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Thelma Deacon speaks to Lloyd Hatton, Labour MP for South Dorset. 28th March 2025 |
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Thelma Deacon: It's our privilege today to have Lloyd Hatton, who was born and raised in Wyke Regis, Weymouth. He attended Holy Trinity Primary School and All Saints Academy. He played rugby and his first job was working weekends with his dad in a fish and chip shop. He attended Queen Mary University, London, reading history and politics, then became a political researcher and is a former member of the Youth Parliament. He managed to win in the national elections. He had 31.9% against Richard Drax, who had 29.8%, and he is now our MP for South Dorset. He's come into the studio and first of all, he's talking to Andrew Birt and they are talking about the local issue to do with the proposed increases in the Sandbanks ferry toll :-
Lloyd Hatton: That people here rely upon, which is why I think any increase in the toll needs to be affordable, and they need to be taking into account what what local users of the ferry can afford and what they can pay for.
Andrew Birt: Okay. Well, we have to move on fairly quickly so I'll move on to the Astor Housing Association. Developments need to be stopped from selling houses - and where are we now with affordable homes being built in Purbeck?
Lloyd Hatton: I think it's a really important point. Astor is one of the biggest housing associations here in South Dorset. From time to time they do sell off some of their existing property and then invest that into purchasing newer houses elsewhere, which of course, they're welcome to do. My concern though is that when they sell those properties up, they need to make sure that the people moving into them, buying them, are actually going to use it as their first home as a primary residence. And I think ideally those people should have a local connection. They should be people who live and work here in South Dorset and need a home for themselves and for their family. What I think is totally unacceptable is that they sell these homes only for them to become an Airbnb, a holiday-let or some other second home. We have an acute housing shortage here in Purbeck in particular, and local people, particularly younger people, are struggling to get on the property ladder. So I think we have to look again at what housing solutions can and can't do when it comes to selling their property. I think there will need to be a national change up in Westminster if we're to have a much fairer playing field.
Andrew Birt: And what do you think of the suggestion that maybe we should, penalise is the wrong word, but maybe double tax on second home owners or third homes? Do you think that's a good idea?
Lloyd Hatton: I do think it's a good idea. And actually the New Labour government has moved quite quickly here. We passed a change, which means that councils can start to introduce a council tax premium, which means that if it is on a second home, you pay double. That will come into effect in April. So just in a few days time now, people who have a second home down here in South Dorset will have to pay double council tax. I welcome that and I want to see the money raised from that doubling of council tax invested in the communities most impacted by a huge number of second homes, so we can invest in local services, invest in the local roads and actually see that we're starting to rebalance things between those who live here all year round and those who only live here for a few weeks of the year.
Andrew Birt: Well of course it's all good news to those local residents. How much influence can the petition to save health services at Swanage and Wareham hospitals have? What do you think?
Lloyd Hatton: Well, I think it's been fantastic to see. Last year myself and our Labour town councillors here in Swanage launched a petition to restore some of the services that were lost at Fareham Community Hospital and Swanage Community Hospital. Many of those services were lost during the Covid pandemic if not before. We want to see those services returning to our local hospitals. I've been blown away by the response of local people since we launched that petition. Last checking, I think more than 3100 folk in our area signed that petition. So there's a real strength of feeling that actually we want to get our community hospitals firing on all cylinders once again. It's really helpful for me when I talk to the Secretary of State for health and when I talk to the local NHS bosses here in Dorset, I can make the case saying patients want to see their services restored in their local hospitals, so they're not constantly being forced to make longer and longer journeys up the road to receive healthcare. So I really want to see the chemotherapy clinic back in Wareham Hospital, the rheumatology clinic back in Swanage Hospital. But then we need to go further and think about where we can deliver services closer to the patient. That's exactly what we should be doing.
Andrew Birt: Yes, and there's certainly many of the people I speak to locally will say it's lovely having the hospital here and we really need to keep it at all costs because so many of us have used it. I've certainly used it.
Thelma Deacon: We have had comments on Facebook, and I just wanted to mention a couple, some for ideas and some against ideas. And you talked about the local hospital services. What influence can you have with how strong are you in saving our services or continuing them?
