A WHARFEDALE MP has become the first front bench Shadow Minister to make his debut online.

Alex Sobel (Lab, Leeds North West) was recently appointed as Labour’s Shadow Minister for Tourism and Heritage by the party’s new leader, Keir Starmer.

Due to the coronavirus lockdown he had to make his debut ‘at the dispatch box’ from his home, using a virtual video link. The MP used the opportunity to quiz Government Minister Nigel Huddleston about support for the tourism industry and challenged him to adopt a strategy similar to the one being pursued by Emanuel Macron in France.

Mr Sobel said: “On Friday, G20 Tourism Ministers met. The UK tourism sector is greatly exposed to the lockdown and, with the summer season coming, the uncertainty is causing distress. The sector learnt that it would be among the last to exit lockdown merely as an aside from the Minister for the Cabinet Office on The Andrew Marr Show.

“In contrast, President Macron outlined a strategy for the French tourism trade including flexible furlough, a 100 per cent state-backed loan and state backing for postponed, rather than cancelled, holidays.

“Our system of refund credit notes can be expanded and extended to protect our domestic tourism industry. Did the Minister discuss those measures at the G20 meeting?”

Mr Huddleston thanked Mr Sobel for raising ‘many important issues’ and said the Government was ‘continuing the dialogue, both domestically and internationally, on all those issues’.