Tobias Ellwood MP made his maiden speech in the House of Commons on 17th May 2005.

I am grateful for the opportunity to participate in the Queen's Speech debate. It is an honour to follow the hon. Members for Stoke-on-Trent, South (Mr. Flello) and for Cambridge (David Howarth) whose maiden speeches we have just heard. Both Members expressed an interest in schooling, which made me prick up my ears as education is an important subject for me. I should be delighted to invite them to Bournemouth so that we can compare notes. I appreciate that Stoke-on-Trent and Cambridge are some distance away, but if the hon. Gentlemen could get to Shropshire, the new high-speed police escort service that is under trial there could make their journey to Bournemouth much quicker. Congratulations to both on their excellent maiden speeches.

It is indeed an honour to be elected to represent Bournemouth, East. I stand here with mixed emotions. I am humbled by the surroundings in which I find myself, but enthusiastic to join 54 Conservative Members; fresh horses and keen to hold the Government to account. I am conscious of the responsibility that the people of Bournemouth have bestowed on me and I am committed to working with my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth, West (Sir John Butterfill), who already has much experience in the House. I am grateful to him.

Many Members will be familiar with Bournemouth, as it is a seaside town on the party conference circuit. However, it offers much more than eight miles of glorious beaches and a major conference centre. There is a thriving business sector, with small and large businesses and a focus on financial services. There is also a cultural focus in the form of Shelley manor, built by the family of the poet. It includes a small theatre that is currently being renovated. Bournemouth can also lay claim to one of the best NHS trusts in the south.

There is a vibrant tourism industry but, alas, no donkeys at present. If people want donkeys they still have to go to Blackpool. However, I understand that a new EU working directive will change that and give donkeys better working conditions, so no doubt we shall see many more donkeys at the next party conference.

Bournemouth boasts some of the highest education standards in the country. I do not want to be too controversial in my maiden speech but I made the funding of Bournemouth schools a priority during the election campaign. I visited several schools; for example, Queen's Park infant school, Epiphany primary school, Avonbourne, St. Peter's and Pokesdown. Two themes were common in my visits to all those schools: first, the high standard of education and the commitment shown by teachers and, secondly, the harsh financial conditions that the schools face. I should be grateful for the chance to meet an Education Minister at the earliest opportunity to discuss how Bournemouth's funding settlement can be increased so that we retain the highest standards of teaching and education.

Bournemouth is also home to a great football club—AFC Bournemouth is in the first division and was pipped at the last game by Hartlepool for a place in the play-offs. Like many clubs in the constituencies of other Members, it is a focal point not only for football but many other sporting and community activities. Like other non-premiership clubs, the club's sporting successes are unfortunately marred by the financial constraints that it faces. Clubs such as AFC Bournemouth now look to the FA cup almost as a mini-lottery, hoping to be drawn against a premier league club simply to balance the books. In fact, Bournemouth was drawn against Liverpool in the fourth round, but unfortunately Liverpool, perhaps knowing that they might be confronted with playing Bournemouth, lost its first-round replay match, thereby denying Bournemouth the crucial financial support that it so needs.

I was not alive when England won the World cup, but I am told that the win in 1966 was a huge boost to British sports, not only football, and that even for non-sports enthusiasts the feel-good factor in England was contagious. I was born a few months afterwards, and it may well be that I have a lot to thank that feel-good factor for. If we are ever to win a World cup again, we must invest in home-grown talent and ensure that we support such non-premier league clubs as AFC Bournemouth, especially as they play such an active role in our communities.

Like many seaside towns, Bournemouth must now compete with holiday destinations abroad because the cost of travel has dropped. Low-cost airlines are making places such as Bournemouth compete with the likes of Berlin and Barcelona. Bookings for weekend holidays, let alone holidays for an entire week, have reduced as it is so much cheaper to travel abroad. Tourism is Bournemouth's biggest industry. The town has so much potential but is unfortunately denied the ability to explore new ways to deal with that competition and to pursue its own strategy to pursue visitors. I am afraid that the reason why it is held back, again without being too controversial in my maiden speech, is the growth in the power base of the South West regional assembly, which has taken power away from councils and given it to Taunton, denying councils the ability to decide their own strategy for the future. The biggest example is the threat to the green belt area around Bournemouth, where 13,000 more homes are being planned. I am not a supporter of the South West regional assembly. Bournemouth deliberately became a unitary authority in 1997 so that it could control its own future. I should like more power to be given to councils instead of having larger local government outside the area.

