Budget Resolutions

Irene Campbell Excerpts

Wednesday 6th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Irene Campbell (North Ayrshire and Arran) (Lab)]

Many thanks, Madam Deputy Speaker, for calling me to give my maiden speech in such an important debate. It was great to see a Budget delivered by a female Chancellor, the first one ever in this Parliament, and a Budget delivering the largest funding settlement for Scotland in the history of devolution.

I am delighted to be here today as the Member of Parliament for North Ayrshire and Arran, my home constituency, and I am honoured that people put their faith in me and voted for me to be their MP. I thank my family and friends for their support, which was greatly appreciated.

I pay my respects to my predecessor Patricia Gibson for her work in the constituency over the past nine years. Like me, she cares about the community we serve, and I wish her well. I also pay my respects to her staff for their hard work. Staff often go unrecognised, but they play a vital part in delivering for our communities.

I first got interested in politics at a very young age. One of our neighbours, David Lambie, was the hon. Member for Central Ayrshire from 1970 until 1983 and was very active in the area. That was my introduction to politics and to this place. I was fascinated by what was going on and how it all worked. I remember being in the Gallery to see Prime Minister’s questions in the 1980s; I still cannot quite believe that I am now here sitting on the green Benches.

North Ayrshire and Arran is a mix of towns—many of them post-industrial—villages, rural and island communities. It has the best of both the countryside and the seaside, with two beautiful islands, but I will say more about that later. I have lived in the constituency for most of my life, although I started my working life in London in the 1980s. Jobs were scarce at that time in North Ayrshire and many other parts of Britain. Some may remember that unemployment was very high and to get a job people moved to cities. I arrived in London an enthusiastic young punk and not only got a job that I loved, but got to see a lot of bands, go to great art exhibitions, make some lifetime friends and generally have a great time, as most young people do. I would not have expected that years later I would be back in London where I started my career—I am no longer a punk, as you can see, but hopefully I still have the attitude.

Coming back to my constituency, I must mention a very famous resident, Alfred Nobel. In the 1860s he identified a site in the town of Stevenston on the Ardeer peninsula to build his explosives factory. At one time it was the largest explosives factory in the world and in its heyday it employed around 15,000 people, mainly locals. Nobel lived locally during the start of the project, and my great-grandmother Clara came over from Sweden to work for the Nobel family. She never left Stevenston, as she met my great-grandfather and stayed, so I am obviously very grateful.

North Ayrshire and Arran is a diverse constituency with the towns of Kilwinning, Ardrossan, Saltcoats and Stevenston making up a post-industrial landscape along with the Garnock valley, comprising the towns of Dalry, Beith, Kilbirnie, Glengarnock and the villages of Gateside and Barmill. The famous Glengarnock steelworks opened in the 1840s and operated until the 1970s. The north coast is made up of small, pretty coastal towns, with the villages of Seamill, West Kilbride, which is often referred to as a craft town, Portencross, Fairlie, Largs and Skelmorlie, and of course we have the wonderful and beautiful islands of Arran and Cumbrae.

To give a little bit of history, North Ayrshire and Arran has many ancient castles and monuments, from the medieval abbey in Kilwinning to castles in Ardrossan, Portencross, Glengarnock, Kersland, Dalry and many more, and the ancient Machrie Moor standing stones on Arran. The town of Largs is famous for the Viking battle in 1263 and hosts an annual Viking festival. These historical sites attract many visitors, and tourism is important to our local communities, particularly our island communities.

I must mention some famous residents, past and president—[Interruption.] Forgive me—I meant to say “present”. That is a Freudian slip on 6 November! Betsy Miller from Saltcoats was the first woman to be registered as the master of a ship and was apparently mentioned in this House during a debate on the provisions of the Merchant Shipping Act 1834. Henry Faulds from Beith, a Scottish doctor and scientist, was noted for the development of fingerprinting. Moving on to the present day, from Saltcoats we have Steve Clarke, the Scotland football manager, and Colin Hay, singer and musician from the Australian band Men at Work—who incidentally did not come from “a land down under”, but from Saltcoats. We have classical violinist Nicola Benedetti from West Kilbride, Olympic athlete Jemma Reekie from Beith and musicians and songwriters Gallagher and Lyle from Largs.

There are many community organisations and projects working hard in the constituency, including North Ayrshire Women’s Aid, where I served on the board for many years and was chair. The service provides crucial support for women and children. There are also Men’s Sheds throughout the constituency, as I think there are throughout the whole UK, doing great work promoting mental health and general wellbeing. The 1st Alliance Credit Union in Kilwinning ensures that local people can save and access affordable loans. In Kilbirnie there is the Radio City Association, working hard to bring community energy and the associated benefits. We also have the award-winning SeaSalt Streets group in Saltcoats, helping to improve the town centre, and I must pay tribute to the Save Ardrossan Harbour group, fighting hard to save the Ardrossan to Brodick ferry route, which has been in existence for around 190 years. There are many more I could mention.

Finally, I come to my home town of Saltcoats, where I have lived for most of my life. Saltcoats is a small seaside town on the Firth of Clyde. It was a great place to grow up, with plenty for children to do. One feature that I must mention is the great outdoor swimming pool, built in the 1930s, which had a beautiful art deco pavilion that would not have been out of place in the Cote d’Azur—although certainly did not have its weather. The pool welcomed many visitors from Glasgow and beyond and was very busy all through the summer, despite the fact that it was freezing cold and sometimes people would be swimming next to a jellyfish or an eel—that was all part of the experience. I learned to swim in the pool at a young age and have very fond memories of it.

Sadly, the beautiful art deco pavilion was demolished in the 1980s, but the swimming pool remains. During covid, I started a campaign with other local enthusiasts to revive and reopen the pool. We call ourselves the Splash group and we are linked with the UK Future Lidos group, which comprises other lido enthusiasts aiming to build lidos or to reopen existing ones throughout the UK and Ireland. Outdoor swimming has never been so popular and now is definitely the time to do it. It is good for both physical and mental health and wellbeing, and the pool would offer a safe outdoor space for swimmers. The Splash group has been working with London architect Chris Romer-Lee and we have a visionary 21st-century design for our pool. It would be a fantastic asset for Saltcoats and the wider North Ayrshire community.

I have given the House a tour of my constituency. I am in this place to serve my community and my aim during this Parliament is to bring improvement and investment and to work hard to make positive change to the lives of people in North Ayrshire and Arran.