Mary Glindon MP: speeches

Speeches

• 16 Dec 2024 · Victims of Sexual Violence: Court Delays · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend could not have put it better. That is the basis of this whole debate. According to the quarterly statistics published last week, the number of sexual offence cases waiting to go to Crown court stands at 11,574—up 44.5% on the same time in 2022. Just two weeks ago, the Director of Public Prosecutions said that the delays are as bad as or probably worse than he has ever known them to be.

• 16 Dec 2024 · Victims of Sexual Violence: Court Delays · Hansard source

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  I hope that the review that will take place will look at everything and cover every aspect. I believe its aim is to be comprehensive and to bring justice and fairness to everybody involved in the system. It is imperative that attention is drawn to the nature of postponements, which bear down on the already fragile mental health of victims. I have heard heartbreaking accounts of court dates being moved on the morning of the scheduled trial. Imagine waiting in anticipation for that day of justice, exerting every ounce of mental strength, just for it to be snatched away on the day of the trial. I invite colleagues to imagine that happening not once, but again and again. There is also an important public safety element, which is too often overlooked. Many perpetrators are not placed on remand, and, when there is a delay to a case being heard, someone who could be guilty is walking the streets. Returning to the issue of fairness, there is a deep injustice to that: victims must look over their shoulder each and every day and have their lives put on hold, while perpetrators may be able to cling to their freedom for years. I am cognisant that a number of factors have driven this enormous backlog, including the pandemic, industrial action by criminal barristers, a lack of capacity in the legal profession and an increase in the number of complex cases entering the system. While many of these factors are well known, it has also been brought to my attention that defence barristers may be able to generate a postponement by requesting a last-minute adjournment as a delay tactic. I would be grateful if the Minister committed to looking at that issue in more depth. We need greater scrutiny of last-minute adjournments, which are having such devastating impacts on victims. In the summer, I wrote to the Justice Secretary on postponements and delays, and was grateful for the response that I received from the then Minister of State for Courts and Legal Services, my right hon. Friend the Member for Swindon South (Heidi Alexander), in which I was assured that reducing waiting times for victims of serious sexual offences is a priority for our Government. The Minister advised me that the Government were carefully considering the best way to fast-track rape cases, and were working with the judiciary to understand how that may be achieved. I would be grateful if the House received an update on the Government’s progress in delivering that manifesto commitment.

• 16 Dec 2024 · Victims of Sexual Violence: Court Delays · Hansard source

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  It causes unnecessary and troublesome complexities for people who are already facing so much in their lives. We really cannot emphasise that enough. In the final quarter of 2022, almost 70% of rape survivors withdrew from the justice system. The situation at present is nothing short of a crisis.

• 16 Dec 2024 · Victims of Sexual Violence: Court Delays · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend makes a very good point. I am sure we will hear from the Minister that the Labour Government have a lot of plans to hopefully right all those wrongs. In recent days, we have heard the Minister for courts and legal services, the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice, my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Finchley and Golders Green (Sarah Sackman) signal toward once-in-a-generation-type reforms, as well as the need to think boldly. I welcome her ambition. For the women and girls who are waiting for their day of justice, I would be grateful if the Minister set out what actions the Government are taking in the short to medium term. As I bring my speech to an end, I want to give voice to a constituent who wrote to me with her experience. I want her to know that there are people listening. I want her to know that she has shown exceptional bravery by sharing her story in the hope that others will not have to endure what she has. I want her to believe that the Government can put this right. With your permission, Madam Deputy Speaker, I will end with her words, which are deeply moving and a powerful expression of what she and others are going through: “In one word, dying. I feel like dying. To end the pain of living every day knowing that the trial could be postponed again, like it has so many times now. I am living in limbo, with the weight of the trial weighing on me every day. The intense anxiety in the run-up to the trial date is unbearable. I can’t eat, sleep or enjoy anything. There is absolutely nothing for me to look forward to. It’s like trying to walk through the deepest muddiest river and getting absolutely nowhere, just stuck in the same place. And that is what it is like every time the trial is postponed and I have to wait months for the next trial date. And the cycle starts again. It is killing me every single day.”

