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NEWS STORY : Ukraine Strengthens its Position in Russia

STORY

Ukraine’s incursion into Russian territory continues in an attempt to bring Putin’s Government to the negotiating table in a bid for peace. The surprise Ukrainian attack on Russia nearly two weeks ago, which their Government have been unable to successfully defend, has seen the Ukrainian forces take a foothold as they today destroyed two key bridges the Russians used for their supply lines. The Russian Government had said that they would take firm action to remove the Ukrainians, but their efforts have met with little success and further evacuations of Russian civilians have since taken place. Putin’s Government has been attempting to downplay the first invasion onto Russia soil since the Second World in an attempt to avoid panic, with analysts expecting troops to be moved from the Ukrainian front in a bid to liberate the occupied territories in Russia.

August 18, 2024
PRESS RELEASE : Top apprenticeship employers celebrated [August 2024]
The press release issued by the Department for Education on 1 August 2024.

Large and small companies recognised for their apprenticeship programmes, creating opportunities and driving growth.
- Public and private sector employers celebrated for boosting career opportunities as government launches Skills England
- 100 large employers and 50 SMEs across the country recognised for the quality of their apprenticeship programmes
- Over 44,000 apprenticeships were started with employers ranked in the 2024 Top 100 and Top 50 SME lists
Employers up and down the country have been recognised by the government for their outstanding commitment to apprenticeships.

Apprenticeships support businesses of all sizes to develop the skilled workforce they need to grow, while helping people of all ages and backgrounds to earn while they learn and get ahead in their chosen career. The Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers and Top 50 Small and Medium Employers (SMEs) league tables showcase the very best apprenticeship programmes over the past 12 months.

Employers are ranked not just on the number of apprentices they take on, but for their commitment to diversity and apprenticeship achievements. Their dedication to delivering high-quality apprenticeships plays a crucial role in boosting the skills and career opportunities of people from all backgrounds and helping the economy to grow.

For the fourth time, the British Army has been named the country’s number one apprenticeship employer for 2024. The accountancy and business advisory group, DJH, has been named this year’s top SME apprenticeship employer.

The celebration follows the launch of Skills England, which aims to unite businesses, trade unions, mayors, and training providers to address national and local skills needs and boost opportunity while driving economic growth.

Skills are crucial to growth, with a third of productivity gains in the past two decades attributed to improved skills. Under Skills England, reforms to the apprenticeship levy will allow businesses more flexibility to use levy funds on necessary training for skills. This will protect apprenticeships, ensuring opportunities for young people and lifelong upskilling and retraining for workers.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said:

Congratulations to all the employers across the country which have been recognised for their brilliant apprenticeship programmes.

Apprenticeships provide opportunities for people from all walks and the employers ranked in this list are crucial to our plans in supporting people to get better jobs and grow the economy.

With the launch of Skills England, we will bring together businesses with trade unions, mayors and training providers to ensure we have the highly trained workforce needed to deliver the national, regional and local skills needs.

First compiled in 2020, the Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers celebrates England’s outstanding apprenticeship employers, recognising their commitment to creating new apprenticeships, the diversity of their apprentices, and the number of apprentices who successfully achieve their apprenticeships.

Over 71,000 apprenticeships were started at employers that entered for the 2024 rankings, accounting for more than a fifth of all starts in England, helping to fill skills gaps and create a future talent pipeline.

The employers in this list represent a range of industries & business sectors, from professional services, health and social care and retailing, to construction, technology and manufacturing.

Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Roly Walker KCB DSO ADC Gen, and head of the British Army, said:

We’re proud of our apprentices and the recognition we’ve received. Apprenticeships offer people the chance to earn while they learn, gaining skills and confidence that benefit them beyond their time in the army.

Our soldiers are not just in the British Army; they are the British Army! Everything we can do to upskill them makes us a better Army, which is what the nation would expect.

DJH was the frontrunner in the Top 50 SMEs. This category was introduced to credit the essential work of smaller businesses in providing apprenticeship opportunities, particularly to young people and those from more disadvantaged backgrounds.

Chris Rawlinson, Head of Learning and Development at DJH said:

We are proud to be recognised as the number one SME Employer of Apprentices – this ranking is a testament to our commitment to learning and development, and our ongoing investment in the future.

We are dedicated to recruiting and nurturing trainees from locals schools, colleges and universities, recognising that these individuals are the future of the business.

