Christmas Adjournment

Alan Strickland Excerpts

Thursday 19th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Alan Strickland (Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor) (Lab)]

I want to highlight a few key issues in my constituency that I have been proud to work on since I was elected in July and flag up some issues that we intend to push in the future.

I want to start with the Hitachi train factory in my constituency. I campaigned on it for two and a half years, and it is a source of huge pride. Many of us in this House spend a lot of our lives on trains and any of us who have travelled with London North Eastern Railway, Great Western Railway, Avanti, East Midlands Railway or ScotRail will probably have been on a train built in my home town of Newton Aycliffe. That is a source of huge pride to the 750 workers who operate the plant, but also to the 1,500 people who work in highly skilled engineering jobs in the local supply chain.

I am incredibly grateful to the work of the Prime Minister, FirstGroup, Angel Trains and others who came together to arrange a £0.5 billion deal to help secure the future of the factory. It is important because that factory sits on the line of the original Darlington to Stockton railway, the world’s first passenger railway, which celebrates its 200th anniversary next year. That is incredibly exciting, and I am sure we can agree across the House that if 200 years ago we were leading the world in passenger rail, we as a country can do that again now. It has been fantastic to secure that factory, and I look forward to working with ministerial colleagues and others as we continue to ensure it goes from strength to strength.

We also need to work on making sure that the rail manufacturing industry, not just in my constituency but in Derby and other proud railway towns, has a sustainable future. I would like to work with ministerial colleagues and others to ensure that.

The second key issue we have worked on to push high-tech jobs has been to find a future for the Octric semiconductor factory in Newton Aycliffe. It was opened by the late Queen in 1991 and had some fantastic commercial orders from Apple and others but, crucially, was making semiconductors for the future fighter jets programmes that the United Kingdom was developing with our allies. After commercial contracts were moved abroad, there was a real threat to the semiconductor supply that is critical for our defence capabilities. I would like to put on record my thanks to the Defence Secretary for stepping in to secure this plant and this sovereign supply of these crucial components which are central to our defence. I was grateful to meet my right hon. Friend the Minister for Defence Procurement and Industry last week to talk about how going forward we can expand the skilled jobs and opportunities and apprenticeships in that factory, and the contribution it can make to our national defence.

There are real opportunities in the defence sector and in defence-adjacent companies to make sure we can provide more support, more opportunities, and more chance for innovation. At NETPark—North East Technology Park —in my constituency, just outside the village of Sedgefield, we have incredible businesses. Durham University spin-outs are creating satellite technology and producing radiation detection equipment used in Ukraine, making a huge contribution to the defence of the UK and our allies, but some of those businesses, because they are small and medium-sized enterprises, have said they sometimes find it easier to contract with NASA than with the Ministry of Defence. I am very grateful for the work of Defence Ministers in looking into this but we must open up more opportunities for SMEs to contribute to our defence and innovation in that sector.

On the topic of defence, I have thoroughly enjoyed taking part in the RAF strand of the armed forces parliamentary scheme and pay tribute to all the service personnel I have had the honour to meet around our country. When elected, I did not expect to go to Anglesey by Chinook, and I did not expect to jump off a five-storey platform to sample basic parachute training, but what a privilege it has been to see at first hand not just some of the activities of our forces but some of the fantastic capabilities we have around the country.

I associate myself with the comments of the hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk (John Lamont) in asking everyone in this House to remember that while we, hopefully, have some downtime over Christmas, our armed forces here and around the world remain on 24-hour alert to defend us and defend our allies. Our thanks go to them for all the work they do.

Moving to some Christmas cheer, Members will be relieved to hear that I have decided after much thought not to release a Christmas single—a decision made in the public interest—but I pay tribute to Spennymoor town band and Spennymoor youth band, who put on a fantastic brass band concert on Saturday. I want to pay tribute to them not just for the quality of the music, but for the fantastic work that brass bands like Spennymoor town band do to train up the next generation of young musicians, and to provide free music lessons in communities where many parents would struggle to give access to such high-quality tuition. The musical culture of our communities in County Durham is vital, and I put on the record my thanks to Spennymoor town band and youth band for all their work, particularly Hugh Stephenson, the president, and Fiona Casewell, the musical director. I conclude by wishing you, Madam Deputy Speaker, your fellow Deputy Speakers, Mr Speaker and all the House staff a merry Christmas and all Members a happy new year.