Luke Myer MP: speeches

Speeches

• 8 Dec 2025 · Digital ID · Hansard source

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  Although I appreciate the merits of the scheme, as my hon. Friend has set out, surely the fundamental question facing us today is one of public consent. Some 4,800 of my constituents have signed this petition. Does my hon. Friend agree that such a scheme cannot be introduced without clear consent from the public?

• 4 Dec 2025 · Dawn Sturgess Inquiry · Hansard source

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  The day a British citizen died on British soil as a result of a Russian attack ought to have been a wake-up call for everyone in this country. I recognise the steps that the previous Government took and that this Government are taking to address that threat. The reality is that Russian planes and ships menace our airs and waters, their cyber-attacks have hit our NHS and councils, including Redcar and Cleveland borough council, and their propaganda has been disseminated by British politicians and online. Does the Security Minister agree that, as far as the British public are concerned, this is not a distant threat elsewhere in the world; it is here and now, affecting them today? Can I also push him specifically on social media disinformation, and what steps he can take, working with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, to address it in this country?

• 4 Dec 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  My constituent Caroline lost her universal credit transitional protection after her earnings fell below the administrative earnings threshold. I wrote to the Department for Work and Pensions about her case in August, but since then I have received only a holding reply. Could the Leader of the House use his good offices to ensure that I get a reply for my constituent?

• 4 Dec 2025 · EU Relations · Hansard source

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  The agreement in May included the restoration of the UK’s country-specific steel quota, but in October we saw new steel protection measures from the EU. Do the Government expect those quotas to be honoured after the article 28 GATT––general agreement on tariffs and trade—process, and will trade measures be set out prior to the steel strategy?

• 3 Dec 2025 · Local Media · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Dr Allin-Khan. I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on this issue, which is fundamental to our democracy. We have some fantastic local news sources in our area, from Talk of the Town in Loftus to Greater Nunthorpe News , to which I am proud to contribute a column. This debate is all about the people who make our news and the people who rely on it—people like Lynne and Steve Nicholls from Moorsholm, who for 14 years produced the excellent Coastal View & Moor News , a two-person operation delivering a free community newsletter to every home. They celebrated our area’s achievements, campaigned on our local fights and gave communities across East Cleveland a voice of our own. Their retirement last year marked the end of a remarkable chapter, but their work shows what genuinely local journalism can achieve. This debate is about the future, but this tradition goes right back to our roots as a democratic society. In the 1840s, Teesside Chartists such as 19-year-old George Markham Tweddell produced radical newspapers, including his Stokesley News and Cleveland Reporter , which set out to “give the ordinary people of Cleveland a newspaper that would reflect their more liberal opinions rather than those of the landowning classes”. That was not a view shared by the Stockton Conservative association at the time, which grumbled about the “newspapers and tracts of an objectionable and mischievous tendency” that were “exclusively circulated among the lower classes”. However, that determination—that refusal to be silenced—is where local journalism on Teesside began. Today, the main local news presence, Teesside Live , serves hundreds of thousands of people across our area. The journalists are dedicated, but it is fair to say they are working under immense strain. The traditional advertising model is collapsing. More than 300 local newspapers closed between 2009 and 2019. Reach, which owns Teesside Live , deserves credit for keeping the paper alive, but in doing so it has had to make cuts. We have heard about some of the decisions that Reach has made across the country recently. Reporters are expected to cover far more ground with far fewer resources, and with the shift to online, the pressure to publish quickly and at volume is intense. We have seen elsewhere in the country how that can lead to lapses in standards, such as the clickbait headlines recently ruled “misleading” by the Independent Press Standards Organisation. Ultimately, this is about our democracy. Just as it was for Tweddell, we now need to prepare for a wholly new age. If local media is diminished, so too is our democracy: communities become less informed, space for debate narrows and trust erodes. More than half of people now get their news from social media, and people are more exposed to misinformation than ever before. Ofcom says that 43% of UK adults recall encountering misinformation—and those are only the people who are equipped to recognise it. Meanwhile, hostile states exploit this landscape. The Washington Post reported last year that the Russian Foreign Ministry is using disinformation online to weaken western democracy. Such tactics aim to destabilise free societies, and they rely on weakened, hollowed-out information environments to succeed. That is why strong, independent and accountable local journalism matters. It provides trusted information about the places where people actually live. It can counter falsehoods with facts and create a democratic culture that is rooted in community. The challenge now is to meet audiences where they are without abandoning the standards that make local journalism trustworthy in the first place. First, we must build sustainable funding models for public interest journalism, including community and co-operative ownership, as Members have spoken about. Secondly, we must uphold high standards with stronger regulation. Thirdly, we must help local outlets to innovate safely and embrace digital tools, including AI, without sacrificing trust. Fourthly, we must strengthen media literacy in schools and communities so that people can recognise misinformation when they see it. I welcome the measures in the curriculum review in that regard. Above all, we must remember that local media is not a luxury, as my hon. Friend the Member for Stirling and Strathallan (Chris Kane) said. When it collapses, civic engagement falls, scrutiny is weakened and communities lose the mirror to themselves. Tweddell wrote that his paper sought to be “the unflinching advocate of civil and religious liberty.” Let us ensure that 200 years later our local media can adapt to be the same.

