall must have a safe and

04:43a secure place to live. I must admit, since my election, I've been shocked by the number

04:49of crises currently facing our great Duchy. My inbox is bursting with cases of children

04:55needing urgent treatment in A&E due to tooth infections, with some parents even resorting

05:00to using pliers to extract their child's rotten teeth because they can't get an NHS

05:05dentist. GP appointments continue to be hard to come by, pharmacies are closing, and waiting

05:11times are among the highest in the country. The major hospitals serving North Cornwall—Treliske,

05:17Derriford and North Devon—are crumbling, and we cannot delay or review their new buildings

05:23any longer, or we risk the south-west hospital provision quite literally collapsing. As well

05:29as the crises in our NHS, Cornish schools continue to receive less funding per people

05:34than other areas of the UK, and the crisis in provision for children and young people

05:39with special educational needs and disabilities is extremely alarming. We see raw sewage dumped

05:46into our rivers and world-renowned beaches like Poles F, Harlan and Widmouth Bay, among

05:52many others, on an almost daily basis. The water industry needs urgent reform so that

05:57monopolistic for-profit water companies are forced to finally invest in infrastructure

06:03rather than only prioritising shareholder dividends. Our fishers and farmers continue

06:08to suffer from disastrous trade deals which have left them struggling to compete, while

06:14climate change becomes the most urgent issue of our times and threatens to literally submerge

06:21towns such as Bewd underwater in the coming decades.

06:26Despite these hardships, there is also very much to be hopeful about. I am deeply inspired

06:31by the dedication of our amazing communities and volunteer networks and sports clubs, to

06:36name just a few. Age Concern in Bodmin and the amazing new youth centre in Bodmin, KBSK,

06:42which provides warm meals, homework clubs and a range of activities for young people.

06:47The seapool in Bewd, run by dedicated volunteers to improve the mental wellbeing of local residents.

06:52The Memory Café in Launceston, providing respite for carers and those with memory problems.

06:58The Grace project in Weybridge, providing unwanted clothing to those who need it most.

07:03And the community ladders and food banks in Camelford, St Colin Major and Padsoe.

07:09We also are blessed with many excellent sports clubs in my constituency, including the Weybridge

07:14Camels Rugby Club, the Bodmin Football Club, the Launceston All Blacks Rugby Club and many,

07:22many more. I'm also looking forward to visit the Kilkhampton ladies football team in just

07:28a few weeks' time.

07:31But it's clear to me that the best way to solve many of these problems and the unique

07:36challenges Cornwall faces is for decisions to be taken locally. My constituents, including

07:43many who didn't vote at all, are so fed up with the same broken political system, which

07:49as I've already explained seems to achieve very little for us in Cornwall. That is why,

07:55as well as proper voting and fundamental political reform, I'll be calling for meaningful devolution

08:01of powers, funding and responsibility from Whitehall to a legislative Cornish Assembly.

08:08Cornwall's unique culture, heritage and language were finally recognised in 2014, when Liberal

08:14Democrats made sure the Cornish were granted national minority status under the European

08:19Framework Convention, just like the Scots, Welsh and the Irish. As Liberal Democrats,

08:25we are and we must continue to be the party for Cornwall.

08:30During today's debate, I hope the Minister will also work with me to explore how we

08:35can see a Cornish team competing at the next Commonwealth Games.

08:41I'll finish now with the words of my 15th-century predecessor, Thomas Flemank, who, like me,

08:47had previously been a solicitor and grew up in Bodbin. I hope that's where the similarities

08:52end because he was soon after executed.

08:58Flemank led the Cornish Rebellion of 1497 and famously said,

09:02Speak the truth, and only then can you be free of your chains.

09:07Guided by those words, I will always speak truth to power on behalf of North Cornwall.

09:13Cerno bis fecan, Cornwall forever. Thank you.

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