Lloyd Hatton: So I regularly meet with the Secretary of State for health to talk about the health issues here in Dorset and the state of our community hospitals, I think for too long. Sorry to be sort of party political for too long. Under the previous government, we saw our local community hospital hospitals hollowed out and wound down, and services increasingly moving to the bigger hospitals in Poole or in Dorchester. Sadly, that meant that healthcare became less accessible, and then people were simply missing appointments, missing scans and all the rest of it. I want to see a complete change in direction, and that's the case I've been making to the Secretary of State. We should be delivering care as close to the patient as possible and making it as accessible as possible. The Secretary of State is listening, and I think he agrees. This is a big reform we need to see in the NHS. That care should be closer to the patient and that intervention and the care they receive should be happening a lot earlier because then we get better health outcomes. Patients live a better, healthier life if that's the way that we deliver healthcare. So I'm going to keep making that case nationally, and I'm going to keep making the case locally. And I think we're going to hopefully see services start to be relocated and restored in our local community hospitals.
Thelma Deacon: How often are your meetings with the Secretary of State for health? And everybody throughout the country is asking the Secretary of Health the same sort of thing. How much influence do you really have?
Lloyd Hatton: So as a Labour MP working hand in hand with a new Labour government, we do have sort of quite regular meetings sort of every month or so. Him or his team are available. I also meet with the local NHS bosses here in Dorset, every sort of 4 to 6 weeks as well, or I'm able to sort of make the case for what changes we'd like to see and also ask them about you know, how they are delivering changes that are being passed down to them from Westminster.
Andrew Birt: Regarding the of the Breakfast Club at Saint George's. How's that going?
Lloyd Hatton: Labour government has brought in what I think is a really good policy, which is that every single state primary school should have a free breakfast club offered to all children. We know that offering free breakfast at school is great for the child. It means they're focused, ready to learn, ready to get on with the school day. And it's good for the family as well. It saves them money on breakfast, and it also gives a little bit more time and a bit more flexibility at the start of the day when you're doing that drop off. But also you need to get to work yourself. So it works for children and it works for parents. We'll be rolling those out in all primary schools across the country. But first of all, there's a pilot scheme so we can test how it works and get rid of any teething problems. One of the first schools in the country to be offering these free breakfast clubs will be here at Saint George's Primary in Langton Matravers, so from next month they will be offering that free breakfast for every school child coming through the school gate in the morning and we'll see what works, what we could be doing a bit better. And then before you know it, we'll be rolling it out in every primary school here in South Dorset.
Andrew Birt: Oh very good.
Lloyd Hatton: It's really exciting. I'm looking forward to seeing how it works and what the take up is.
Andrew Birt: Yes. I mean, it's certainly a quite a new initiative, isn't it?
Lloyd Hatton: It's something that we sort of campaigned on at the election last year, and we're starting to see it finally come into fruition, which is really exciting.
Andrew Birt: Fascinating stuff with that. Perhaps we move on to other nationwide things. When will the end of life Bill go to the House of Lords?
Lloyd Hatton: So the end of life Bill first sort of started its journey through Parliament at the start of the year in the House of Commons. And this is the the bill that is looking to give people choice at the end of life if they have a terminal illness and less than six months to live. It's currently just finished going through the House of Commons. They've been going through it line by line in what is known as committee stage, where they look at every single detail of the bill and suggest tweaks and changes that might improve and strengthen the bill that's just finished in the last couple of days, which means that around Easter time, it will go to the House of Lords, and it's their turn to look at the bill, to scrutinise it, to revise it, and to propose some improvements to the bill where they think they might be beneficial. So that's where it's at. It's just left the Commons and it's about to go to the Lords very shortly.
Thelma Deacon: I've been working as a nurse for many years and I've seen good and bad deaths. Sadly, the majority fall into the latter and I wondered if you, any of you are happy to talk about it, if you had personal experience of of these sorts of situations.
Lloyd Hatton: We've had a couple of family friends actually, who've had cancer. Often far too young. And they've had they've had not particularly peaceful or dignified deaths. I think they felt that they were losing control and they were losing agency and choice about what happened during those final days and weeks. And for me, I think that's why this bill that the choice at the end of life bill that I'm supporting is so important. It's not about telling anyone that something they do or don't have to do. But if you are in that position where you have a terminal illness fewer than six months to live, you have a choice, and therefore you have that greater dignity. And you can decide about how you want to die, and you can have a peaceful death, and you can die on your own terms. And I think that's at the heart of what this bill is trying to achieve.