• 16 Dec 2024 · Victims of Sexual Violence: Court Delays · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Gentleman for that intervention. I think we will hear something from the Minister on what the Government intend to do and what we will hopefully get somewhere down the road. These are women and girls who are sitting at the feet of trauma. Survivors face the enormous challenge of having to relive their experiences in court, and each day until then. The lengthy delays, which can be anywhere from two to five years, draw out this experience. I fear that more and more women and girls are losing faith in our criminal justice system—a system that is supposed to protect them. According to the Criminal Bar Association, the number of victims abandoning prosecutions increased 41% in the first half of this year compared with the first six months of 2023.

• 16 Dec 2024 · Victims of Sexual Violence: Court Delays · Hansard source

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  I thank Mr Speaker for granting time for a debate on court delays and victims of sexual violence. I do not underestimate the challenges that the Minister faces. As I will hopefully draw attention to this evening, the task at hand is considerable, but overturning this situation is owed to survivors. This topic is emotive and cuts deep. Justice is a British value that so many in our country live their lives by—a strong sense of what is right and what is wrong. But justice is also a principle that we should all be able to fall back on. When we fall victim to crime and seek redress, a timely and supported road to justice should be expected. That is a fundamental element of our social contract in Britain. The situation that thousands of women and girls find themselves in today is far from that. The road to justice for so many victims of rape and serious sexual offences is long and falls desperately short of what is owed to them.

• 2 Dec 2024 · Departmental Office Closures · Hansard source

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  10. What consultation her Department has undertaken with staff on the decision to close six offices.

• 2 Dec 2024 · Departmental Office Closures · Hansard source

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  There has been a drive across Government Departments to increase the number of hours that civil servants spend working in the office, but the proposed closure in Newcastle means that staff working and living in the area who cannot work from home will face a 40-mile commute to the office in Darlington. Can the Secretary of State assure me that there will be an equality impact assessment before any decision is made, to ensure that the needs of those with protected characteristics and caring responsibilities are fully considered?

• 28 Nov 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Members from across the House value and appreciate the vital work done by everyone working for the Ministry of Defence—not only our brave armed forces, but the Ministry’s many dedicated civilian staff. However, the Ministry’s permanent secretary indicated, without having consulted trade unions, that there is a plan to shed 10% of the workforce—that is 5,000 jobs—by the end of the Parliament. Will the Leader of the House please grant a debate in Government time on the importance of civilian staff in the MOD, and ask the Defence Secretary to meet the Public and Commercial Services Union on this important matter?

