Martin Vickers’ top priorities in Westminster

Martin Vickers, the first MP for the newly-created constituency of Brigg and Immingham will be playing a crucial role in the choice of the next leader of the Conservative Party.

He is vice-chairman of The 1922 Committee which will organise the election of a Party Leader. Opposition Leader, Rishi Sunak apologised in the House of Commons to all those Tory MPs who lost their seats in the July 4 General Election and has indicated that he will step down.

Mr Vickers, formerly MP for Cleethorpes, won his seat with a majority of around 3,500 votes from nearest rival Najmul Hussain of Labour. He was in the House of Commons for the first sitting of Parliament on Tuesday and the first speech of new Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer.

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Lincolnshire Conservative MP for Gainsborough Sir Edward Leigh was appointed Father of the House after his 41 years of continuous service as an MP. Mr Vickers was a former agent for Sir Edward, prior to becoming MP for Cleethorpes.

Mr Vickers said: “Seventy per cent of the new seat of Brigg and Immingham is the same as my previous seat of Cleethorpes, so, many of the ambitions and campaigns still hold, such as bringing forward the resurfacing of the A180.”

He added he will also be seeking assurances for the start of a direct rail link between Cleethorpes and London. Mr Vickers said at the start of June a direct line had received ministerial approval and awaits timetable sign-off, after operator negotiations with Network Rail.

He said the direct train route would be up and running and had been approved by the previous Conservative administration. “The first thing to establish is that it has the support of the new Transport Secretary. I shall be seeking a meeting with Louise Haigh as soon as possible and with the new Rail Minister, Lord Hendy. He used to be the boss of Network Rail,” told the MP.

He will also be seeking reassurances that cash promised to northern Lincolnshire, through the Levelling Up Fund will be honoured by the new Labour Government to benefit Cleethorpes and the relief road around Barton.

“Having taken on Brigg where there are many people who work or rely on Scunthorpe steelworks for jobs or are in the supply chain, I shall be meeting with British Steel as it affects thousands of people in Brigg and Scunthorpe and other parts of the constituency for supply trades, which is going to be a crucial issue,” said Mr Vickers.

The MP promised the large rural part of his extensive constituency and farming community will “not be ignored.” “They were notably missing from the Labour manifesto,” he said.

He added: “There has been a lot of talk so soon after the election about planning and housing as the Labour Party talk about growth and housing and the reintroduction of housing targets. In Grimsby and Cleethorpes there are already enormous housing developments being built or with planning permission. But we are not seeing the necessary infrastructure, such as highways and public services. If we are to maintain our quality of life for residents we have got to have the public services built in parallel.”

As vice chairman of the 1922 Committee, Mr Vickers will be overseeing the election of a new Conservative leader, with chairman Bob Blackman. Mr Vickers said: “Hopefully Rishi Sunak will stay on until that process is completed. Candidates are warming up and we shall be setting the dates for the stages of the election.”

Parliament is due to rise at the end of this month, followed by a three to four week recess and MPs will be back on September 2. Party conferences are at the beginning of October. Conservative MPs will whittle down the candidates until there are two MPs in the final round and the election of a leader will be decided by the full membership of the Party around the UK.

Mr Vickers said he will be continuing with his regular surgeries to meet his constituents.