Christmas Adjournment

Steff Aquarone Excerpts

Thursday 18th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Steff Aquarone (North Norfolk) (LD)]

I come here in the Christmas spirit, with both my nice list and my naughty list. On the nice list are, of course, you, Madam Deputy Speaker, Mr Speaker and the other Deputy Speakers for your work over the past year; all the House staff who support us, feed us and keep us safe; and the rest of the parliamentary community, including my own team.

On the naughty list, which I have made and checked twice, are those who, despite my efforts, are letting down my constituency. Top of that list is Norfolk county council and its Conservative administration. I refer Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests as a serving councillor on that authority. The county council spent the early part of December trying to wage all-out war on the residents of Sheringham, as the it tried to knock down their historic bus shelter in the face of dogged opposition. But residents of Sheringham do not give up a fight easily, and for nine straight days the bus shelter was occupied by local protesters day and night. The council employed bully-boy tactics, wasting taxpayers’ money on bailiffs sent to intimidate and attempt to evict protesters without the adequate legal authority to do so.

Any popular support for the council’s approach faded away rapidly, with the local paper, local councils and many local people turning against it. I was delighted when, last week, Sheringham town council voted to deny permission for the demolition, forcing the county council to back down. This protest drew widespread national media attention, from The Guardian to The Telegraph, GB News and “Have I Got News for You”. It even had the Prime Minister and the Transport Secretary weighing in. The intervention from the Transport Secretary was most enlightening, as she confirmed that the Government funding for bus stop improvements in Sheringham was still very much available if the scheme was altered to retain the existing shelter. That blows a large hole in the council’s attempt to throw its toys out of the pram and refuse to support investment in Sheringham’s transport infrastructure.

The Conservative council leader has spouted lies and misinformation about me and fails to see the complete and utter mess she has created. Once again, I call on Norfolk county council to come to the table to agree a compromise. The story continues. Merry Christmas and a happy new year!

Business of the House

Steff Aquarone Excerpts

Thursday 4th September 2025 Commons Chamber

[Lucy Powell]

First, I congratulate my hon. Friend on becoming a new dad earlier this summer. I thank him once again for being such a brilliant champion for proper investment in our northern rail and connectivity, which is absolutely vital to the rebirth of our regions.

[Steff Aquarone (North Norfolk) (LD)]

Sea Palling in my constituency has little mobile signal, and its emergency sirens were removed 16 years ago. Ahead of the weekend’s emergency alert test, I asked the Cabinet Office what it would do for communities such as Sea Palling. We went back and forth three times, and I am really frustrated that the answer was to knock on doors—in a rural, isolated community that is susceptible to rapid tidal flooding. Will the Leader of the House convey to the Cabinet Office the sense from people in Sea Palling that in communities such as theirs, the Government just do not get it?

[Lucy Powell]

I am sorry to hear about the response the hon. Gentleman has had. We are working with telecommunications companies to reduce poor mobile signal—particularly in rural areas, which is not an easy task—and we have the shared rural network deal. However, I will ensure that he gets a better ministerial response to his questions.

Business of the House

Steff Aquarone Excerpts

Thursday 24th April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Lucy Powell]

Poorly planned and delivered roadworks are of great frustration to my hon. Friend’s constituents, and to the constituents of Members from across the House. I join her in urging her local council to ensure that the roadworks do not cause the level of disruption that she describes, and this Government are committed to ensuring that.

[Steff Aquarone (North Norfolk) (LD)]

Families in Holt have been promised for years a new primary school to replace the current building, which is too old and too small to cater for this growing market town. However, the Conservative-led county council has broken promises and dithered and delayed, pointing to minor fluctuations in the birth rate as a pathetic cop-out. Will the Leader of the House consider scheduling a debate on investment in our primary schools? Also, how this decision reached? Will she facilitate a meeting with the relevant Minister to ensure that parents, pupils and staff in Holt get the new school that they need?

[Lucy Powell]

I am sorry to hear of the dither and delay in getting the school in Holt that the hon. Gentleman’s constituents have long been promised. As he knows, the provision of places is a matter for local authorities. They have been given the funding to provide places where they are needed, so the local authority really has no excuse but to get on and provide the school.

Business of the House

Steff Aquarone Excerpts

Thursday 20th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Lucy Powell]

Filling our potholes is a really important action that the Government are taking. We want to fill another 7 million potholes over the course of this Parliament. I am pleased that my hon. Friend is working with her council, and with the councillors whom she is hoping to get elected later this year, on getting the potholes fixed in her constituency.

[Steff Aquarone (North Norfolk) (LD)]

I valued the comments of the shadow Leader of the House, and of my hon. Friend the Member for Wokingham (Clive Jones). I offer my condolences, and my time, on a separate occasion, to discuss the ideas for the future that the shadow Leader of the House set out.

BT has threatened to close down the K6 telephone box in Sharrington, in my constituency, which is a vital lifeline for an area with a poor mobile signal. Indeed, just a few weeks ago, an ambulance driver used the phone box to make an emergency call. Last Friday, we rallied 50 locals to queue outside the phone box to make calls and prove its importance to BT. Will the Leader of the House arrange a debate in Government time about the importance of phone boxes to rural communities, and the protection of vital rural services?

[Lucy Powell]

Phone boxes remain important for many of our villages and towns across the country, as well as in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency. He has taken the opportunity this morning to mention the phone box in his constituency, and I will ensure that he gets a good reply about it.

Business of the House

Steff Aquarone Excerpts

Thursday 31st October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Lucy Powell]

I know from my visit to Redditch with my hon. Friend that he campaigned brilliantly in the general election and before that on bringing change to the NHS in this country and on reducing waiting times and waiting lists. Yesterday, thanks to his campaigning and that of many others, he saw the single biggest boost to our NHS funding since 2010, outside of covid. That will begin the process of rebuilding our NHS, as his constituents want.

[Steff Aquarone (North Norfolk) (LD)]

Residents in North Norfolk are worried about the impact of flooding as we enter the winter months, and I welcome the general debate planned for 11 November. Tomorrow, I am holding a meeting of key agencies with responsibility for water management and almost 200 of my constituents. The Broadland Futures Initiative is likely to report later this Parliament on the future scenarios facing the area, which I know deeply concern both me and the hon. Member for Broadland and Fakenham (Jerome Mayhew). Once it is published, will the Leader of the House allow us a debate in Government time on this important report to ensure that we have a safe and secure future for this treasured national park and low-lying Norfolk more broadly?

[Lucy Powell]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for the work he does locally on flood resilience and for raising this matter. We wanted to have the debate next week in part because it is raised during business questions so often. I will, of course, make sure that the relevant Minister comes to this House or gives a statement to it when the report is published.