• 26 Nov 2024 · Tobacco and Vapes Bill · Hansard source

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  I apologise for the fact that I may not be able to stay in the Chamber for the winding-up speeches, owing to a long-standing appointment this evening. Although smoking is the No. 1 preventable cause of death and ill health, there are still more than 6 million smokers in the country. While the Government are right to press on with the Bill in the current Parliament, I hope that it can be improved even more compared with the version presented by the last Government. It will help the country to become smokefree by 2030. As Members may know, I am a strong advocate of vaping, and I will concentrate on that in my speech. I have witnessed many of my friends and family members make the switch from smoking to vaping, and it is my honour to chair the responsible vaping all-party parliamentary group. Vaping is 95% safer than smoking, according to both King’s College hospital and the former Public Health England, and it is the most successful tool to help smokers to quit. According to data from ASH, 3 million adult vapers are ex-smokers. I fully support the health message that those who smoke should change to vaping, but “if you don’t smoke, don’t vape”. However, we now need urgent Government action to prevent youth vaping, which has become far too prevalent in recent years. We have already heard the statistics this afternoon. In campaigning on vaping, I have been privileged to work with the vaping industry. I was disappointed that during the passage of the earlier Bill the last Government did not engage with the industry to find the best solutions to tackle both youth vaping and the illicit trade, which is largely responsible for children and young people having access to the vape market. At a forum held recently by the UK Vaping Industry Association, its director general, John Dunne, praised our Front-Bench team for the way in which they had already engaged with the industry, whose proposals will, I know, help the Bill achieve its objectives. Like the industry, I have always supported the introduction of a licensing scheme as a helpful tool for better enforcement of the market, helping trading standards to identify non-compliant businesses, impose tough penalties and close down premises. I do not understand why restricting the number of shops and supermarkets selling vapes increases regulatory compliance. Shops and supermarkets that sell vapes responsibly should not be penalised, and we need to ensure that specialist vaping retailers can continue to operate, especially as they provide a such a critical service in helping smokers to quit. Flavour names that appeal to those under 18 are unacceptable and must be banned, but flavours are a key factor in helping smokers to make the transition to vaping. Research shows that about 65% of adult vapers find fruit-flavoured or sweet liquids preferable. If only tobacco flavours are available, many ex-smokers will return to smoking. According to the Government’s own impact assessment, restricting vape flavours could affect 87% of adults who vape. Hopefully, meaningful consultation on flavours will lead to a safe solution to curtail youth vaping while also ensuring that vaping is an attractive alternative for adult smokers. It may well be that increasing fixed penalty notice fines to £200 is not a strong enough deterrent to irresponsible retailers and pales into insignificance compared with the profits made from the sale of cheap vapes on the illicit market, and I hope that the Bill can be amended to increase the fine significantly so that it acts as a real deterrent to those who now happily sell vapes to children. Keeping in mind the UK’s 6 million smokers, who need help to quit, it is important to ensure that as we bring in the strongest possible measures to prevent under-age access to vaping products, the Bill must not over-regulate and, in doing so, undermine the power of vapes as a smoking cessation tool. I have been pleased to learn recently of new technical solutions that could help the Government to end youth vaping. Current laws require age verification at the point of sale, which has fundamentally failed to stop young people getting hold of vapes. The Government could go further and require continuous age verification at the point of use. I recently met representatives of a company that has developed open-standard technology that can be applied by all manufacturers. It meets regulatory requirements for security and privacy, and can lock or unlock a device at the point of use. Vapes on sale in the UK market could be required to have secure Bluetooth technology installed—a low-cost chip that can be integrated into vaping products. Such chips provide a simple on/off switch that can be controlled via a mobile app. Users would have to verify their age via the app, in the same way as when accessing other services. This simple and straightforward approach would mean that no matter how a child got hold of a vape, they would be unable to use it. As the process would be quick and user-friendly, it would not prevent adult vapers from using vaping products as they do currently. I hope the Minister will consider looking at this technology in more detail as the Bill progresses. The Minister knows that I am not a lobbyist for the vaping industry—some people may I think that I am, but I can categorically say that it is not true. I do not even vape myself, but I do want the Bill to be effective. I genuinely believe that including the vaping industry as a consultee is essential to ensure that this Bill helps meet the Government’s aim of creating the first smokefree generation, and I hope that the Minister can confirm today that the industry will be consulted during the progression of the Bill.

