John Thurso MP

MP MAKES MAIDEN SPEECH IN COMMONS

Local MP John Thurso yesterday made his Maiden Speech in the House of Commons during the final day of the Queen's Speech debate devoted to Home Affairs and the Constitution.

Commenting after the debate, John Thurso said:

"I was delighted to be able to make my Maiden Speech so early in the session as it now gives me the opportunity of asking questions, probing Ministers and intervening in debates.

It is the custom in the House that Maiden Speeches begin with a tribute to the previous Member, and are not contraversial. I was delighted to be able to pay tribute on behalf of everyone in Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross to Robert Maclennan, and particularly his diligence on casework.

I have laid down markers, particularly with regard to the economic prosperity of our area, which I will be taking up as early as I can."

Text of John Thurso's Speech:

"I am grateful for the opportunity to make my maiden speech in the House, especially in a debate touching on the constitution.

I should like to preface my remarks with an expression of gratitude to the House and a pre-emptive apology. My gratitude is for the introduction and passing of the House of Lords Act 1999, which permitted me to shake off the shackles of the peerage and return to being a normal human being and enabled me to fulfil a long-held dream of seeking election to the House of Commons. My pre-emptive apology concerns the fact that, having sat in another place for a number of years, I observed former Members of the House of Commons taking up a seat there, and saw the difficulty that they had throwing off the habit of addressing colleagues as hon.Gentleman. If, by mischange, I address the Chair as "my Lord" or refer to any Members as "noble", I aks the House to understand that I mean no disrespect; it is merely old habits coming through.

It is the tradition - and, for me, a particular pleasure - to pay tribute to one's predecessor. it is a great pleasure because the former Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross is a great personal friend; Robert Maclennan served in the House for just over 35 years and made many major contributions. He led one party for a short time and helped to co-found the Liberal Democrat party. In the previous Parliament, with the then Leader of the House, he was responsible for the report that allowed much of the constitutional legislation that was introduced to go through. However, he is most remembered by all those who know him for his extraordinary assiduity as a constituency Member. Having knocked on many doors during the election campaign, as many other hon Members will have done, I found out just how hard he worked and how many people spoke of him with affection. Indeed, only 24 hours before the election, he was with me, knocking on doors and collecting more casework, which he took great pleasure in handing over to me in recent weeks.

As we got to know each other well, Robert Maclennan told me that he would never have stood for or sought election in any other constituency. I share that view; I would never have wished to seek election in any constituency other than my home of Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross. It is an extraordinarily large and varied constituency. I am not sure whether it is the largest; I think that that honour belongs to my right hon. Friend the Member for Ross, Skye and Inverness, West (Mr Kennedy), but my constituency is a close second. When I drive home from Inverness airport and cross the constituency boundary, I can see a sign telling me that I have 91 miles to go until I get home; there is therefore a large geographical area to cover.

My constituency not only has geographic variety, but great economic variety. We have new industries, such as Dounreay, the former fast-breeder reactor plant, which is in the process of being decommissioned and has a genuine opportunity to become a world centre of excellence in decommissioning skills that we can export to other countries. At the other end of the constituency in Invergordon are some of the major players in rig refurbishment, looking after the oil industry. Many new businesses have recently come in; we have the largest manufacturers of chest freezers in the world, and we have the company that produces all of Madonna's cassettes. Much in the constituency, therefore is surprising.

The backbone of the constituency - the heart of it - remains the rural traditional industries of farming and fishing, and to those I would nowadays add tourism. These are all industries that are in considerable trouble.

The fishing industry is in severe crisis. There is a major problem of balancing fish stocks and fishing effort, and I look forward to an opportunity to bring the matter before the House on another occasion.

Farming in my constituency, as in many others, is the glue that holds together many of the rural areas. The entire fabric of, for example, remote parts of Sutherland are held together by farming and crofting.

The recent foot and mouth crisis has had a terrible effect. Happily, my constituency has not had the problems of those where large slaughters have had to take place. None the less, the future seems very difficult, particularly with the tradition within the constituency of reading stock for transfer to other areas of the country. I look forward to bringing both these matters before the House.

I ask for the indulgence of the House to speak briefly on tourism. I must declare an interest. I am still involved with a number of tourism businesses. I am also patron or president of several industry bodies. Tourism is the industry in which I grew up. I started my working life in the kitchens of the Berkeley, and I did day release at Westminster College. I worked my way up through that industry.

Tourism, as a result of foot and mouth, is having a difficult time. It can be seen from the extent of the crisis what an impact the tourist industry has. It is one of the largest employers. According to the Government's figures, it produces about 7 per cent of national gross domestic product. It needs to be properly supported and resourced. I hope very much that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport will ensure that resources are made available to encourage overseas tourists, through the British Tourist Association, to come to the United Kingdom.

I turn to reform of the House of Lords. I was delighted to read in the Gracious Speech that the Government intend to go ahead with Stage 2 of the reform, which I warmly welcome, but I have two concerns. The first is about the words "after consultation". I hope that that will not mean that reform disappears in the long grass and that what comes out at the end is a somewhat more anondyne reform. I believe absolutely - this is said with the conviction of having sat in another place - that there is only one outcome, and that is for the House of Lords to be either fully elected, or in large part elected.

My second concern is that reform will perhaps be predicated too much on the Wakeham report. One of the key elements of that report is the assumption that the House should always retain its superiority or supremacy over the other place, which is dangerous. As a number of hon. Members have said, it is important that the House takes the opportunity to consider the functions of not only another place but of this place, and to regard reform as a marriage of two equal partners. Both Houses have different roles and should have different roles, but the roles are complementary. I believe that ultimately the two Houses should be fundamentally equal.

I have come to serve in this place with immense humility and respect for its traditions. Having sat in another place and having had the good fortune to go through an election, I understand, despite the aversion that one has to being on green, how important it is, and what a great mother of Parliaments it is. I look forward to serving my constituents, to whom I am immensely grateful, to the best of my ability and to making what modest contribution I can to the workings of the House."