Darren Jones MP: speeches

Speeches

• 29 Jan 2025 · Growing the UK Economy · Hansard source

  More

  As the hon. Member will know, at the Budget, in our design of the national insurance contribution scheme for employers, we protected small businesses to ensure that over 50% of businesses will pay either the same as they did before or less than they did before in employer national insurance contributions. That is in addition to a permanent discount on business rates for retail businesses on the high street, many of whom will be small businesses of the nature he refers to in his question.

• 29 Jan 2025 · Growing the UK Economy · Hansard source

  More

  The right hon. Member has been down this path before because it was his Government who went down it and blocked all these developments over the past 14 years. This Government are working on reforms to the planning system, looking at national policy statements, thinking about skills and infrastructure supply chains, and unlocking private capital because we are a Government who want to get Britain building again, and not block the projects that were stalled for years under the previous Administration.

• 29 Jan 2025 · Growing the UK Economy · Hansard source

  More

  My hon. Friend is absolutely right; our ports play a really important role in the UK economy—I declare an interest in respect of my own constituency. She will, I am sure, have welcomed initial Government investment in our ports, not just for trade and logistics but for our ability to deliver infrastructure—for example, in floating offshore wind. I know that the Government have more plans in this area, and more announcements will be made soon.

• 29 Jan 2025 · Growing the UK Economy · Hansard source

  More

  My hon. Friend is absolutely right. In working on the plan for change’s priority of 1.5 million new homes, the Deputy Prime Minister has already identified that as a great opportunity for the Government. Working with partners in Network Rail and elsewhere, we can unlock the land adjacent to existing infrastructure for new developments. Some of that was referenced in the part of the Chancellor’s speech about the Oxford-Cambridge growth corridor, but we are actively looking at opportunities across the country as well.

• 29 Jan 2025 · Growing the UK Economy · Hansard source

  More

  Scotland is an important part of our United Kingdom economy. We will continue to invest in the country, as we did at the recent Budget, with the largest real-terms increase in spending since devolution. I am always ears-open to opportunities for growth, but the hon. Member might want to speak to his SNP colleagues in the Scottish Government and try to stimulate some investment there as well.

• 29 Jan 2025 · Growing the UK Economy · Hansard source

  More

  We always get a bit grumpy as we get older, don’t we, Madam Deputy Speaker? But I agree with the right hon. Gentleman: we should go back to our childhoods and sing the song of that bright future that is ahead for all of us. It will cheer our spirits and lift the House as we look forward to the future with positivity. Look, we have made announcements today that will benefit the Northern Ireland economy, not least in the aerospace, life sciences and pharmaceutical sectors. On a recent visit to Northern Ireland, I heard about the businesses innovating and investing in these spaces, and they will benefit from the announcements today. As he knows, the Government are in negotiations with our counterparts in Europe to improve trade barriers, which I am sure, in time, will benefit the Northern Ireland economy as well.

• 29 Jan 2025 · Growing the UK Economy · Hansard source

  More

  I thank the hon. Lady for her suggestion. It is not for me to get in the middle of boundary disputes, but I will take that back to the Treasury and see what we can do.

• 29 Jan 2025 · Growing the UK Economy · Hansard source

  More

  I thank my hon. Friend for raising that case. Let me encourage him to write to the Transport Secretary and copy me into his correspondence, so that we can look at the details and consider it further.

• 29 Jan 2025 · Growing the UK Economy · Hansard source

  More

  I thank my hon. Friend. As he has seen from announcements today, but also from our ambition for the country more generally, we are on the hunt for growth opportunities, wherever they may be. We worked in partnership with business investors to unleash their potential to generate great jobs, businesses and innovations for UK plc in every region of the nation. I look forward to working with him and his friends in the region to ensure that that comes to his constituency too.

• 29 Jan 2025 · Growing the UK Economy · Hansard source

  More

  I know that my hon. Friend has been working on this issue for many years. As I have said, we want the Heathrow project to be a success for the whole country, and that means in relation to sustainable low-carbon transport and connectivity as well as for local jobs and the local economy. As I said in the statement, as proposals are put forward by Heathrow, the Government will consider them in the normal way, in line with all our legal obligations.

• 29 Jan 2025 · Growing the UK Economy · Hansard source

  More

  I point the right hon. Member to the Chancellor’s Mansion House speech, which set out in detail this Government’s approach to financial services. They are an important enabler for the UK and a particular strength globally, as I know he knows very well. On his particular question, I will need to write to him with the answer, but he can see that this Government are taking action to unlock investment in the UK economy. As has been reported, the Prime Minister and the Chancellor have been meeting regulators to make sure that they are geared for growth as well as for protecting consumers.

• 29 Jan 2025 · Growing the UK Economy · Hansard source

  More

  I support my hon. Friend’s encouraging words on the Chancellor’s announcement on the lower Thames crossing. The Treasury is working with the Department for Transport and the project leaders for the lower Thames crossing, and I suspect we will have more to say in the coming months.

• 29 Jan 2025 · Growing the UK Economy · Hansard source

  More

  My hon. Friend makes an excellent case for the positive impacts that this will have on the Scottish economy and the important role that it plays in our United Kingdom economy in respect of growth across every nation and region. It is a nice contrast, might I say, with voices opposite that were talking down the potential for Scotland—unlike this Government, who are delivering the potential for Scotland.

