Fishing fleet (Maiden speech)

Mrs. Sandra Osborne (Ayr): I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Aberdeen, Central (Mr. Doran) on his second maiden speech. It was different from a normal maiden speech, but it showed a great depth of knowledge of the fishing industry.

It is a great privilege to deliver my maiden speech as the first ever Labour Member of Parliament for Ayr and the first woman Member for the Ayr constituency. However, I am not the first woman to have carried the Labour standard for Ayr. In the past we have had excellent candidates in Jenny Auld and Jean McFadden. Several male Labour candidates in Ayr have gone on to serve as Members in other constituencies. They include the late Willie Ross, former Secretary of State for Scotland, Alex Eadie and Jim Craigen. Since I live in my constituency, both my immediate predecessors were my constituency Members of Parliament.

Phil Gallie and I were light years apart on almost every political issue, but I have no hesitation in praising his record as a hard-working Member on behalf of all his constituents. He was gracious and courteous during the election campaign and was particularly gracious in defeat on the night of 1 May. His predecessor had a somewhat different style from Phil Gallie. He was George Younger, the former Secretary of State for Scotland and Secretary of State for Defence, now Lord Younger of Prestwick. He may enjoy Prestwick as a title, but I enjoy Prestwick as my family home. In a short time, thousands of others will be desperate to become temporary residents of the Ayr constituency, albeit for only a few days, as we host the British open golf championships at Troon. I might have a spare room available if anyone is interested.

My constituency has golf courses, 15 miles of sandy beaches and lovely countryside, which are all important, but there is a great deal more to it than that. Prestwick is home to British Aerospace, which is going through a difficult period with the announcement of an end to the production of the Jetstream aircraft, which will lead to 380 redundancies. It is also the home of the air traffic control centre which the Government have recently confirmed as the new Scottish centre, securing 700 highly skilled jobs. There is also Prestwick airport, where freight and passenger traffic is forecast to grow considerably over the next few years. Not many hon. Members can get from their homes to the nearest airport in less than five minutes, but I have that advantage.

The other towns in the constituency include Ayr, which is a major shopping centre and the location for the South Ayrshire council, now happily under Labour control. It is both a seaside and a fishing town and it has a fine racecourse. In 1913, suffragettes burned the grandstand to the ground in support of votes for women. During the election, I went to the races with my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary. I backed a horse called Shadow Leader, ridden by a jockey called Osborne. It won and the grandstand survived.

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The constituency also includes the town of Troon. It is not just a seaside and golfing resort: it is home to Ailsa Shipbuilders. Fishing, too, remains an important local industry. Since my predecessor made his maiden speech on the same subject, the local fish market has been transferred from Ayr to Troon.

Wherever we go in the towns and villages of the constituency, we are never far away from the links with Robert Burns, Scotland's national poet, who was born in Ayr. Thanks to the Boundary Commission, his birthplace is now in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley (Mr. Foulkes).

One of the first things I had to do after the election was give up my job, after 13 years in the voluntary sector, with Kilmarnock and Loudoun women's aid. Voluntary work often goes unrecognised, so, with the indulgence of the House, I want to pay tribute to all the women who work to support abused women and their children.

When people ask me, as has happened frequently over the past few weeks, "Why did you decide to become an MP?"--a question that many hon. Members may ask themselves from time to time--I replied, "I was too small and too old to become a firefighter." However, now that my hon. Friend the Scottish Office Minister for Home Affairs and Devolution has announced a relaxation of the rules on height and age qualifications for the fire service, I may reconsider in five years' time.

I suppose that being a Member of Parliament is not so very different from being a firefighter. We need a head for the commanding heights of the economy; we have to deal with all the burning issues of the day; and our constituents look on us as an extension of the emergency services, to be contacted in a crisis--although they cannot yet reach us on 999.

By tradition, maiden speeches are non-controversial. However, I must say that during the short time that I have been here, one feature that I have noticed is that the fishing industry is among the most contentious subjects. There are long-term and seemingly intractable problems, and I get an impression of an indigenous industry in a state of low morale. It is therefore to be welcomed that my right hon. Friends the Prime Minister and the Minister of Agriculture, have sought to deal with the problems with a sense of urgency and suggested summit talks with the leaders of the United Kingdom fishing industry--something that was not characterised by the previous Government, as was illustrated by the somewhat defensive speech of the hon. Member for Banbury (Mr. Baldry), a former Fisheries Minister.

My constituency is illustrative of the fact that the industry does not start and finish with fishing vessels--it includes related industries such as fish processing, which employs many people in Ayr. I pay tribute to the all-party fisheries group. In the short time that I have been involved, I have been impressed by the commitment of all hon. Members with a fishing interest to working towards building a positive future for the industry. I have also been impressed by their strongly held views and depth of knowledge.

I thank the hon. Member for Banff and Buchan (Mr. Salmond) for securing this debate this morning and thereby enabling me and other new Members to further our knowledge of and interest in the fishing industry. Most of my hon. Friends have been able to pepper their maiden speeches with anecdotes from their first few

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weeks in Parliament. However, as I am making my speech after many of my colleagues have made theirs, most of my best stories have already been told. New Labour still believes in the common ownership of a good story. Perhaps that is no bad thing, as many hon. Members wish to contribute to the debate and I am interested in hearing their speeches.

I shall end my speech by saying how proud I am to have been allowed the indulgence of the House to make my maiden speech as the first ever Labour Member of Parliament for the Ayr constituency.