We ensure that our apprentices not only gain the necessary technical skills but also develop vital soft skills, helping our apprentices to reach their full potential and build successful careers within the industry.

Over the past three years, more than 1,500 apprenticeship employers from a wide range of industries and business sectors have entered for the Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers and Top 50 SME Apprenticeship rankings.

The Top 10 Apprenticeship Employers for 2024 are:
1. The British Army
2. BT
3. Royal Navy
4. Royal Air Force
5. London Ambulance Service
6. BAE Systems
7. The Go-Ahead Group
8. Mitchells & Butlers
9. Tops Day Nurseries
10. PwC
The Top 5 SME Apprenticeship Employers for 2024 are:
1. DJH
2. Roe Brickwork
3. LB Group
4. Lee Marley Brickwork
5. Rosedene Nurseries
August 18, 2024
PRESS RELEASE : Health and Social Care Secretary visits hospital staff in Epping [August 2024]
The press release issued by the Department of Health and Social Care on 1 August 2024.

Wes Streeting’s visit was part of a series of planned engagements across regions in England.
- Health and Social Care Secretary, Wes Streeting, visited St Margaret’s Hospital in Epping, West Essex, as part of an ongoing series of engagements with NHS trusts across England
- Integrated teams of NHS, social care and voluntary sector staff demonstrated their work to bring acute care into the community through the use of virtual ‘hospital at home’ wards and a specially equipped ‘falls car’
- Following the visit, Wes Streeting also visited a GP surgery in Harlow before holding a town hall event with health leaders in the region
The Health and Social Care Secretary today (1 August 2024) visited St Margaret’s Hospital in Epping to see how NHS staff are using innovative technology to monitor patients at home and prevent unnecessary hospital admissions. He was also joined by NHS Chief Executive, Amanda Pritchard.

Prior to the tour of the hospital, Wes Streeting met the trust’s falls response team, which travels in a specially equipped ‘falls car’ to patients who have fallen at home – preventing visits to A&E. They ensure an emergency care package is put in place if needed before leaving the patient, and will also make a follow-up call 48 hours after visiting.

During his visit, Mr Streeting met staff from the hospital’s Care Coordination Centre and the ‘hospital at home’ hub, which reduces unnecessary A&E admissions and helps people to be discharged home quickly and safely. Different teams within the department work together to decide whether out-of-hospital care could be more appropriate for a patient’s needs, further reducing the pressures on A&E.

Mr Streeting then visited the Ross Practice GP surgery in Harlow to meet with staff following the government’s announcement to recruit hundreds of newly qualified GPs as part of immediate action to fix the front door of the NHS.

The visit to Epping was part of a series of planned engagements across regions in England over the coming weeks, with today’s visit focused on the government’s ambition to bring care back into the community.

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said:

The NHS is broken but it’s not beaten. The new government can’t fix it alone, we need to work together with frontline NHS staff to turn it around. It was great to visit St Margaret’s Hospital and the Ross Practice today to see what’s working well, so we can take the best of the NHS to the rest of the NHS.

We recognise the scale of the challenge and know there is a lot more to do, and we continue to work closely with trusts to address the biggest issues gripping our health services.

Amanda Pritchard, NHS Chief Executive, said:

It was great to meet staff at St Margaret’s Hospital and the Ross GP Practice today to hear about the vast range of work they are doing to improve patient care.

Helping more people to stay well at home needs strong and well-connected health and care services in every community, and our visit today provided a valuable insight as we develop a 10-year plan to make the NHS fit for the future.

Dr Jane Halpin, Chief Executive of the Hertfordshire and West Essex integrated care board (ICB), said:

We were delighted to welcome the new Health and Social Care Secretary to Epping today. He was able to meet the dedicated teams of health, social care and voluntary sector staff, all working together in innovative ways to ensure patients get the expert care they need at the right time and in the right place.

We are proud of our groundbreaking approach which supports often frail or elderly patients and their families through a mixture of face-to-face care in their own homes, the latest health monitoring technology and the practical help they need to recover.

Paul Scott, Chief Executive of Essex Partnership University NHS foundation trust, said:

We were delighted to meet the new Health and Social Care Secretary and share with him our work with a range of partners in West Essex to deliver safe, hospital equivalent care at home.