• 13 Nov 2024 · Environmental Protection · Hansard source

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  May I say what an honour it was to hear the maiden speech of my hon. Friend the Member for South Dorset (Lloyd Hatton), and how proud he is to represent his home constituency? I wish him all the best in his parliamentary career. Vaping remains the most effective tool that the UK has to help smokers to quit. Recent data from ASH shows that in the last five years, 2.7 million hard smokers have used vaping as a mean of quitting. Disposable vapes have played a vital role in supporting smoker transition to a less harmful, accessible and affordable entry-level product. Without such products, there is a real risk that fewer smokers will decide to try vaping as an aid to quit. There are important concerns about the environmental impact of single-use vapes and their accessibility to children, as has already been mentioned, but the Government will need to be prepared for the inevitable increase in availability of black-market products that is certain to come about because of the ban. An increased vaping black market will pose a greater risk to the environment and to children’s health. Current laws already prohibit the sale of vapes to those under 18, and require adherence to environmental regulations, but their enforcement has been minimal. Stronger enforcement of the existing regulations could effectively address the issues without banning disposable vapes outright. The Government have made the right decision in progressing with a licensing scheme, but the fines for breaching the rules must be higher than £200 per offence. The UK Vaping Industry Association has repeatedly called for fines of up to £10,000, which would help to deter rogue traders from selling products to children, and illegal products more generally. In essence, this is not a ban on disposables; it is a ban on legal and compliant disposables. Illicit disposables, which contain goodness knows what, will continue to be sold, and will even proliferate in popularity, after the ban. Demand for multi-tank vape products has been growing since the UK-wide disposable vape ban was first proposed in January of this year. The regulations appear to ban very high puff-count devices, but it is likely that from next June, irresponsible manufacturers from overseas will innovate to sidestep that ban; they may possibly make their mesh coils replaceable, so they can continue to sell those products. It would be better for the Government to legislate for “one device, one tank”. If the Minister cannot be more explicit about devices in these regulations, I hope that the Government will address those points in the Tobacco and Vapes Bill. As I say, we must be mindful that vapes have been the most effective tool in helping smokers quit. I hope we can take some heed of that fact and make the regulations work, so that the remaining 6 million smokers in this country move away from cigarettes, most likely with the help of vaping.

• 6 Nov 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Q9. This week, the Leader of the Opposition told us that any outrage at suitcases full of wine and karaoke machines in Downing Street while people across the country were told to stay at home was all “overblown”. For the people and businesses in my constituency who followed the rules—many of us at great personal cost—this is an insult. Will the Prime Minister join me in ensuring that we as a country learn the lessons from covid, and that the Conservatives as a party learn the lessons of their behaviour too?