• 24 Nov 2025 · Critical Minerals Strategy · Hansard source

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  I welcome the Government’s critical minerals strategy, but I wish the great British export of polyhalite had been included and given the recognition that it deserves as a critical mineral. As Teesside is a region with great critical mineral strength, how will the strategy benefit it and the wider supply chain?

• 17 Nov 2025 · Asylum Policy · Hansard source

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  The measures that the Home Secretary has set out to restore order and fairness will be very welcome in Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, but the overriding sentiment will be that we will believe it when we see it, I am afraid—trust is so low after years of broken promises. What assurances can the Home Secretary give that she will not only talk the talk, but walk the walk?

• 17 Nov 2025 · Social Media Posts: Penalties for Offences · Hansard source

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  I will always defend freedom of expression, but one feature I am concerned about is the proliferation of disinformation content online—particularly by hostile states—that is designed to divide us and undermine our democracy. Will the Minister comment on that, and the approach the Government will take to tackling and enforcing against it?

• 5 Nov 2025 · Curriculum and Assessment Review · Hansard source

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  I welcome Professor Francis’s work on the review, and the Government’s commitment to upholding many of her recommendations, particularly on professional autonomy and digital literacy. The review recognises the class attainment gap that is holding back so many working-class children. What steps will my right hon. Friend take to ensure that the implementation of the curriculum review focuses resources on the places that need them most?

• 27 Oct 2025 · Holidays During School Term Time · Hansard source

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  Does the Minister agree that the blame should sit not with hard-working parents who just want affordable family time, or with school leaders who want pupils not to miss out on education, but with the predatory travel companies we have heard about, which jack up their prices when term time is finished?

• 16 Oct 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  My constituent Chris is a local police officer who has had to take on vast amounts of overtime to afford his Child Maintenance Service payments. He is one of many constituents who have raised with me the issues in the CMS, so will the Leader of the House secure some time for us to debate this issue to ensure that parents and their children are properly supported?

• 15 Oct 2025 · Pride in Place · Hansard source

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  I am delighted to confirm that the entire community of Park End and Beckfield will be able to benefit from the £20 million of investment through the Government’s Pride in Place scheme. Will the Minister confirm that the funding should be spent not by the council or by any politician but by the community themselves on the priorities they want to see?

• 15 Oct 2025 · Ukraine · Hansard source

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  It was a privilege to meet the Chair of the Rada today and to add my voice to this House’s shared commitment to stand with Ukraine and in defence of our democratic values. To increase economic pressure on Russia, we must sanction Russian-linked countries operating in third countries, including in the energy sector. Will the Foreign Secretary assure the House that she will apply maximum pressure on such companies, even when they are based outside Russia itself?

