Chris McDonald MP: speeches

Speeches

• 6 Nov 2024 · Budget Resolutions · Hansard source

  More

  Several of the previous speakers, including the hon. Members for Solihull West and Shirley (Dr Shastri-Hurst), for East Wiltshire (Danny Kruger) and for Witney (Charlie Maynard), expressed concerns about growth and productivity and I hope to draw on my previous experience working in industry to set their minds at rest, but we first need to acknowledge the dire starting point and the damage done both to our economy and to business confidence by the last Government. I know from my time spent in industry that over the last decade and a half our country has lost out in the race for international investment from a combination of political uncertainty and a long-standing indifference to industrial policy. I listened carefully to the words of the hon. Member for Great Yarmouth (Rupert Lowe) and I think he must have read a different Budget from me. The Budget I read committed us to public sector investment of over £100 billion over five years, which along with our modern industrial strategy sets the scale of the Government’s ambition for increasing prosperity and security across the whole of our country. Several Members, including the hon. Members for Wimbledon (Mr Kohler), for Tunbridge Wells (Mike Martin) and for Didcot and Wantage (Olly Glover), mentioned small businesses. These are the very businesses which stand to benefit from our industrial strategy as our new approach to industry and manufacturing sees the private sector crowding in investment, producing well-paid jobs and exports that will support our small businesses in supply chains. This will also reverse the tide of deindustrialisation, a frankly bizarre policy of inaction enacted by Conservative Governments over many years that has left much of our industry, including steel, chemicals and ceramics, mentioned by my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent North (David Williams), at a serious disadvantage. It seems clear that to grow our economy we need to boost productivity and simply build more factories, but I know as an advocate of industrial strategy that this position is not a settled one, particularly in the party opposite. That is in big contrast to the collaborative approach of this Government, who work pragmatically with business leaders. We have heard some warm words from Conservatives about industrial strategy, including from Opposition Front Benchers, but they perhaps have not had time to consult with their new leader, the right hon. Member for North West Essex (Mrs Badenoch), who has described such policies as part of the law of diminishing returns. Having seen my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business and Trade secure £63 billion of private sector investment, we can be sure, to borrow a metaphor from the right hon. Member for South West Wiltshire (Dr Murrison), that had their goose not been cooked at the last election, returns would most certainly have been the diminished. This Budget will be of benefit to my constituents in Stockton, Billingham and Norton who value well-paid industrial and manufacturing sector jobs. I can understand the confusion of the right hon. Member for Beverley and Holderness (Graham Stuart)—he is not used to a Government who deliver on their manifesto—but this Government are determined to do that. We will release the finances required to restore the public services that the people of Britain deserve and only a Labour Government can deliver.

• 28 Oct 2024 · Remembrance and Veterans · Hansard source

  More

  It is appropriate that I follow my hon. Friend the Member for Aldershot (Alex Baker), as I intend to speak on mental health support for veterans. Ahead of today’s debate, I had a conversation with a very good friend of mine who proudly serves in the Guards. What I am about to say reflects comments that he has given to me, both from his experience and from consultation with his comrades about their personal experiences. Mental health is at the forefront of concerns for those leaving the armed forces. Serving personnel receive excellent mental health care from specialist clinicians, which is available for up to six months from discharge, but civilian services often do not appreciate the toll that military life takes on the mental and physical health of veterans, so they rely on charities such as Military Veteran Football Club to fill that gap. I was pleased to hear the Secretary of State recognise the support of veterans charities. Veterans also tell me that the pressure of cuts in the armed forces impacts their mental health. As politicians, we must be sure not to ask individual servicemen and women to take up that strain, but instead ask how we can support our troops, and ensure that service personnel know that they are appreciated, they will be properly paid, and there will be time for a family life. We must also normalise discussion of emotions and feelings to tackle the tragically high level of suicide among veterans. This is a silent killer, affecting people of all ages and ranks. It does not discriminate, and is the tip of an iceberg of depression, anxiety and stress. It can be treated by an early intervention. Young people and our veterans are losing their lives from not only a lack of support, but an ignorance of the support that is available. As a signatory to the armed forces covenant, I welcome the Government’s commitment to put it on a statutory footing. Veterans need to hear from us that they are not just a number, there is no stigma attached to their service, and once they have left the forces we will care for them, in the same way that they took care of us.