Putting patients at the heart of everything we do is central to our approach, and our integrated teams work closely together to give them the holistic, personalised care they need to get well and maintain their independence.

During the staff engagement at St Margaret’s Hospital, the Health and Social Care Secretary had the chance to speak to a junior doctor, following the new pay deal that was announced on Monday. If accepted, this offer will deliver an additional pay rise of between 3.71% and 5.05%, averaging 4.05%, on top of their existing pay award for 2023 to 2024. This will be backdated to April 2023.

The Health and Social Care Secretary has made it a top priority since taking up his role to reach an agreement to bring an end to strike action – speaking to the BMA junior doctors committee (JDC) on his first day in government and meeting with them regularly over the last 3 weeks.

Mr Streeting added:

Strikes have cost patients 1.4 million cancelled appointments and taxpayers £1.7 billion. That’s why I’ve been speaking to junior doctors since I became Health Secretary and our newly agreed pay offer that paves the way for an end to the industrial action that has affected so many people. We cannot have any more disruption and cancelled appointments.

I’m committed to resetting the relationship between junior doctors and their government, so we can work together to rebuild our NHS.

Closing off the visit, Mr Streeting held a town hall event at Harlow College with health leaders across the region.

Today’s visit is the latest example of the government’s determination to get to the bottom of the issues facing our broken health service. The Health and Social Care Secretary has already ordered a full investigation by Lord Ara Darzi to uncover the state of the NHS and recently announced a full review of the New Hospital Programme, which he stated was ‘unfunded’ and ‘set to a fictional timeline’. The government has committed to producing infrastructure improvements that are fully costed and deliverable.

The Health and Social Care Secretary’s engagement with staff and patients across the NHS will help shape the government’s 10-year plan to fix the NHS, due to be published next year.
August 18, 2024
PRESS RELEASE : Government to restore stability for farmers as confidence amongst sector low [August 2024]
The press release issued by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 1 August 2024.

Government commits to address low confidence and provide stability for the farming sector as figures show confidence remains poor.

The government has announced its commitment to introduce a new deal for farmers to address low confidence and provide stability for the farming sector.

Figures released by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, show confidence remains poor.  The data indicates that half of farmers don’t feel positive about their future in farming. Of those farmers saying they are making changes, a quarter of plan to reduce the size of their businesses and 14% plan to leave farming in the next 3-5 years.

The results make clear the need for the end of farmers being rocked by the chop and change of farming schemes, optimising Environmental Land Management schemes so they work for all farmers including those who have been too often ignored such as small, grassland, upland and tenanted farms, and action by the new government to restore stability and confidence in the sector.

They follow the negative trend seen across the past few years. This is a complex problem, with several factors contributing to this persistent trend. Farmers have been struggling with extreme weather events like flooding and sudden huge rises in energy costs and been undermined by damaging trade deals.

The latest Farming Opinion Tracker for England gives a snapshot of the views and opinions of the sector between end of April and beginning of June. The latest results show that trade agreements with other countries were a factor for 29% of farmers who made changes to their business.

Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Steve Reed said:

Confidence amongst farmers is extremely low.

The new Government will restore stability and confidence in the sector introducing a new deal for farmers to boost rural economic growth and strengthen food security alongside nature’s recovery.

We will protect farmers from being undercut in trade deals, make the supply chain work more fairly, prevent shock rises in bills by switching on GB Energy, better protect them from flooding through a new Flood Resilience Taskforce and use the Government’s own purchasing power to back British produce.

The work of change has now begun.

The government is introducing a new deal for farmers to boost Britain’s food security and drive rural economic growth. This will include:
- Optimising Environmental Land Management schemes so they produce the right outcomes for all farmers – including those who have been too often ignored such as small, grassland, upland and tenanted farms – while delivering food security and nature recovery in a just and equitable way.
- Seeking a new veterinary agreement with the European Union to cut red tape at our borders and get British food exports moving again.
- Protecting farmers from being undercut by low welfare and low standards in trade deals.
- Using the government’s purchasing power to back British produce
- Setting up a new British Infrastructure Council to steer private investment in rural areas including broadband rollout in our rural communities.
- Speeding up the building of flood defences and natural flood management schemes, including through a new flood resilience taskforce to protect our rural homes and farms.
- Introducing a land-use framework which balances long-term food security and nature recovery
August 18, 2024
PRESS RELEASE : Over 1,000 more GPs to be recruited this year [August 2024]
The press release issued by the Department of Health and Social Care on 1 August 2024.