Thelma Deacon: Absolutely. But you're not talking about the next few years. This is going to take a long time to happen, isn't it?
Lloyd Hatton: So that's one of the things that's being toyed with at the moment. So the bill is currently about to go to the House of Lords to be considered. I think it will probably be another sort of 6 to 8 months before the bill. Hopefully, if it passes the votes becomes law. There then will be a sort of 2 to 4 year implementation period. And that is something that's currently being considered at the moment. Will it be more like two years or four years? I'd like to see us get on with it. If we've got the correct legal or legislative framework in place or the laws are there, I think the healthcare system and all the rest of it needs to get on and deliver it. I think people have waited a very long time for this discussion nationally, and they've waited a very long time for a change in the law. So if we change the law, then we need to get on with it.
Thelma Deacon: And you're learning by mistakes that have been made in other countries like Canada.
Lloyd Hatton: I assume there are lots of different models across the world. We've been really clear. Those who are supporting the bill, that we're not going for the Canadian model, as some are calling it. Actually, it's a lot more limited in scope. The bill that's being proposed in the UK is very much just looking at those with fewer than six months to live who have got a serious, you know, life ending illness. However, if it's something which is mental health related or disability related, this bill certainly would not touch that. It's very much only looking at those patients.
Thelma Deacon: How much work was involved in stopping the Bibby Stockholm barge?
Lloyd Hatton: For those who don't know, the Bibby Stockholm barge was what I call a gimmick that was installed at Portland Port a couple of years ago. And the idea was it would be a large accommodation site for asylum seekers waiting, waiting for their cases to be processed. We found out that it was totally impractical. It cost the taxpayer a small fortune. It wasn't very fair on those who lived on board. It wasn't very fair on the community around the barge as well. So I was very, very keen for it to go. And at the election last year, I made very clear that this was something that I would be pushing on and campaigning on if I was fortunate enough to be elected. One of the first conversations I had after the election was with the new Home Office ministers. I managed to have a quick sit down meeting and say, this really doesn't work. It's bad for the community. It's bad value for the taxpayer. We can't simply allow the contract for this barge to be extended and for it to go on and on. They were very sympathetic and they were very much listening, and I think they wanted a change in direction. So they said, yeah, we completely take on board what you're saying, Lloyd. It's going to be a decision in a few weeks time where we'll look about whether or not we want to keep the barge or we want to wind it down and end the contract. I'm really grateful that they made the right decision, which was to end the contract and to get rid of the barge. So in November last year, the last asylum seekers left, and in January of this year, the barge itself left the port. And we're rid of it, which I think is a really good turnaround from what was a particularly divisive and difficult issue in our area. But we managed to have a bit of a positive solution and as quickly as possible, which we always like to see.
Andrew Birt: Yes, it certainly was a bit of a sore point, wasn't it?
Lloyd Hatton: It was. I think it caused a lot of frustration and upset, particularly in Weymouth and Portland. I think people felt they weren't really consulted on, and this barge was sort of landed on our doorstep and government nationally wasn't listening. So we got that change of government and there was a change of thinking as well about the future of the barge. And I welcome the fact that we've managed to get rid of it.
Andrew Birt: Fine. Thank you. What are the new measures that might make the new Portland incinerator more acceptable?
Lloyd Hatton: I don't think the proposed waste incinerator in Portland should be going ahead at all. It's currently subject to a legal challenge in the High Court, and we're awaiting the outcome of that. I went to up to the courts on the day of the challenge to listen to the case being made by the respective legal teams, and I hope we're successful there. And it's thrown out. And it has its planning permission quashed. Regardless of what happens, though, I think it's really important that we have the strictest environmental rules possible. We know that there are a number of serious concerns about the impact an incinerator can have on water quality, on air quality and on people's health. And there have been some real scare stories across the country and across the world as well. So the government has brought in some welcome new tough rules, a crackdown on the construction of new incinerators. I think we need to toughen those up further. And if we can't, I think we should have a total ban on the construction of new waste incinerators. I don't think we should be pursuing this quite harmful technology unless we've got the right guidelines, the right rules in place to ensure that they're clean. And also I don't think we should keep building them if we don't actually need them. We're at risk of building more incinerators than we have use for. We'll have them dotted all over the country, but we don't actually need them. So I think there really needs to be a pause, a ban, so we can think again.