• 23 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

  More

  Q4. Next year marks the 200th anniversary of the Stockton to Darlington railway, but the rail industry in my area is in peril. Hundreds of jobs are at risk at Hitachi Rail as a consequence of a lack of action from the previous Government. Will the Deputy Prime Minister join me and our hon. Friend the Member for Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor (Alan Strickland), along with workers, management and trade unions, in ensuring that no stone is left unturned as we fight for the future of the Hitachi rail factory?

• 16 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

  More

  Q10. Will my right hon. and learned Friend the Prime Minister join me in praising our Labour police and crime commissioner for Cleveland, Matt Storey, who is working with me to tackle knife crime, drug crime and antisocial behaviour in Stockton North, and will he assure my constituents that under this Labour Government we will see more police officers in Stockton and Billingham?

• 16 Oct 2024 · Steel Industry · Hansard source

  More

  The hon. Member chunters about it, but the most productive steel plant in the world is based in the USA. It is entirely privately funded and produces the same quality of steel as Port Talbot at the same quantity with one fifth of the workforce, because it is automated and it uses electric arc furnaces. If we get energy prices right, we can make that investment here and we can produce those steels too. The UK is the second largest exporter of scrap in the world. That is a valuable natural resource that we could use in the UK, but we do need primary steelmaking and we need it to use the most efficient technologies. I am afraid, for those people who adhere to blast furnace technology, that that is not the blast furnace. I look forward to my hon. Friend the Minister bringing forward the steel strategy, and to supporting it and debating it further. I look forward to a bright future for steel in the UK.

• 16 Oct 2024 · Steel Industry · Hansard source

  More

  It is, as always, a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Harris, and I congratulate the hon. Member for Boston and Skegness (Richard Tice) on securing the debate. As many hon. Members will know, I have a background in the steel industry, so, rather than recite all of my interests, I simply refer people to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. I listened very carefully to the speech from the hon. Member for Boston and Skegness. There were a few points of difference, but, actually, there was much on which I agreed, so I look forward to him and his colleagues coming forward and supporting the Government’s steel strategy in due course. Turning to the position in which we find ourselves in the steel industry, the Government have an unenviable task as a result of the legacy that we were left by the previous Government. I listened when the hon. Member for Brigg and Immingham (Martin Vickers) talked about the changes to tariffs made by the previous Government. They did make those changes, but they stuck rigidly to a suite of policies that denied the possibility of private sector capital investment coming into the UK’s steel industry by making it unviable. I know that well from the international investors I worked with in the industry. They were very keen to invest in the UK, but we could never get an appropriate rate of return as a direct result of policies pursued by that Government. The Conservative Government knew that well; they knew it when the Redcar blast furnace closed in 2015 and when they stood back and let it fail for the want of the purchase of some coal. At the time, it was the most productive and efficient blast furnace in Europe. The hon. Member for Brigg and Immingham mentioned Scunthorpe; prior to 2020, the Conservative Government poured £1 billion into Scunthorpe but did not invest any of that money in transitioning to new technology that would have actually created a great future for people in Scunthorpe, and a return for the taxpayer, too. Instead, they sold the plant off cheaply. Therefore, I do not envy the position of my hon. and right hon. colleagues in the Department for Business and Trade, who are wrestling with this legacy. Essentially, they are putting out the fires of the previous Government, and we will see, when the steel strategy has been brought forward, how we can create a bright future for the industry. We need to do that, and I support the calls to do it, but I think that the challenge is not actually about adherence to net zero; it is about adherence to a different ideology, which has been to assume that the steel industry operates in a free market and that we can treat it as such. It does not. Other countries around the world support their steel industries, so we need to create a level playing field for investment in our steel industry, too. If we do that then we can attract billions of pounds of private sector investment into our industry, as countries such as Austria, Sweden, Germany, France and so on do. Over the past 10 years we have seen the UK steel industry collapse to the same size as Belgium’s. Surely the UK should have the ambition to at least be as good as Belgium and have a steel industry that can serve us as well as the Belgian steel industry serves its country. Of course, we can do that to compete globally and to create the products that we need for our green transition. The previous Government knew that quite well: a report on confidence and capabilities, which I co-authored, can be found on the Government website from 2017. It identified gaps in plate steels for offshore wind, seamless tubes for nuclear power and other areas as well. The previous Government made no effort to fill those gaps because, of course, they turned their back on private sector investment. It is important that the steel strategy is brought forward in a way that will attract private sector investment and enable us to accelerate the green transition of our steel industry. Here I come to the point of difference with Opposition Members: the green transition is not an ideology, it is an economic imperative. We need to move away from blast furnaces because they are unproductive compared with the latest steel technologies. Steel plants operating electric arc furnaces are five times more productive than those operating blast furnaces.