The government will recruit more than 1,000 newly qualified GPs thanks to action to remove red tape.
- Government acts to fix front door to NHS and deliver more appointments
- Slashing burdensome red tape to boost capacity in surgeries and hire over 1,000 more newly-qualified doctors
- Government listening to sector to help end scandal of patients struggling to see a doctor
More than 1,000 newly qualified GPs will be recruited thanks to government action to remove red tape currently preventing surgeries from hiring doctors.

Bringing back the family doctor is central to the government’s plan to rebuild the health service, and the changes being made to cut through the current rules will help more patients get access to GPs and ensure more GPs are able to find roles, so that people in communities across England will receive the timely care they deserve this year.

Currently, under a scheme known as the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme, primary care networks (PCNs) can claim reimbursement for the salaries (and some on-costs) of 17 new roles within the multidisciplinary team – meaning more specialists are available to treat patients.

They are selected to meet the needs of the local population, but are currently prevented from using this to recruit additional GPs. The changes announced today (1 August 2024) mean that newly qualified GPs can quickly be recruited into the NHS through this scheme in 2024 to 2025.

It’s thought hundreds of newly qualified GPs could be without a job this summer in England. But thanks to this intervention, they will be able to be hired by the end of the year.

The government is listening to GPs, and this has been hard fought by the British Medical Association (BMA), the Royal College of General Practitioners and many other groups who petitioned for it, receiving over 11,000 signatures.

It comes as the government accepts recommendations of the pay review bodies in full, increasing GPs’ pay by 6% – their first meaningful pay rise in years.

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said:

It is absurd that patients can’t book appointments while GPs can’t find work.

This government is taking immediate action to put GPs to work, so patients can get the care they need.

This is a first step, as we begin the long-term work of shifting the focus of healthcare out of hospitals and into the community, to fix the front door to the NHS.

I want to work with GPs to rebuild our NHS, so it is there for all of us when we need it.

Dr Amanda Doyle, National Director for Primary Care and Community Services, said:

With hard-working GP teams delivering millions more appointments a month compared to before the pandemic, it is vital they are given the resources to manage this increase in demand.

Adding GPs to the scheme is something that the profession has been calling for in recent months to make it easier for practices to hire more staff – so I welcome this measure which is an important first step to increasing GP employment in the long term.

We will continue to work with GPs, the BMA and the government to avert any potential action, but in the meantime the NHS has a duty to plan for any possible disruption to ensure services continue to be provided for patients – so the public should continue to come forward for care in the normal way if collective action does go ahead.

This is an emergency measure for 2024 to 2025 to ensure patients are able to access GPs and GPs are able to find roles, while the government works with the profession to identify longer-term solutions to GP unemployment and general practice sustainability as part of the next fiscal event.

The government will ensure the NHS has the funding it needs to deliver this, paid for by £82 million from the existing department budget.

In expanding general practice capacity, the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme improves access for patients, supports the delivery of new services and widens the range of offers available in primary care.
August 17, 2024
Mohammad Yasin – 2024 Speech on the Economy, Welfare and Public Services

The speech made by Mohammad Yasin, the Labour MP for Bedford, in the House of Commons on 22 July 2024.

It is a pleasure to speak in support of the King’s Speech under a Government committed to putting country before party to improve lives in this country. That is what I pledged to the people of Bedford and Kempston, whom I thank for putting their faith in me again to work hard for them and to restore their faith in politics as a force for positive change.

The last Government reduced our public services to a shadow of their former selves. In 2019 a study jointly funded by Bedford borough council and the NHS found that Bedford borough was 40% under-provided for in the primary care estate, despite a rapid growth in population since 2011. HMP Bedford has been in and out of special measures, so I am pleased that the Government have already taken action to improve the crisis in prisons.

I am also pleased to see early priority given to strengthening community policing by increase numbers of officers and giving them greater power to deal with the antisocial behaviour that blights our communities. I hope this Government succeed where the last Government failed in implementing a fairer funding formula for Bedfordshire police. Wrongly funded as a rural force, it is one of the lowest-funded forces in the UK despite a £10 million year-on-year increase to £156 million for 2024-25.