• 14 Oct 2025 · Reducing Energy Bills · Hansard source

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  The CBI says that one of the best routes to bringing down bills and delivering growth is investing in clean power jobs, including the 8,800 such jobs that we currently have in Tees Valley—a number that is scaling up every year. Does the Secretary of State agree that investing in these industries is one of the best ways to redevelop our region and to deliver jobs and growth years into the future?

• 13 Oct 2025 · Long-term Empty Homes · Hansard source

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  There are 46 long-term empty properties in the community of Park End in my constituency. Park End desperately needs regeneration, so I am delighted that the Government have awarded it £20 million of Pride in Place funding, for the community to use for regeneration over the long term. Will the Government commit to working with me to make sure that the local community gets the best from that funding?

• 13 Oct 2025 · Manchester Terrorism Attack · Hansard source

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  I welcome the Home Secretary’s statement. Does she agree that slogans such as “Glory to our martyrs”, “Globalise the intifada” and “Zionists off our streets” are unacceptable and likely to encourage unstable individuals to carry out horrific actions and attacks on the Jewish people such as the one we saw so recently?

• 11 Sept 2025 · Micromobility Vehicles · Hansard source

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  On 28 September, the historic Boulby line in my constituency will be reopened for passengers to celebrate 200 years of passenger rail. Yet I believe the line ought to be open permanently so people can access jobs and opportunities. Will the Secretary of State meet me to talk about that prospect and other transport proposals that I have for East Cleveland?

• 10 Sept 2025 · Bus Services (No. 2) Bill [Lords] · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman suggests that the Conservative position is to support combined authorities being able to take on franchising, yet the Conservative Tees Valley Mayor has flat out rejected franchising powers. I am proud that this Government are bringing forward this Bill to make it easier for combined authorities and other authorities to bring in franchising. In Committee, I raised the example of my constituent Norma Templeman, who has had to fight tooth and nail against the mayor and the bus companies to get buses into her village of North Skelton. How can that be right?

• 10 Sept 2025 · Stockton and Darlington Railway: 200th Anniversary Festival · Hansard source

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  indicated dissent.

• 10 Sept 2025 · Stockton and Darlington Railway: 200th Anniversary Festival · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Stringer, and I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor (Alan Strickland) on securing this important debate. Today, as colleagues have said, we mark 200 years since the Stockton and Darlington railway opened; it was the first passenger railway in the world, and the Quaker philanthropist Edward Pease, father of the railways, had a slogan for the railway: “At private risk for public service”. It was a radical experiment to fund engineer George Stephenson and his 18-year-old son Robert to use a steam engine instead of horses to power Locomotion No. 1, and it worked. As we have heard in this debate, 10,000 people turned out to welcome its launch, and the success of the railway soon spread across Britain and around the world. Goods could move quickly and cheaply, and so could people. Stockton’s exports and economy grew, and soon the town’s storage staithes could not keep up with the amount of coal, so in the summer of 1828, Edward’s son Joseph started looking for new land. On 2 August 1828, he surveyed the small hamlet of Middlesbrough. He recorded in his diary that he could see the day when “the bare fields will be covered with a busy multitude, and numerous vessels crowding to the banks denoting a busy seaport”. He bought the farmland in 1829, with a population of 25, as my hon. Friend the Member for Middlesbrough and Thornaby East (Andy McDonald) has just said; over the next 20 years, it would grow to over 7,000. Industrial Teesside was born. Sadly, 200 years on, our public transport across Teesside is no longer world leading. Our bus routes have been cut back and our trains do not meet the needs of our communities. That is why the Labour Government have given the Tees Valley Mayor a £1 billion Transport for City Regions settlement to start sorting things out. As part of that work, I would like to see new passenger railways spread across our region again, such as along the Boulby line, which has had a station sitting empty at Brotton since 1960, even though freight still runs three times a day along the line. Previous work by Arup in 2018 and by SYSTRA in 2023, commissioned by Redcar and Cleveland borough council, found that restoring passenger trains to the line would be feasible without substantial investment in infrastructure, and that diverting an existing service from Saltburn to service the villages in Skelton, Brotton and Loftus would represent value for money and be a net generator of revenue for the rail network. The combined authority has committed £1 million of those TCR funds to a feasibility study, and I hope that the Mayor will do that work—

