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The new MP for Bournemouth West gave an assured performance in the House yesterday when he made his maiden speech on an adjournment debate.
Conor Burns (Con) managed to secure a debate on the restrictions placed by government on Britain's English language schools.
At the start of his remarks he thanked Mr Speaker for allowing him to make his debut in "slight breach of the conventions of this House".
"I believe that I am standing in the same place as another new member who breached convention some 50 years ago - Margaret Thatcher, who delivered her maiden speech when introducing a private member's bill," he said.
"I told her on Saturday that I was going to do my maiden and had waited 50 days to do so, and she told me that it was over time to be getting on with it.
"In fact, in researching this speech, my team found out that Lady Thatcher waited more than 100 days; I shall point that out to her on the next occasion that I see her."
Burns said that despite contributing more than £1.5 billion to the UK economy every year, language schools hardship after the rules for people attending from abroad were tightened by the previous administration.
"They changed the criteria on the requirement for competence in the English language that was needed for someone to come to Britain to study English," he said.
"They also changed the student visa arrangements so that such a person had to return to their country of origin to extend their visa."
Burns said while complaining about the previous government was "futile", he called on the coalition to review the situation.
"For example, we could move to a bond system - I know that my hon. friend the minister for immigration examined that before the election - whereby the student pays an up-front sum of money, which would make absconding much less likely.
"We could have an assessment level, whereby we examined the risks posed by students from particular risk countries, and we could have a classification system, whereby we perhaps relaxed the rules for others.
"The changes that the previous government made are having a profoundly worrying and detrimental effect on businesses in my constituency and throughout the country.
"The English language is one of our greatest assets. English is the language of world commerce, and if we shut off the ability of those schools to thrive, to welcome people to our shores and to enable them to immerse themselves in our language, our culture and our values, in time we will look back and realise that we made a very fundamental mistake."
Burns was backed by other MPs.
Nicholas Boles (Con, Grantham and Stamford) told the House:
"I believe that I have a reasonable command of my mother tongue. I also have two degrees from moderately okay universities - one in this country and one in the United States - but it took me literally hours to help my friend fill out those forms and understand the supporting documentation that was required."
Robert Syms (Con, Poole) called for "a quick resolution to the problem, before students are diverted to other schools and this country loses millions of pounds, loses jobs and loses a great opportunity for what is a world-beating industry, if we remove the bureaucracy".
Julian Huppert (Lib Dem, Cambridge) said there are 3,500 jobs at stake, with £400 million in schools and £1 billion in universities, "plus the advantages to the households that look after the people involved".
Home office minister James Brokenshire said the tier 4 student visa "can be very attractive to economic migrants".
"The ability to work part-time during term time and full-time during vacations, and to bring family members to the UK, are two important privileges that help us to compete with other countries and attract the brightest and the best to study here," he told the House.
"However, the government are committed to ensuring that such privileges are not abused.
"We must therefore be sure that there are sufficient safeguards in place to ensure that the tier 4 requirements are not so abused."
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