The housing crisis is causing untold misery to many of my constituents, so I am pleased that building houses will be a priority for our Government. It is indefensible that I know of parents who are beginning the summer holidays living in hotel rooms without access even to a fridge or a microwave to prepare food for their children because no suitable social housing properties are available. Even food bank vouchers are not helping when basic staples such as UHT milk cannot be kept fresh once opened.

More than 15,000 children and 17,000 adults are on waiting lists for mental health treatment in the area covered by the NHS Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes integrated care board. For years the NHS provider has had the capital funds to bring in desperately needed in-patient mental health facilities, but the previous Government consistently refused to provide the capital expenditure cover so that we could have those facilities in Bedford. I hope the new Government’s plan to get the NHS back on its feet includes an overhaul of how new projects are funded, because the existing capital departmental expenditure limits are not working.

Many of my constituents will be very happy to see planned legislation to bring rail back into public ownership and to reform bus services and franchises, including by allowing local control and supporting public ownership, but one of the most significant transport issues in my constituency is East West Rail. Bedford is uniquely adversely impacted by the East West Rail project, because the preferred six-track route requires the demolition and blighting of homes. Residents have been in limbo for more than five years in unsellable homes. The proposed planning and infrastructure Bill will speed up planning decisions for major infrastructure and house building and seek to reform compulsory purchase compensation rules to ensure that the compensation paid to landowners is fair. The statutory consultation stage is imminent, and I hope the Government will listen to the concerns expressed by my constituents and will not leave people in limbo while decisions are made without their knowledge, as has happened before. If we want to restore faith in politics, we have to ensure that our communities come with us on plans to affect their lives.

The Universal Studios plan to build a park near Kempston is exciting, and I look forward to working with the Government to make sure we get this potentially huge investment opportunity for Bedford and Britain over the line.

August 16, 2024
Kirsty Blackman – 2024 Speech on the Economy, Welfare and Public Services

The speech made by Kirsty Blackman, the SNP MP for Aberdeen North, in the House of Commons on 22 July 2024.

I congratulate all those who have made their maiden speeches today, particularly the hon. Member for Whitehaven and Workington (Josh MacAlister), who gave an excellent speech. As with many of the maiden speeches, now I really want to visit his constituency. It just sounds like an absolutely amazing place. I particularly congratulate all the new Members who have come from a council background. Being a local councillor sets them up fantastically for coming here. It means they are under no illusions about the hard work that is required to be put in for their constituents and the people who live in their area. Congratulations to all of them.

I also congratulate the Chancellor on being the first female Chancellor. As the first woman in this place ever to lead on the economy, although I have been followed by a number since, I am incredibly glad to see one on the Government Benches. I hope that, as she said, her tenure lasts significantly longer than those of some of the Chancellors we have seen in recent times.

Today’s debate is taglined “Economy, welfare and public services”. Apart from the maiden speeches, speeches focusing on anything other than economic growth have been fairly few and far between. I will not for one second deny that economic growth is important, but the whole point of it is what we then do with it. It is about what we do with the extra tax take generated from the growth we have created. There is no point in having growth for growth’s sake. There is no point in having economic growth, and no point in the Conservatives saying how fast the UK is growing compared with other countries in the G7, if the same handful of people are getting richer and richer and the vast majority of our constituents are struggling harder than they ever have before.

We need to ensure that the economic growth and the increase in the tax take that the Labour party is hoping to deliver involves a benefit for all those who live in these islands and in our constituencies. It is massively disappointing to hear that the five pledges and priorities for the Labour party in government do not have eradicating child poverty at the heart of them. I am really glad the Government are bringing together a discussion taskforce to reduce child poverty, but today they could bring 300,000 children out of poverty and move 700,000 children into less deep poverty simply by scrapping the two-child cap.

One of my previous colleagues in this place, Alison Thewliss, campaigned incredibly hard on the rape clause—everybody will know of the work she did on that. There are 3,000 women across these islands who are eligible for an exemption from the cap because they have applied under the rape clause. They have had to tell the Government they were raped in order to get an uplift in their benefits. That is horrific, and even if the Government are unwilling to move on the two-child cap they should be doing something about the rape clause and what people are having to prove in order to get the exemption.

It would be very easy to increase growth, again overnight, by increasing migration. Migration to these islands increases the amount of growth. The economy would immediately have grown if the Prime Minister had gone to the summit with the EU leaders this week and said “Yes, free movement benefits us: it benefits our economy, benefits our society, benefits our young people, benefits our musicians, and benefits so many different groups and individuals. It benefits our culture; it makes this place a better place to live. Therefore we are signing up again to free movement.”

