Tuesday 14th January 2020

(4 years, 11 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Alex Cunningham Portrait Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)
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Teesside International airport tripled its losses to nearly £6 million under the stewardship of the Tees Valley Mayor last year—after he had paid tens of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money for it. Flybe is one of the few airlines to provide flights from the airport—44% of them—and is critical to the airport’s future and the Mayor’s plans. The Government failed to intervene when SSI went bust, they refused to provide Sirius Minerals with a loan guarantee to unlock international investment, and they are doing nothing to support Hitachi, which is making 250 people redundant. Are the Government really prepared to continue to fail the Tees valley and to see Flybe collapse, taking regional airports such as Teesside with it?

Paul Maynard Portrait Paul Maynard
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The hon. Member will not be surprised to hear that I have great confidence in Mayor Houchen’s stewardship of both—

Alex Cunningham Portrait Alex Cunningham
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It’s a £6 million loss!

Paul Maynard Portrait Paul Maynard
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I am not going to get stuck into that. The hon. Member knows that elections are coming and I know that elections are coming—I know what he is up to.