East Midlands Economy Debate
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Brendan Clarke-Smith
Main Page: Brendan Clarke-Smith (Conservative - Bassetlaw)Department Debates - View all Brendan Clarke-Smith's debates with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
East Midlands Economy
Brendan Clarke-Smith Excerpts(3 years, 2 months ago)
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Brendan Clarke-Smith (Bassetlaw) (Con)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir David. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Mansfield (Ben Bradley) for securing this incredibly important debate on our beloved east midlands.
My constituency of Bassetlaw, which is in the very north of the region, has had many connections, such as with Yorkshire. There has been debate over the years about whether we should have joined the Sheffield city region and so on, and perhaps we have taken our eye off the ball at times. I want to see Bassetlaw being a key player in the east midlands, which it can be, and making full use of the economic benefits.
On that subject, I would like to talk about the STEP project in Bassetlaw, which we are very keen on. It would be a major boost to the area. In the last couple of days we have seen the old West Burton A coal-fired power plant fired up again. That shows the importance of having flexible and varied supplies of energy, but we see a real opportunity to look at the next generation of energy production and green energy—for example, with fusion, as my hon. Friend the Member for Loughborough (Jane Hunt) mentioned.
We have some excellent rail links already, but we would like to see more. We have the east coast main line and potential for more, such as the Robin Hood line, which has been mentioned. I have constituents in Retford who are very interested in being joined up to that. Of course, the A1 runs through there as well, and we would like to see some improvements to the exits. The east midlands freeport brings some great opportunities for East Midlands airport, and we have the benefit of having Doncaster Sheffield airport just over the border. The freeport is a really great benefit for local manufacturing and logistics companies, and I am a big supporter of it. I want to see it succeed.
I fully support the efforts of my colleagues to make the case for HS2 going through Toton. It would be a big boost for the region as well as Nottinghamshire. So many positive things are going on in our region, and colleagues have mentioned devolution. A strong east midlands can help to supercharge our local economy and give us all a lift.
If my hon. Friend the Member for Rutland and Melton (Alicia Kearns) were present today, I know that she would mention her campaign to have the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs open an office in Melton Mowbray. Unfortunately, she could not be here, but I fully support her in that and wish her luck.
I will finish my remarks, as I know we are short of time. Once again, I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Mansfield for highlighting this issue. We have a great region in the east midlands. Let us make the most of it, and let us supercharge our economy and go forward together.