Andrew Birt: Yes, certainly when I used to live in Surrey, they were they were thinking of putting one up there as well. And that was very, very contentious. I don't think it went ahead in the end, but it's one of these things. I suppose it's maybe some would argue a necessary evil, but something that nobody really, really wants, you know, in their backyard, if you like.
Lloyd Hatton: I suppose my frustration is they more often than not get proposed in coastal communities. Not always, but they more often than not they are. I think it's something quite disappointing that we have coastal towns that have lots of challenges and lots of work that needs to to go on to revitalise these coastal towns, and yet they're dumping incinerators on their doorstep. And that's not what we need when we're looking for positive investment for our area.
Andrew Birt: Yes, moving on again - are you making headway with the green energy proposals?
Lloyd Hatton: There's some really exciting proposals coming forward which are basically saying that South Dorset is uniquely well placed to be a bit of a powerhouse for clean, green energy, particularly offshore wind. So there were a couple of big proposals. One is for a fixed offshore wind farm, and the other is actually the Portland port is essentially a workshop for building floating offshore wind. So it's really, really exciting that we've got these two big proposals going forward. I think they could unlock massive investment for the area and most importantly, create well-paid, skilled green jobs, particularly for younger people. So we could be going into schools and saying, these are the jobs of the future. These are the kind of jobs we'd like to see you training yourselves up for. And I think it could be a real turnaround for our local economy.
Andrew Birt: How are you pursuing the Fair Banking Act?
Lloyd Hatton: Well, this is an interesting sort of proposed piece of legislation. It's quite technical, but it's I think it's really important to communities like ours. The Fair Banking Act has been put forward by a number of campaigners, including myself, who are basically saying that we have this big, successful banking sector here in the UK, but it doesn't work for too many individuals and it doesn't work for too many small businesses as well. The Fair Banking Act is essentially trying to level the playing field, which means that actually, people in communities like ours have easier access to banking and to the services provided. And there's greater transparency among our big banks. So when they don't offer financial services like credit, like loans, like mortgages to folk in our part of the world, we're able to understand why they're not and who they are excluding. And then we can hopefully have a change of culture among the big banks and the banking industry in this country.
Thelma Deacon: I watched the documentary the other week that Michael Sheen presented to you, and it was behind closed doors, wasn't it? So was it the sort of.
Lloyd Hatton: It was indeed. I had a really good sit down over a cup of coffee with Michael about this issue. I think we both care deeply about making sure that if you live in somewhere like Swanage, you have the same access to credit, to a mortgage, to a loan as you would anywhere else in the country, because sadly that's not the case at the moment. We then had a bigger meeting of lots of people, and the reason why it was a private meeting was nothing to do with me at all. Parliament, in all its ancient wisdom, has some very strict rules about where you can and where you can't record and broadcast things. And sadly, where we had the meeting, you weren't allowed to. I'd have loved to have thrown the doors open so everyone could participate, and everyone could listen to what was going on.
Thelma Deacon: Okay, he made a big difference because he paid off a huge amount of people's debt on that programme. It was quite inspirational.
Lloyd Hatton: It was, it was it was really inspirational what Michael did and heroic. And he's been talking about this issue for a long time, perhaps before it was cool. And I think it's grateful that he's I'm grateful that he's brought it right into the mainstream. That said, we can't rely on the charity and the goodwill of individuals like Michael Sheen. We need to have a change in legislation, which is why I think we need a fair banking act, which looks at what banks are doing, looks at how they're treating some of their customers.
Thelma Deacon: You very much for your time.
Lloyd Hatton: Pleasure.
Thelma Deacon: Pleasure meeting you.
Lloyd Hatton: You too.
Thelma Deacon: Thank you.
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Copyright Purbeck Sounds Ltd. No unauthorised copying or usage permitted