We need only look at some of the past Budgets, such as a Budget George Osborne gave from the Dispatch Box, when it has said in the Red Book that increasing migration will increase the tax take because of the economic growth it will bring. My constituents and people across Scotland recognise that, and we will always argue for a better migration policy—and if the Government are not willing to do it for all of these islands, we will argue for one tailored specifically to Scotland so that we can make our own decisions that suit the needs of our communities and encourage that economic growth.

August 16, 2024
Josh MacAlister – 2024 Maiden Speech on the Economy, Welfare and Public Services

The maiden speech made by Josh MacAlister, the Labour MP for Whitehaven and Workington, in the House of Commons on 22 July 2024.

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I pay tribute to the fantastic maiden speeches that we have heard from across the House this evening, including that of the hon. Member for Didcot and Wantage (Olly Glover); I am sure that the whole House is reassured to know that he is not an alien.

The first and only time I entered this Chamber before being sworn in as a Member of Parliament was as a secondary school citizenship teacher, bringing dozens of teenagers here to see their Parliament. On that occasion, I was required to use my teacher voice a number of times, but that is not something I plan to make a habit of in this House.

I begin by putting on record my thanks to my predecessor for the now abolished Copeland constituency, Trudy Harrison. We may disagree on matters of policy, but she has been unfailingly gracious to me and generous with her time, demonstrating the “country before party” approach that we can all learn so much from.

I may be new to this House, but I am not new to pushing Governments to get things done, as Opposition Members will know only too well, and I have worked with a number of Education Secretaries over the years. I founded and led a national charity to get more people into fulfilling careers on the frontline of children’s social work to ensure that every vulnerable child has a champion fighting their corner. From that, I was asked by the last Government to chair a landmark independent review of the children’s social care system. That review found that the disadvantage faced by the care-experienced community in our country should be the civil rights issue of our time. Evidence of that disadvantage is found in worse education outcomes, worse health outcomes and shorter lives, but that disadvantage is fuelled by something that politicians often find too hard to discuss, and that MPs certainly find too hard to mention in this Chamber: the absence of love. I believe every child has the right to be loved, and we have the ability to build a care system that can provide that for them. I hope this Parliament will take up the challenge of addressing this moral outrage. The problem is huge, but the solutions are known, and with enough will, tens of thousands of lives can be transformed.

It is a great honour and privilege to stand here as the first Member of Parliament for the new Whitehaven and Workington constituency. Whether it is the people of Whitehaven or the good people of Workington who are the jam eaters continues to be a source of fierce debate. Of course, I will remain neutral on that question, as I will on all rugby league-related matters.

Nowhere is more blessed than my constituency, home to the highest peak and the deepest lake in England, with miles of beautiful coastline and the stunning western part of the Lake district, which has inspired millions. Let me here pay special tribute to our amazing mountain rescue volunteers, our Royal National Lifeboat Institution volunteers—just this week, it will be celebrating its 200th anniversary—and all those who give up their time to volunteer in search and rescue services. I have an interest to declare as a serving mountain rescue volunteer, and I will champion volunteer search and rescue services at every opportunity.

Behind the doors of the towns and villages across my constituency, you will find the warmest and friendliest marras in the country, people forged by the drama and confidence of the surrounding landscape and people with humility, respect and determination at their core. These are people such as Gary McKee, who ran a marathon every day for a year to raise over £1 million for cancer support; those in the growing network of Andy’s man clubs in our community, tackling the crisis of male suicide that my area faces; and community leaders, such as Rachel Holliday of Calderwood House, giving people a route out of homelessness.

Our area has also forged those who were not born West Cumbrian, but who made our corner of the world their home, including pioneers and entrepreneurs such as Frank Schon, later Baron Schon of Whitehaven. Frank was an Austrian refugee who fled the Nazis, was bombed out of London and was taken in by a kind Cumbrian farmer. He went on to set up and lead a global chemicals company based in Whitehaven, before later chairing Harold Wilson’s development corporation and going on to serve in the other place. Today, my community is home to dozens of Ukrainian families that could well have the next Frank Schon in them. I hope we can offer those who wish to stay a permanent home here in this country.

