(1 month ago)
Commons ChamberI can give my hon. Friend the firmest of assurances that we will continue to prioritise shipbuilding on the Clyde, and indeed defence jobs across Scotland.
Our economic growth mission will raise living standards in Scotland. Our new deal for working people will disproportionately benefit Scots. New protections such as guaranteed hours will help shift workers with up to £600 a year. We are also delivering an annual pay rise of £1,400 for hundreds of thousands of full-time workers in Scotland, and we have committed to the triple lock, which means an extra £470 for pensioners next year. Last week, we paid the first instalment to 7,000 former Scottish miners with their full pension. We will improve living standards through better public services and pay driven by economic growth.
Does the Secretary of State agree that community benefit funds from wind farms contribute to improving living standards for communities? Will he join me in praising the work of the nine community council groups in Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock as a model of the fair distribution of funds to support local apprenticeships and improve living standards across the Cumnock and Doon Valley areas?
(4 months ago)
Commons ChamberI am proud to be part of a UK Government that will oversee the biggest upgrade of workers’ rights in a generation. We have set out the new deal for working people and will write it into law within our first 100 days. Over 75 reforms will deliver on a core part of our growth mission to raise living standards, and up to 7,800 workers across Ayrshire stand to benefit from Labour’s plans to make work pay.
In addition to this Government’s action on the new deal for working people, we should ensure that there is a fair deal for those who powered our country in the past. From my previous work with the Coalfields Regeneration Trust, I know the vital difference that that extra support makes to those communities and their families. Can the Secretary of State give an update on the proposals to end the injustice of the mineworkers’ pension scheme before it is too late?
Mineworkers from my own constituency of Midlothian, from my hon. Friend’s constituency and from across our coalfields powered this country, so I am delighted that our Labour manifesto committed to ending the injustice of the mineworkers’ pension scheme by conducting a review of the unfair surplus arrangements and of transferring the investment reserve fund back to members. I would be delighted to write to my hon. Friend and to other Members representing coalfield seats with a further update in due course.