• 31 Oct 2024 · Income tax (charge) · Hansard source

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  It is an honour to follow the hon. Member for Romford (Andrew Rosindell), even though I fundamentally disagree with everything that he said. I know that he will take that in the right spirit. I congratulate all colleagues who made their maiden speeches. The speeches were fantastic and moving, and I wish them all a really wonderful time in this Parliament and, I hope, Parliaments to come. Progressive Governments are judged on whether they deliver higher standards, and I welcome the direction of travel that our first woman Chancellor took yesterday. It is good to hear that for the first time, the cost of living will be taken into account when calculating the national minimum wage. I also welcome the step towards a single adult wage rate, with 18 to 20-year-olds receiving a 16.3% increase. I hope that those kinds of revisions will continue. Those are valuable examples of the change that a Labour Government will make to low-income households. A key feature of this Budget is that it can safeguard existing jobs in the north-east and help to create new well-paid jobs for the people I represent. One of the biggest sectors in our north-east industrial base is the offshore energy sector—that is, oil and gas companies that work in the North sea, and the associated supply chain. We are proud to have those jobs in my constituency, and we must anchor them here in the UK and avoid their being attracted overseas. Last year, in Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend, the offshore sector added £2 million in gross value added and supported thousands of jobs. That is just a snapshot from the region, where the sector contributed £416 million and more than 4,500 good jobs overall. I am pleased that my right hon. Friend the Chancellor recognises the reality: that oil and gas will be essential to our economy and for energy security for decades to come, especially given that if we misstep, we will simply have to rely on imports, which are more expensive, have a higher carbon footprint and do not deliver any tax yield. This Government have committed to ensuring that the North sea is managed in a way that does not jeopardise jobs and continues to attract necessary investment, with the delivery of net zero and energy transition being an exciting prospect. A successful home-grown energy transition has the potential to deliver the economic growth that the country needs. I know that the oil and gas sector and its representative body, Offshore Energies UK, found yesterday’s Budget encouraging. They are grateful for the positive engagement from the Secretary of State, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Exchequer Secretary over the summer. They recognise that the energy profit levy served a purpose, but the commitment to looking at unwinding it, and to finding a new permanent regime, can give companies and investors the confidence that they need to invest in our UK. I look forward to helping Ministers succeed, but I will of course also hold them to account. I will also hold the industry to account on its commitment to support workers, deliver a fair transition and provide retraining and working standards for all. The trade unions are keen and willing to play their part. Offshore Energies UK estimates that with the right investment environment, UK offshore energy companies could invest £200 billion in home-grown energy this decade alone, supporting the UK to reach 50 GW of wind and 10 GW of hydrogen, reducing reliance on oil and gas, and allowing us to scale up to at least four carbon capture and storage clusters by 2030—an exciting prospect indeed. Moving away from the economy and on to local government, I welcome the 6% real-terms increase in spending on SEND and alternative provision. The SEND system is broken. In my constituency, children have been held back from flourishing and reaching their true potential. The £865 million to help plug deficits is a movement in the right direction. I urge the Chancellor to build on that moving into the spending review in the spring. Today, Longbenton councillor Karen Clark has been selected as Labor’s candidate for the North Tyneside 2025 mayoral election. Karen welcomes the Chancellor’s historic Budget and looks forward to promoting its promised investment for local government during her forthcoming campaign. On social security, the reduction in the deductions cap will help to minimise the financial impact of debt repayments, with those benefiting keeping an extra £420 a year. It is a smart, fiscally neutral way to help reduce negative household budgets and raise living standards. However, the commitment to deliver the Conservative plans to reform the work capability assessment and to deliver the inherited savings has worried many with limited capability for work and work-related activity. I hope the House will be given time to examine and debate that when the proposals are outlined in greater detail. As the chair of the responsible vaping all-party parliamentary group, I have concerns about the announced tax on vaping liquid from 2026. There are still 6 million smokers who have yet to make the switch to vaping, and a tax on vaping will only serve to discourage those smokers to quit. The vaping tax proposed by the Chancellor is unsustainably high, at 22p per ml of vape liquid. It will make the UK’s tax one of the highest in Europe. The tax will also hurt working people throughout the north-east who rely on vaping to keep them off cigarettes. Currently, many stores sell vaping liquid for refillable devices for 99p. Under the Chancellor’s proposals, that will increase by 267% to £3.64. Access to vaping liquids is not driving youth vaping—the Government are already looking to address that through the Tobacco and Vapes Bill. I fear that the tax on vapes will hurt people who have made the decision to switch from smoking to the less harmful alternative—a decision that has already saved the NHS tens of thousands of pounds per person. Yesterday’s Budget has renewed the hope of ordinary people that the future can be different—a Labour Budget for lower-income households, working people and children. Our public services can be rebuilt, living standards can begin to turn around, and our politics can deliver progress again.

• 22 Oct 2024 · Lebanon: Ceasefire · Hansard source

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  15. What diplomatic steps he is taking to help secure a ceasefire in Lebanon.

• 22 Oct 2024 · Lebanon: Ceasefire · Hansard source

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  The reported attacks on United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon bases by the Israel Defence Forces show disregard for resolution 1701 and the existing diplomatic framework for peace. Last week’s joint statement by Foreign Ministers and our allies condemning all the threats to UNIFIL’s security was welcome, so can the Foreign Minister tell the House what discussions he has had with Israeli political leaders to supplement that action? Were they productive?

• 16 Oct 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Q9. It has been an honour to meet my constituent Tom Morton, a young person in care who cares so deeply about politics and communities—he is sat in the Public Gallery today. Young people in care are at disproportionate risk of criminal and cynical exploitation by drug barons through county lines. Will the Prime Minister tell Tom and the House what steps the Government will take to prevent vulnerable children in care from becoming involved in county lines operations?

• 10 Oct 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T7. I am pleased to hear that the Secretary of State has said that, unlike the previous hapless Government, she will prevent another scandal such as the sudden sacking of 800 P&O ferry employees two years ago. Will she please outline what steps she intends to take to stop anything like that ever happening again?