Lord Schon is one famous example, but there are thousands of men and women like him—from Whitehaven to Workington, Gosforth to Egremont, Cleator Moor to Seascale and Flimby to Seaton in the north of the constituency—pioneers, entrepreneurs and grafters who have helped west Cumbria to lead the world. It is because of this graft that my constituency is home to the UK New Balance trainer factory—I am not wearing them right now—and the Iggesund paper mill, which has been experimenting with leading carbon capture technology. It is home to Forth Engineering and React Engineering, and hundreds of other businesses represented by Britain’s Energy Coast Business Cluster, from the coal and iron mines to the steelworks.

Of course, there is the world’s first civil nuclear power station at the site now famously known as Sellafield, home to a world-leading decommissioning mission, which is stimulating innovation in robotics and AI. We led the world, and we can again. We have the people, the will, the determination and now, thankfully, the Government to do it. Our nuclear heritage and our skilled workforce mean we have what it takes to be the ideal location for the next generation of nuclear power. The Government are determined to make the most of new jobs in the energy transition, to reform our broken planning system and to decarbonise the grid, and these three things offer the opportunity for the people of Whitehaven and Workington to fly.

A Labour Government with a proper industrial strategy and the right targeted investment could completely transform the economic geography of my community. These are decisions that need to be made to create the growth we have promised and to tackle the climate crisis our planet faces. I am determined to play my part to deliver this Labour Government’s mission and to ensure that west Cumbria feels the maximum possible benefit of the change we want to bring about for our country.

August 16, 2024
Olly Glover – 2024 Maiden Speech on the Economy, Welfare and Public Services

The maiden speech made by Olly Glover, the Liberal Democrat MP for Didcot and Wantage, in the House of Commons on 22 July 2024.

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for the opportunity to give my maiden speech today. I aspire to match the eloquence of the previous speakers in this debate, including the hon. Member for South Antrim (Robin Swann), who gave the most recent maiden speech; his passion for his constituency is very clear.

I start by paying tribute to my immediate predecessor, David Johnston. I admire the fact that Mr Johnston entered politics because of his passion for social mobility. I have met constituents who have been personally helped by him, and I aspire to follow his lead. I was pleased that the first email in my parliamentary mailbox came from Lord Ed Vaizey of Didcot, Member for the predecessor seat of Wantage between 2005 and 2019, offering his congratulations. That was a warm and encouraging gesture. I arrive in Parliament following a career on the railway, serving the public, and I hope to apply my knowledge and experience to working with others to advance both rail infrastructure and public services in my seat.

The name of the new Didcot and Wantage constituency is an improvement on the previous name, Wantage, but remains imperfect. While Wantage and Didcot are the larger towns of the three in the seat, residents from Wallingford are aggrieved by their omission. Mr Deputy Speaker, I can assure you and this House that all three towns will have my attention and care. The same applies to the dozens of villages in the seat; I am fortunate enough to live in one of them, Milton. All our villages have a unique character and set of attractions. Pendon museum in Long Wittenham includes an homage in model railway form to the 1930s Vale of White Horse landscape, and there is also the ancient Uffington white horse and the beautiful chalk streams of the Letcombes. The constituency’s economy is diverse: we have the technology and science centres of Milton Park, Harwell campus and Culham near to farms that have been passed down through generations. Didcot hosts many industrial and business units, and residents benefit from the great western main line for fast commuting to and from London. Organisations such as Didcot TRAIN, the DAMASCUS youth project and Sustainable Wantage illustrate the strong culture of public service and volunteering.

My constituents rightly have high expectations. During the election campaign, one of them highlighted the lack of biographical detail in a leaflet about me, and asked me whether I was a doctor, a surveyor, a banker, a teacher, or an alien from outer space. Despite my love of the voyages of the crew of the USS Enterprise, Mr Deputy Speaker, I can reassure you and everyone in this House that I am not an alien. Of course, my constituency contains many non-humans, albeit perhaps not aliens. Many a local party volunteer has come to tire of my frequent canvassing of cats as well as humans. On occasion, this has helped my cause: while I was in conversation with one voter, his cat, Matthew, intervened. Matthew took a strong liking to me, with a great deal of leg-rubbing, even sitting on my lap on the pavement. The voter, astonished, told me that Matthew hates nearly everyone, and that his favourable verdict on me would be taken into account.