As in other town centres around the country, pubs and clubs have sprung up in Bournemouth at a rate that is altering the character of the town. In Bournemouth's case, this is deterring families from visiting the area in the evenings. I am not saying that we should not have any pubs or clubs—far from it—but the local council needs to have more control over how the character of the town develops. Pubs and clubs generally lead to the development of a yob culture and the drinking that occurs on Friday and Saturday nights, and I am afraid that Bournemouth is no exception. On a Friday night, half the police are forced to focus on the quarter of a square mile where all the nightclubs are based.

One idea that came up during the election campaign is that of imposing a levy on pubs and clubs to pay for the extra policing that is needed, so freeing up the police to cover the rest of the town. The concept is not new—it is already used at football matches, where the extra policing that one sees is not paid for by taxpayers who are not necessarily there but out of ticket sales. That idea could be explored for Bournemouth, and I would very much welcome the opportunity to work with the council in order to pursue this.

When the Prime Minister opened the Queen's Speech debate, he mentioned the role of the police community support officer. I have spent time with many agencies in Bournemouth, including the police and CSOs, but have yet to meet a CSO who would not jump at the opportunity of ditching that uniform and wearing the uniform of a special constable—if special constables were paid a salary. In Bournemouth, only one third of the quota for specials is met. Were we to pay them a salary, we would benefit from their better training, their power to make arrests, and meet the policing needs in Bournemouth.

Before I end and pay tribute to my predecessor, I want to make a comment about the identity cards Bill, similar to that which my hon. Friend the Member for Ashford (Damian Green) made. We await the detail of the Government's proposals, but having served in the armed forces and, sadly, having lost a brother in the Bali bomb, I take a great interest in any legislation that aims to deal with the threat of terrorism. I am trying to keep an open mind on the issue, but I have yet to be convinced that a Bali-style attack in the UK could be prevented by the introduction of ID cards.

My predecessor, David Atkinson, was a loyal and dedicated MP for Bournemouth, East for 28 years. His commitment to Bournemouth was reflected in almost every street I visited during the election. It was impossible not to bump into someone who sung his praises or said that in one way or another he had helped them during his 28 years' tenure. He introduced a number of private Member's Bills, including a fireworks Bill, and spent 25 of those 28 years as a member of the Council of Europe.

It is interesting to note that during his time as an MP, David Atkinson never owned a mobile phone, a computer or a Blackberry—those new devices with which we all seem to be issued these days. It is also surprising to learn that it was he who made the announcement in the House about the threat of a Y2K bug—the big issue leading up to the year 2000, when it was feared that all our computers would crash. How on earth he came upon that information, I do not know, but his reluctance to harness IT never prevented him from dealing with constituency matters. Perhaps the lesson for us all is that we should not be so reliant on the IT equipment that we are given.

It is said that the pen is mightier than the sword. I might add that the pen is also mightier than the Blackberry, because if one loses one's pen, one simply loses one's train of thought. If one loses one's Blackberry, one loses one's life—temporarily, at least—as I found out the hard way, and I am grateful to staff of the Members Tea Room for reuniting me with my Blackberry and making sure that I did not get into trouble with the Whips. Despite all the high tech gadgetry that MPs are now armed with, David Atkinson proved that what is important is not so much the speed with which constituency matters are dealt with, or the turnover, but the quality of the response and the pursuit of a solution. I hope hon. Members will join me in wishing David Atkinson well in his retirement. I am pleased that he has chosen to retire in Bournemouth, as he will not be too far away if I have any questions or advice to seek.

I conclude by underlining my opening words. It is an honour to be elected as the Member for Bournemouth, East. I believe that good politics is about the accountability of power. I am encouraged by Mr. Speaker's opening remarks earlier this week about the role that this place plays in our democratic process. It is here that announcements of state should be made, it is here where those debates should take place, and it is here that Government should be held to account.

Good politics is about the accountability of power and how that power is wisely distributed, exercised and maintained. I hope to be guided by these words as I undertake the responsibility of Member of Parliament for Bournemouth, East. I am grateful to the people of Bournemouth, East for giving me this opportunity to work with and represent them to the high standard that they expect and deserve, as Bournemouth meets the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.