Petitions

Alicia Kearns Excerpts

Monday 27th April 2026 Commons Chamber

[Alicia Kearns (Rutland and Stamford) (Con)]

This Government have legislated to protect railcard discounts for young people, the elderly and disabled passengers, yet shamefully in the same breath voted against doing the same for our veterans and armed forces. The Government told us that we should simply trust them not to remove these railcards in the future. That is not good enough and, frankly, is another black eye for our veterans and armed forces. I thank the 225 people who signed this petition with a wet signature, and the 1,623 people who signed my separate online petition on this issue. If the principle is sound enough to enshrine in law for others, it is sound enough to enshrine in law for those who serve their nation.

The petition states:

The petition of residents of the United Kingdom,

Declares that Veterans and HM Forces rail travel discounts should be protected in law.

The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urge the Government to introduce legislation to create a statutory duty for the continued provision of the Veterans Railcard and HM Forces Railcard schemes.

And the petitioners remain, etc.

[P003192]

[Andrew George (St Ives) (LD)]

I rise to present a petition on the future of the Penzance driving test centre. The metrics used by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency assume homogenised geographic uniformity, but we are at the end of a long thin peninsula. The DVSA offers a postcode search tool, which is irrelevant to areas like mine. Distress levels are high among instructors and learners; after all, they cannot travel north, south or west to find an alternative centre. During summer daytime, a round trip from the west of my constituency to the nearest centre in Camborne can take over three hours. Penzance is open only two days a week, and I am told that the situation is getting significantly worse. With the lease expiring in 2028, many constituents, such as local instructor Mark Squire, who is pressing to restore pre-covid opening times, fear the worst for the centre. Alongside this Parliament-compliant petition is a further petition calling for the same, with another 1,121 supporters.

This petition states:

“The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Government to ensure that the Penzance DVSA Test Centre is reinstated to full-time operation.

And the petitioners remain, etc.”

Following is the full text of the petition:

[The petition of residents of the constituency of St Ives,

Declares that the Penzance DVSA Test Centre should be reinstated to full-time operation in order to provide a service which meets the driving test demand in West Cornwall; further declares that the reduction in availability has caused significant inconvenience and delays for learners and instructors in the area, with waiting times now exceeding national averages; further declares that the closure or part-time operation of the centre forces residents to travel long distances to alternative test centres, increasing costs and carbon emissions, and disproportionately affecting rural communities and those without access to private transport; and further declares that local driving instructors report a severe backlog, which is impacting on employment opportunities and road safety for new drivers.

The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Government to ensure that the Penzance DVSA Test Centre is reinstated to full-time operation.

And the petitioners remain, etc.]

[P003194]