• 26 Jul 2024 · Making Britain a Clean Energy Superpower · Hansard source

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  That is exactly what the companies are telling me and, as a member of the former all-party parliamentary group on oil and gas, I know it has often been said. The people working in these industries are worried about how their lives will change if they are not able to adapt to new industries. These are important jobs in our communities, where sweeping job losses are still in people’s memories. In Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend, it is not uncommon to speak to people who were affected or know someone who was affected by the de-industrialisation of the 1980s. The closure of the pits, shipyards and factories ruined people’s faith in politics and the economy for a generation. The offshore energy sector includes independent oil and gas producers, large integrated energy multinationals, renewable energy companies and a supply chain that we need to keep here in the UK. That includes companies in my constituency, such as Baker Hughes and Peterson, which operate right across the UK and, indeed, the globe. These companies have the vision and ambition, which we all share, to deliver a home-grown energy transition and net zero. Almost £200 billion will potentially be spent over the decade, but the companies investing in nascent opportunities such as floating offshore wind and carbon capture and storage will require the cash flow from a stable and predictable oil and gas business to fund these opportunities. I welcome Labour’s manifesto commitment to manage the North sea in a way that does not jeopardise jobs. However, I would be grateful if the Minister could set out, in practical terms, how he will safeguard important jobs and investment in communities like mine. Britain’s potential to become a clean energy superpower is not only exciting but necessary. As the Government accelerate this journey, I urge Ministers to ensure that no one is left behind.

• 26 Jul 2024 · Making Britain a Clean Energy Superpower · Hansard source

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  It is a great pleasure to see you in the Chair, Madam Deputy Speaker, and I wish you all the very best in your new role. It is great to be asked to speak first, so thank you—it is a total shock! It is an honour to speak in this debate as the Member of Parliament for Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend, as we have a thriving offshore sector along the Tyne. To use the words of the Secretary of State, it is time for Britain to build things again, and my constituency is open for business. The UK has a lot to be proud of in its service sector, but it is a catastrophic error to have let manufacturing in this country decline. To cite the title of a report by the Institute for Public Policy Research, manufacturing matters. The conversation around manufacturing and services in this country is often binary—it is one or the other—but the reality for other countries is far from that. Importantly, the IPPR report points out that while we have lost over one third of our manufacturing strength since the 1990s, “Countries like the US and France, which are similarly services-focussed, have maintained their manufacturing strengths at 1990s levels…Productivity growth in manufacturing was five times higher than in services between 1997 and 2021”. High productivity means higher wages in good, well-paid jobs—jobs that I want to see in Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend and which match the aspirations of my constituents.

• 26 Jul 2024 · Making Britain a Clean Energy Superpower · Hansard source

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  Indeed, we certainly need to seize the moment now. Our determination in this place to raise living standards for working people must be unwavering, and good jobs have their role to play in that. The past 14 years have seen unprecedented levels of wage stagnation. Resolution Foundation data shows that wages returned to pre-financial crisis levels only last year. That decade and a half of lost wage growth has cost the average worker more than £10,500 a year. I thought that there was a one nation tradition among those on the Opposition Benches—an element of the Conservative party that cared about raising living standards for the worst off—but after 14 years the Tories have left us with two nations: one rich, one poor. As we try to unpick the mess that the Labour Government have inherited, the growth of green industry will be an exciting part of the way forward. I am thrilled that companies seeing the opportunities that Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend has to offer are bringing jobs to the region in the process. The expansion of green hydrogen is just one example of that. During a recent visit, I was amazed at the ambition of GeoPura’s hydrogen project at Siemens Energy in Byker, where it produces hydrogen power units to replace traditional diesel generators. That is an example of the private sector at its best: the sharpest minds coming together to solve some of the biggest problems that we face. I am proud of the breadth of the energy and offshore sectors in my constituency. That includes the area’s oil and gas industry, which has understandable concerns about its future. We need to think exceptionally carefully about how we shape the sector in the coming years for working people who earn their living from oil and gas.

