Backing Business to Create Economic Growth

Baggy Shanker Excerpts

Monday 18th May 2026 Commons Chamber

[Baggy Shanker (Derby South) (Lab/Co-op)]

I refer the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests, specifically relating to Rolls-Royce.

We in Derby are proud to be a manufacturing powerhouse. At Litchurch Lane, more Elizabeth line trains will be rolling off Alstom’s production line. At Rolls-Royce, thousands of employees are working to deliver the future of aerospace and nuclear. Our brilliant SME community is pioneering cutting-edge innovation day in, day out. As a city, we do not talk about growth—we power it.

When we speak about backing British business, we are speaking about backing places like Derby. Time and again, this Labour Government have voted with confidence on what our city is capable of delivering. Last year we welcomed a massive £9 billion investment confirmed for the Unity contract with Rolls-Royce to deliver the next generation of AUKUS nuclear submarine reactors. We are cracking on with making Derby the home of Great British Railways, getting the headquarters set up in the heart of our city.

However, for far too long, hard-working people in our city have not felt the benefit of our industry’s success in their own lives. Our city’s manufacturing sector is world class, but when it comes to health equality, transport investment and child poverty, Derby has been left lagging behind. Too often, the wealth and success created by industry has not translated into better living standards or stronger opportunities for the communities who helped to build that success in the first place.

That is why whenever we talk about backing British business, we need to bring our communities with us. The King’s Speech is clear that supporting working people and backing British business goes hand in hand. Led by Mayor of the East Midlands Claire Ward, and backed by our brilliant Chancellor, who was also at the launch, with investment, confidence and stability, that is exactly what Team Derby is all about.

Team Derby is about ensuring that every pound of investment flowing into our city delivers real change for residents, whether that is raising living standards, guaranteeing fair wages or delivering real opportunities for people to get on in life. It is about regenerating our city centre so that we can take pride in it. It is about investing in skills so that young people growing up in Alvaston, Sinfin or anywhere else in Derby can walk into high-quality apprenticeships and build a lifelong career. At its heart, it is about ensuring that when companies succeed in Derby, and across the country, communities also succeed, because backing British business means backing the people who power those businesses—our communities.