• 29 Jan 2025 · Growing the UK Economy · Hansard source

  More

  My hon. Friend knows that I have long been an advocate and campaigner for climate justice and our net zero plans, but I am clear that by working with partners and investors to unlock investment in the UK, we will also unlock investment in the net zero transition, and get the industry, the jobs and the capabilities that we need to deliver a net zero future. That will allow people across the country to do other things that they want to do, such as go on holiday.

• 29 Jan 2025 · Growing the UK Economy · Hansard source

  More

  As the hon. Lady knows, this Government committed in their manifesto to not rejoin the single market or the customs union. We will honour that promise, but the trade deal that the previous Government put together was clearly not good enough. There is room for us to improve our trading, energy and security relationships with our friends in the European Union, and my ministerial colleagues are in active discussions with their counterparts to take that work forward. The hon. Lady invited me to speculate on any future Budgets. That is above my pay grade, but I am sure the Chancellor heard her suggestions. On airports, as I said in my statement, all our plans will be in line with our legal obligations. Of course, we recognise the need for more sustainable fuel and sustainable transport as part of those expansion plans. Lastly, the hon. Lady asked me about something that I cannot read—

• 29 Jan 2025 · Growing the UK Economy · Hansard source

  More

  As I have confirmed to the House, we are inviting applications from Heathrow, which will be considered in the normal way. When those applications have been received and due diligence has been undertaken, we will be able to report the details that will answer the right hon. Member’s questions.

• 29 Jan 2025 · Growing the UK Economy · Hansard source

  More

  I thank my hon. Friend and all my hon. Friends from the Teesside region, who have campaigned hard for investment in their area. I visited the plant in question when I was Chair of the Business Committee in the former Parliament, and I remember clearly the company saying how frustrating it was that the previous Government would not allow them to invest and grow the development of sustainable aviation fuel, but were instead allowing it to be imported at cost from other countries. This Government are taking a different approach, which is unlocking investment and jobs in Teesside, and across the country, in the interests of working people.

• 29 Jan 2025 · Growing the UK Economy · Hansard source

  More

  That sounds like an excellent initiative that will benefit from the huge untapped potential in the Greater Manchester and regional economy, which we are trying to stimulate with our announcements today. I would be delighted to meet my hon. Friend in due course to understand more of the detail.

• 29 Jan 2025 · Growing the UK Economy · Hansard source

  More

  My hon. Friend is exactly right. We need businesses to invest, train and employ, and to sell their goods and services. The Government’s partnership working with Rolls-Royce is a great example of how we have been able to unlock billions in investment not just for the region, but for its exports around the world.

• 29 Jan 2025 · Growing the UK Economy · Hansard source

  More

  I thank my hon. Friend, who is absolutely right. The growth corridor is an important enabler not just for developments along the railway, but for the whole region, as we see from other countries that get such projects right—for example, the Chancellor referred to silicon valley—where the opportunities for the broader region are made available. I am sure they will be available to the people of Peterborough, too.

• 29 Jan 2025 · Growing the UK Economy · Hansard source

  More

  I have a growing list of invitations, Madam Deputy Speaker. I look forward, if my diary manager allows me, to going to my hon. Friend’s constituency. He will know that the transport connectivity and the house building targets in our plan for growth are crucial to ensuring that people are able to seize opportunities where they are from, without necessarily having to leave where they are from and find opportunities elsewhere in the country. That is what inclusive growth looks like.

• 29 Jan 2025 · Growing the UK Economy · Hansard source

  More

  I thank my hon. Friend, who is a strong advocate for the economy in the East Midlands and for his constituency. He will know that I visited the region last week and met businesses and investors with our Mayor, Claire Ward. The region is doing a brilliant job of securing inward investment, and there is huge untapped potential in the East Midlands. I am pleased that the Chancellor was able to make those announcements today, and we very much look forward to hearing about more business cases and more potential so that we can unlock growth in the East Midlands.

• 29 Jan 2025 · Growing the UK Economy · Hansard source

  More

  Those are exactly the issues that Departments are now considering as they submit bids to the Treasury in the spending review. As we move into those negotiations in March, we will have to look at the best growth potential and what we can get delivered on what timeframe. We will be able to confirm those plans in the coming months.

• 29 Jan 2025 · Growing the UK Economy · Hansard source

  More

  The right hon. Member is confused. I am enormously proud of my region of Bristol and the south-west, not least because of our heritage and the potential that we have to offer the country. The aerospace industry in north Bristol will benefit enormously from our announcements, which is great for workers and businesses in our region. He may be interested in an announcement from the national wealth fund today of investment in the Cornish economy to get us mining again, so that we get the rare earth materials that we need to fuel development in the UK and create the jobs and investment in the south-west that he asks for.

• 29 Jan 2025 · Growing the UK Economy · Hansard source

  More

  I thank the Chair of the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee for her question. She and her Committee know the huge advantage we have in the UK with our brilliant universities and research and development ecosystem, which is why we are supporting them and putting rocket boosters underneath their activity to develop world-leading and frontier research and innovation, and stimulate economic growth across the country. My hon. Friend is right that the development in Manchester is a broad set of privately financed housing and commercial opportunities, as well as the work that Manchester United wants to do with its football stadium. I should inform the House that I cannot give a running commentary on the stadium applications for all football clubs across the country, and she will have to forgive me for not knowing the latest plans for Newcastle.