Turning to the subject of today’s debate, my constituency shares many of the same challenges as the wider country. Access to GP appointments is often difficult, particularly in Didcot, which continues to yearn for a new GP surgery in Great Western Park. NHS dentistry barely exists, and sewage dumping in our waterways is a great concern, as are proposals for a large reservoir near Steventon and the Hanneys. Many residents desire to walk and cycle more, but need pleasant and safe routes and paths in order to do so, and while the constituency benefits from fast railway connections, the reliability and capacity of the service provided can be somewhat patchy, and we continue to lack a railway station serving Grove and Wantage.

Perhaps the greatest issue on constituents’ minds is the cost of housing and recent, very substantial increases in the numbers of houses. I commend the Government on their commitment to genuinely affordable housing, but ask them to bear in mind that residents would be more supportive of housing growth were the health, education, and transport facilities needed to support it delivered in parallel. I promise to work tirelessly for my constituents in the pursuit of progress on these issues, and thank them again for the opportunity to serve. It is a genuine honour to be stood here, and I look forward to working with Members from across the House to achieve those aims.

August 16, 2024
Chi Onwurah – 2024 Speech on the Economy, Welfare and Public Services

The speech made by Chi Onwurah, the Labour MP for Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West, in the House of Commons on 22 July 2024.

I congratulate all the hon. Members who have made their maiden speeches on their passion and their commitment to their constituency, which has come across so well. Age does not wither, nor custom stale the privilege of being in this place, and I too want to thank my constituents, who have returned me to Parliament to represent them all and the wonderful city we call home.

I spent 14 years on the Opposition Benches, standing up for my constituents against a Government who were bearing down on them. It is absolutely fantastic to speak from the Government Benches in support of a Government who will help and empower them. Some Conservative Members have been painting a rosy picture of our economic inheritance, but the message of working people in Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West was clear and consistent: “We need change.” It is not hard to see why. People are worse off; over a third of children in Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West live in poverty; and over 2,000 households in Newcastle are homeless. Those are just a few of the issues that my constituents face, so please, let us not pretend that we should be grateful to the last Government.

But everything changed on 4 July. Indeed, as I was buying my fish supper last Friday at one of the excellent fishmongers in Grainger market—locally smoked cod, since you ask—they told me that on 5 July, sales of halibut soared. That is an expensive fish, so they took that as a sign of celebration, but also of optimism, hope, and confidence in a better future. There is nothing fishy there, because the Bills set out in the King’s Speech will give Newcastle our future back. Our destiny will be in our own hands, with the English devolution Bill and the better buses Bill giving local leaders such as our fantastic Mayor Kim McGuinness the powers needed to drive growth and prosperity locally. Our region’s immense potential in the green industries of the future will finally be unlocked through the national wealth fund and Great British Energy; planning reform will take the handbrake off building new homes and spaces for business, making us an even greater city with an economy that provides great jobs and good homes for all Geordies; and by expanding the rights of workers, tenants and minoritised groups, the Government will make sure that work pays and everyone in Newcastle enjoys their fair share of our national prosperity.

Having worked around the world as an engineer, I have been proud to champion science and innovation in Newcastle and across the UK. I am now privileged to have both of Newcastle’s fantastic universities in our constituency, and our city is looking forward to building a proper industrial strategy once again—one that can boost our universities as drivers of inclusive economic growth. Unlocking private investment through measures such as the national wealth fund and the recently announced pensions review will super-charge spin-outs and start-ups in the north-east, and I believe that sites such as Helix—home to innovative businesses and entrepreneurs in cutting-edge industries—are a tantalising glimpse of the future of Newcastle.

Technology has the power to make our constituents’ lives so much better, and measures such as planning reform will make that a reality. As an ex-shadow science Minister, I have spoken to Lord Vallance, as he begins his ministerial role, to offer my support, and to make the case for investment in regional research and development. I know that the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology team are already committed to opening up careers in science to everyone, getting money outside the golden triangle and connecting science to industrial strategy, healthcare and economic growth.

As I have said, this Government inspire hope that has been lacking in Newcastle— that is, apart from on match days. That is why, as the MP for St James’ Park, I welcome the football governance Bill. From Mike Ashley to the Saudi Public Investment Fund takeover, football governance has been a thorn in our side, and Geordies around the world will welcome the safeguarding of our precious football club.

My constituents sent me to this place because our party promised change.

August 16, 2024