Artificial Intelligence Opportunities Action Plan

Chris McDonald Excerpts

Monday 13th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Peter Kyle]

I admire the way the Conservatives just push through with this. They did not commit a single penny to a single one of the projects that the hon. Gentleman mentions. They want all the benefits of our Budget, but will not say how they would pay for them. He is actually asking me to cut £800 million, or £1.3 billion, of revenue—perhaps cut thousands of research grants to universities and PhD students—to pay for a project that the Conservative Government announced but did not commit a single penny to.

[Chris McDonald (Stockton North) (Lab)]

The Secretary of State mentioned the benefits to industrial communities such as Stockton North. Does he agree that the commitment to artificial intelligence will lead to more investment in data-intensive heavy industries, such as chemicals and life sciences? I warmly invite him to visit the Billingham chemicals cluster in my constituency if he wishes to see industrial AI in action.

[Peter Kyle]

My hon. Friend could not be more right. Not only will AI improve the investment landscape for physical infrastructure but it will mean profound technological advances in all sorts of industries, including those that are chemistry dependent. I am so glad that those industries have an MP who recognises that, is on their side, and is sticking up for them today in the British Parliament.

Oral Answers to Questions

Chris McDonald Excerpts

Wednesday 16th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The difference is that we now have a Westminster Government who want to work with the Welsh Government to deliver for the people of Wales. For 14 long years the Welsh Government were in a position where the then UK Government were in conflict with them. Now, we will work together, collaborate and ensure that we deliver across Wales.

[Chris McDonald (Stockton North) (Lab)]

Q10. Will my right hon. and learned Friend the Prime Minister join me in praising our Labour police and crime commissioner for Cleveland, Matt Storey, who is working with me to tackle knife crime, drug crime and antisocial behaviour in Stockton North, and will he assure my constituents that under this Labour Government we will see more police officers in Stockton and Billingham?

[The Prime Minister]

I welcome my hon. Friend’s work with the new Labour police and crime commissioner. It is sad to say that in Cleveland, the number of full-time equivalent police officers fell by over 12% under the last Government; when you fail on the economy and growth, those are the types of things that happen across the country. As part of our neighbourhood policing guarantee, we will put 13,000 more neighbourhood police and police community support officers back on our streets and ensure that every community has a named local officer. Through our safer streets mission, we will tackle illegal drugs, halve knife crime and crack down on antisocial behaviour, and go after the gangs that lure young people into violence.