• 25 Jul 2024 · Civil Service: National Pay Bargaining Units · Hansard source

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  2. Whether he plans to take steps to consolidate the number of national pay bargaining units in the civil service.

• 25 Jul 2024 · Civil Service: National Pay Bargaining Units · Hansard source

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  In 14 years, the Tory Government did nothing to tackle the ludicrous situation whereby there are over 200 pay bargaining units for civil servants across all Government Departments and agencies, a highly time-consuming and inefficient process that generates unfair pay disparities between people doing near-identical jobs in different Government offices. Will the Minister take this opportunity to look again at whether pay bargaining can be consolidated across the civil service, and will he agree to meet the Public and Commercial Services Union to discuss the advantages of such reforms?

• 19 Jul 2024 · Planning, the Green Belt and Rural Affairs · Hansard source

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  It is a great honour to be in the Chamber to hear so many wonderful maiden speeches, especially those of my north-east colleagues. They have made me very proud today, and I think they are going to be fantastic representatives of all their constituents. This is my fifth election to Westminster, but my constituency has changed, with only four wards from my former North Tyneside constituency and six wards added from the former Newcastle upon Tyne East constituency. I thank the people of my former constituency for giving me the honour of serving them for the past 14 years, and I thank the people of the new constituency for placing their trust in me at the general election. I will work hard to honour that trust. Voters in the former Newcastle upon Tyne East constituency were fortunate to be represented for 41 years by the right hon. Nick Brown, who commanded great respect in this House. Constituents hold him in high regard for all his work and achievements, both in the constituency and as a Minister in the last Labour Government. He has earned his well-deserved retirement, but personally I am grateful to Nick for all his help and friendship. Across my new constituency, people face the same challenges—the cost of living crisis, a shortage of good social housing, hikes in mortgages and diminished public services—and they have all taken a toll on people’s everyday lives. My constituency is crying out for this Labour Government’s shared mission of renewal. I share the view of our new North East Mayor, Kim McGuinness, in fully supporting the English devolution Bill. Kim believes that her office will be the delivery arm of the Labour mission in the north-east, and she is keen to start that work at pace. Although I know it will not be easy, I have great hope that the announcements made in the King’s Speech will start to turn the tide and make life better for everyone in this country. I was a North Tyneside ward councillor for 15 years before I entered the House, so I have a self-confessed bias for North Tyneside council. The council’s planning committee has not voted against offers or recommendations on any medium or large house building site for over a decade. It has an up-to-date local plan and ambitious housing targets of its own, yet it still has sites stuck in the planning system. Although National Highways agreed in the local plan that strategic sites should proceed and be accommodated in road infrastructure, when it came to planning applications being submitted, National Highways placed a holding objection on the sites, leading to 5,000 new homes being stuck in the system. Alongside dealing with other planning reform issues, I ask Ministers to look at the impact of statutory consultees on delays in the planning system, to help authorities such as North Tyneside. The Health Equals campaign coalition, which is made up of 27 organisations, has launched its visually though-provoking campaign, “Make Health Equal”, to highlight the fact that levels of poverty and deprivation lead to people in parts of my constituency and other such areas living 16 years less than people in more affluent parts of the country. The coalition acknowledges that the King’s Speech will start to repair some of the building blocks of health, such as decent and secure housing, good work opportunities and clean transport. It looks to the Government to assess the impact of the King’s Speech on health inequalities, and, in the spirit of unity, to work with such groups to deliver the mission in my constituency and across the country. I also make a plea on behalf of the offshore energy industries. Although the Great British Energy Bill is welcome, we must not lose sight of the fact that oil and gas play a massive part in our economy, and will continue to do so. On the tobacco and vapes Bill, I hope that the Government will, unlike the previous Government, take into account the views of the industry. I look forward to supporting the King’s Speech in the voting Lobby, along with my 411 colleagues and, hopefully, Members of the Opposition. In so doing, we will vote for an agenda fixed on making the lives of everyone in this country far better.