• 10 Sept 2025 · Stockton and Darlington Railway: 200th Anniversary Festival · Hansard source

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  Thank you, Chair. As part of the S&DR200 celebrations, the Boulby line is being reopened, so passengers can enjoy that heritage rail, because it is an important part of Teesside’s infrastructure and still services the mines in our region today. With respect, Chair, it is part of the heritage of Teesside’s rail infrastructure, and I would greatly like to see it restored. There is no reason that our region cannot again lead the world in public transport. Just as we did 200 years ago, we have the ideas and the can-do attitude to take things forward. Let us make that happen; let us get our region back on track once again.

• 9 Sept 2025 · Hydrogen Supply Chains · Hansard source

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  I can only speak to the public shift we saw in our region. The public are fully behind projects such as hydrogen fuels for public transport, which we are seeing trials of in Teesside. But, for whatever reason, there was much more reluctance over the Redcar trial, and it was not without significant investment in educating people on the benefits.

• 9 Sept 2025 · Hydrogen Supply Chains · Hansard source

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  Having tried to make many of the points that my hon. Friend made during that experience, I am more sceptical about whether that shift will happen quickly or easily. There is certainly huge potential for industrial use and for transport. In any case, our region helped to power Britain’s industrial revolution, and we can do the same today through the age of clean energy. Hydrogen can anchor a new era of good jobs and pride in our communities if we have the ambition to make it work for working people.

• 9 Sept 2025 · Hydrogen Supply Chains · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Betts. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Rushcliffe (James Naish) on securing the debate and my hon. Friend the Member for Worcester (Tom Collins) on opening it so well. The Teesside region already produces much of the UK’s hydrogen, in an economy built on the legacy of ICI, and it continues today with BOC’s Teesside hydrogen carbon capture, usage and storage project. We have the pipelines, the port and the skills, and now the prospect of a new £4 billion net zero Teesside CCUS project linked to the Endurance saline aquifer beneath the North sea. With projects across our industrial cluster, we are well equipped to deliver perhaps a quarter of the Government’s 2030 target. The potential is huge, representing thousands of construction jobs in the short term, with long-term roles in energy, transport and manufacturing, and the chance to give our young people skilled work close to home. This is about livelihoods and whether young people in Middlesbrough, Redcar, Cleveland, Stockton—my hon. Friend the Member for Stockton North (Chris McDonald) is in his place—Hartlepool and Darlington can find skilled, unionised work in the industries of the future, rather than having to leave home to find opportunity elsewhere. That shift will not happen by accident and needs Government to back British supply chains, to ensure that we build the infrastructure and elements we need here, not overseas. It means putting in specific sector support for industries such as steel manufacturing and construction to adopt hydrogen where it is needed—for example, hydrogen for direct reduced iron. It means ensuring that contracts come with conditions on fair pay, skills and apprenticeships. And it means putting local communities in the driving seat, devolving power and investment so that the people of regions such as Teesside can shape this transition, not just watch it happen from the sidelines. Given the outsized role the north of England is already playing through the three major clusters, the Government should perhaps establish a regional body—an acceleration forum—to draw together existing work and drive hydrogen development in the north. In any case, pioneering businesses, research partners and regional governments are driving the work forward, and co-ordinating that investment and innovation is important. I am slightly more cautious about domestic heating, which has been touched on in the debate. That is purely because our region saw the unsuccessful trial in Redcar in 2023, when the public opposed the project in the end. It is important that people are brought along in the process. That is not to say these things are not safe or possible—there are areas of the country where blending works well—but it is about doing this with communities.

• 8 Sept 2025 · Remote Coastal Communities · Hansard source

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  I have submitted proposals to the Tees Valley combined authority to get East Cleveland’s economy moving—the focus of my Invest in East Cleveland event on Friday. Will the Minister commit to working with me to bring investment into our rural and coastal communities so that we can unlock jobs and growth for the whole country?