• 15 Oct 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

  More

  My constituent Mark has been unable to find an NHS dentist for his 19-month-old child, even at the seventh time of trying. My right hon. Friend well understands the crisis he has inherited. Will he meet me to discuss the shortage of dentistry in Stockton North and across Teesside?

• 15 Oct 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

  More

  T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

• 15 Oct 2024 · Estate Adoption: North-east England · Hansard source

  More

  I have also seen problems holding developers to account in my constituency of Stockton North, where we have estates such as Willow Sage Court, Wynyard and Queensgate, which have unfinished roads, a lack of facilities and high maintenance charges. The Competition and Markets Authority said in a report earlier this year that there was an increasing trend for this type of estate, and it recommended a set of national standards. Does my hon. Friend agree that we should have a national framework of standards for private developers, as well as sanctions for developers that do not deliver?

• 14 Oct 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

  More

  T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

• 14 Oct 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

  More

  Can my right hon. Friend outline what steps the Government are taking to ensure that every veteran who has bravely served this country has access to safe and secure housing, so that they never face the injustice of homelessness?

• 14 Oct 2024 · AUKUS Strategic Partnership · Hansard source

  More

  19. What recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of progress on the AUKUS strategic partnership.

• 14 Oct 2024 · AUKUS Strategic Partnership · Hansard source

  More

  The most recent AUKUS Defence Ministers communiqué outlined an investment in industrial capacity, including £7 billion from this Government, and the Royal United Services Institute has said that the winner in any prolonged war will be the country with the most secure industrial base. Will the Minister expand on his answer to the right hon. Member for New Forest East (Sir Julian Lewis) and describe how this investment in our defence capabilities will strengthen supply chains in places such as Billingham in my constituency?

• 12 Sept 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

  More

  One third of the children in my constituency now live in poverty, and a recent report by Shelter showed that an increase in homelessness and child poverty is affecting many parts of the country. Will my right hon. Friend find some Government time for a debate on child poverty and its causes?

• 5 Sept 2024 · UK Steel Manufacturing · Hansard source

  More

  The global steel industry is investing many billions of pounds in new green technology that is more productive than current steel technology. Does my hon. Friend agree that our plan for steel will allow us to attract that private sector investment here, in great contrast to the previous Government’s policy that saw our steel industry decline to a size smaller than that of Belgium?

• 3 Sept 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

  More

  T7. Will the Chancellor of the Exchequer confirm that her decisions are targeted at winning new investment in green industry in places such as Billingham in my constituency?

• 25 Jul 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

  More

  Johnson Matthey, in my constituency, has joined other firms in the UK metals sector in creating the “Back British Metals” initiative, which is intended to attract more private sector investment in the sector. Might my right hon. Friend be able to find time for a debate on that initiative, and on how we can attract further investment?

• 22 Jul 2024 · Economy, Welfare and Public Services · Hansard source

  More

  That investment is very important to my constituents in Stockton North, where many companies are poised to make billions of pounds of industrial investment. They tell me that they prize economic stability above all else, so will the right hon. Gentleman now commit to supporting the Budget Responsibility Bill to give those investors the security they need?

