Debate on the Address

Chris McDonald Excerpts

Wednesday 17th July 2024 Commons Chamber

[Chris McDonald (Stockton North) (Lab)]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. Speaking as a new Member, I would like to add my congratulations to those hon. Members who have made their first speech today on the confidence and clarity with which they were delivered. They really have set a worryingly high standard.

The Gracious Speech contained many fine Bills, but for me it was much more about a new way of governing: a Government of service, of change and of action. I know that this will be warmly welcomed by my constituents in Stockton North. The reason for that could be seen quite clearly Saturday last, when I was in Durham playing my cornet at the Durham miners’ gala. The village banners of the gala display the pride and hopes of the community. Behind me was an image of the great miners’ leader, Peter Lee, and emblazoned on the banner was the slogan:

“The past we inherit, the future we build.”

This belief in a positive future, one that we can determine ourselves, has instilled in me the tenacity and determination to stand here. It is also characteristic of the people I represent in Stockton North.

Stockton North is an industrial place, and the people are industrious people. Stockton was home to the world’s first passenger railway, opened in 1825 with one of Britain’s most famous engineers, George Stephenson, driving the engine. The line that he built is now used by the nearby Hitachi Rail factory to transport new locomotives on to the national network. Stockton thrived on industries such as steel and shipbuilding, and whenever I hear the chimes of Big Ben ring out across Westminster, I am reminded that the first bell for the Elizabeth Tower was cast in Stockton North, in Norton.

John Walker, a pioneer of chemical engineering, invented the friction match on Stockton’s famous high street in 1827. However, it was in the 20th century, with the dawn of the chemicals industry, that the neighbouring town of Billingham began to boom with the manufacture of ammonia for explosives and fertiliser.

This industrial progress continues, with Billingham and Stockton home to catalyst technologies and life sciences, with new investments planned in sustainable aviation fuel—which also featured in the Gracious Speech —and small modular reactors, carbon capture and hydrogen projects. During the covid pandemic, vaccines were developed in Oxford but manufactured in Billingham. From Wynyard to Port Clarence, we have the skills and expertise to deliver this Government’s industrial strategy and attract the private sector investment that our new national wealth fund demands. We know that Britain is great at industry, which keeps us safe, generates fairer economic growth and creates new opportunities for our young people. That is sorely needed in Stockton North, where a third of our children live in poverty. We will seize this chance to help the people who need it most.

It is an honour for me to have the good fortune to succeed Alex Cunningham. Alex is as well regarded in Stockton North as he was in this House, and it has been a joy for me in the last week to meet Members here who know Alex and describe his fundamental decency and fairness as a person—values that we would all like to see more of in political life. Alex has given great service over four decades as a local councillor and Member of Parliament. He held a series of shadow ministerial positions, but his personal priority was always to promote opportunities for young people through education and health. These interests were combined in what I know Alex himself sees as his greatest achievement: the extension of restrictions on smoking to include private vehicles where children are present, a measure that will undoubtedly save the health of so many young people. I am sure he was delighted to see the smoking measures proposed today.

In a slight break with tradition, I would also like to acknowledge the former Member for Langbaurgh, the late Ashok Kumar. Ashok and I were both chemical engineers in the steel industry before being elected to Parliament. We worked together at British Steel’s research laboratories in Redcar, which I know is why many of my colleagues over the last week have been referring to me as the steel guy. At that time, I was fresh out of school and Ashok was taking a rest between general elections. I recall that he devoted as much of his time at work to political campaigning as he did to steel research.

Ashok was a well-loved colleague, and I took the opportunity a few years ago to re-establish the Ashok Kumar fellowship, which is a collaboration between the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology and the Institution of Chemical Engineers to promote understanding between engineers and parliamentarians. I believe that I have the privilege of being the first and only fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering to sit here, and bringing together the two worlds of engineering and politics in the area of industrial strategy is something that I hope to do usefully in my time here.

The people of Stockton North recognise the value of service, and we count many service members, veterans and cadets among our number. As a signatory of the armed forces covenant, I welcome the measures to establish an armed forces commissioner. I personally feel a great responsibility of service as a Member of this House, and my concern is to ensure that this Parliament delivers a noticeable improvement in the lives of the people of Stockton North. At the time of my election, I invited my constituents to bear that commitment in mind when they come to judge my performance at the next general election, and I now make that pledge here, again.