• 17 Jul 2024 · Debate on the Address · Hansard source

  More

  Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. Speaking as a new Member, I would like to add my congratulations to those hon. Members who have made their first speech today on the confidence and clarity with which they were delivered. They really have set a worryingly high standard. The Gracious Speech contained many fine Bills, but for me it was much more about a new way of governing: a Government of service, of change and of action. I know that this will be warmly welcomed by my constituents in Stockton North. The reason for that could be seen quite clearly Saturday last, when I was in Durham playing my cornet at the Durham miners’ gala. The village banners of the gala display the pride and hopes of the community. Behind me was an image of the great miners’ leader, Peter Lee, and emblazoned on the banner was the slogan: “The past we inherit, the future we build.” This belief in a positive future, one that we can determine ourselves, has instilled in me the tenacity and determination to stand here. It is also characteristic of the people I represent in Stockton North. Stockton North is an industrial place, and the people are industrious people. Stockton was home to the world’s first passenger railway, opened in 1825 with one of Britain’s most famous engineers, George Stephenson, driving the engine. The line that he built is now used by the nearby Hitachi Rail factory to transport new locomotives on to the national network. Stockton thrived on industries such as steel and shipbuilding, and whenever I hear the chimes of Big Ben ring out across Westminster, I am reminded that the first bell for the Elizabeth Tower was cast in Stockton North, in Norton. John Walker, a pioneer of chemical engineering, invented the friction match on Stockton’s famous high street in 1827. However, it was in the 20th century, with the dawn of the chemicals industry, that the neighbouring town of Billingham began to boom with the manufacture of ammonia for explosives and fertiliser. This industrial progress continues, with Billingham and Stockton home to catalyst technologies and life sciences, with new investments planned in sustainable aviation fuel—which also featured in the Gracious Speech —and small modular reactors, carbon capture and hydrogen projects. During the covid pandemic, vaccines were developed in Oxford but manufactured in Billingham. From Wynyard to Port Clarence, we have the skills and expertise to deliver this Government’s industrial strategy and attract the private sector investment that our new national wealth fund demands. We know that Britain is great at industry, which keeps us safe, generates fairer economic growth and creates new opportunities for our young people. That is sorely needed in Stockton North, where a third of our children live in poverty. We will seize this chance to help the people who need it most. It is an honour for me to have the good fortune to succeed Alex Cunningham. Alex is as well regarded in Stockton North as he was in this House, and it has been a joy for me in the last week to meet Members here who know Alex and describe his fundamental decency and fairness as a person—values that we would all like to see more of in political life. Alex has given great service over four decades as a local councillor and Member of Parliament. He held a series of shadow ministerial positions, but his personal priority was always to promote opportunities for young people through education and health. These interests were combined in what I know Alex himself sees as his greatest achievement: the extension of restrictions on smoking to include private vehicles where children are present, a measure that will undoubtedly save the health of so many young people. I am sure he was delighted to see the smoking measures proposed today. In a slight break with tradition, I would also like to acknowledge the former Member for Langbaurgh, the late Ashok Kumar. Ashok and I were both chemical engineers in the steel industry before being elected to Parliament. We worked together at British Steel’s research laboratories in Redcar, which I know is why many of my colleagues over the last week have been referring to me as the steel guy. At that time, I was fresh out of school and Ashok was taking a rest between general elections. I recall that he devoted as much of his time at work to political campaigning as he did to steel research. Ashok was a well-loved colleague, and I took the opportunity a few years ago to re-establish the Ashok Kumar fellowship, which is a collaboration between the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology and the Institution of Chemical Engineers to promote understanding between engineers and parliamentarians. I believe that I have the privilege of being the first and only fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering to sit here, and bringing together the two worlds of engineering and politics in the area of industrial strategy is something that I hope to do usefully in my time here. The people of Stockton North recognise the value of service, and we count many service members, veterans and cadets among our number. As a signatory of the armed forces covenant, I welcome the measures to establish an armed forces commissioner. I personally feel a great responsibility of service as a Member of this House, and my concern is to ensure that this Parliament delivers a noticeable improvement in the lives of the people of Stockton North. At the time of my election, I invited my constituents to bear that commitment in mind when they come to judge my performance at the next general election, and I now make that pledge here, again.