Debate on the Address

Jacob Young Excerpts

Tuesday 11th May 2021 Commons Chamber

[Jacob Young (Redcar) (Con)]

Over the last year in Parliament we faced a crisis like no other in our living memory, yet we still achieved some incredible things thanks to the determination of this Government. The Prime Minister focused on the people’s priorities. We have 11,200 more nurses in our NHS than last year, 9,000 extra police officers as part of our 20,000 target, and a new £4.8 billion levelling-up fund to support communities across the UK. We passed the Domestic Abuse Bill, the Overseas Operations Bill and the Counter-Terrorism and Sentencing Bill. We signed trade deals with more than 60 countries and supported workers and businesses through the pandemic with furlough and grants. We increased sentences for animal abusers from six months to five years. We established eight new freeports, including one in Teesside. We launched the vaccination programme—the most successful vaccine roll-out in Europe—and, of course, we got Brexit done. This is a Government delivering on the people’s priorities, which is why we have seen this overwhelming endorsement from the public over recent days.

Turning to this Queen’s Speech, as we mark Mental Health Awareness Week, I am proud that this Government are putting mental health at the heart of our plans for the NHS. The past 18 months have been incredibly challenging for many of us. We have all struggled with our mental health in different ways. That is why we are making sure that support is available when people need it and that anyone who struggles will be treated with dignity and respect when getting the help that they need.

When I was elected in 2019, I pledged to do all I could to cut crime and make our streets safer in Redcar and Cleveland. I am thankful to the people of Teesside, who have put their trust in our newly elected Conservative police and crime commissioner for Cleveland, Steve Turner, who got such resounding support, achieving over 50% in the first preference. The reason why the public are backing us on the police is that we are backing the police through things such as the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill. We are also recruiting more police, with an additional 185 officers swelling the ranks in Cleveland as part of the Government’s plans to recruit 20,000 new police officers across the country.

Tackling road and knife crime is a priority shared by the Government, as is making our justice system fairer for victims, and I am pleased that we are introducing a range of legislation that will do just that. Our measures deliver greater support for victims, tougher sentences for the worst offenders and extra funding to reduce knife crime. We need that funding to go to the right areas, too, just like in Cleveland. This Queen’s Speech shows that we are the party of law and order, putting victims first and serious offenders behind bars.

I also thank the Government for the announcement of the new legislation to ban conversion therapy so that it is finally considered as what it is: a crime. I recognise the need for consultation on legislation, but I say this as a gay Christian: please, let us just get this done. I urge Ministers to speed up any consultation process as much as possible so that victims of this horrific practice are finally recognised as such.

I welcome the Government’s commitment to greater online protections from abuse to prevent bullying and intimidation on social media from unaccountable and anonymous trolls. Democracy has to be about sharing ideas and encouraging debate, but no difference in opinion justifies threats, abusive language or degrading comments. That is also why we must strengthen freedom of speech in our universities, to reintroduce proper debate, as is expected of our world-leading higher education system.

Protecting the debate of ideas is fundamental to protecting our democracy, but it is also critical to ensure a robust electoral system that gives citizens the right to vote and in a way that helps them to engage but prevents fraud. It is for those reasons that I welcome the electoral integrity Bill, where, for the first time, we will introduce ID cards for voting. However, I think we should go one step further and step away from all these confusing, frustrating voting systems. Our Parliament is elected on first past the post, and the only time that we have ever been offered an alternative, it was rightly rejected by the voters. We should move to do every elected office in this country through a first-past-the-post system.

Separately, through our new borders Bill, we will fix the loopholes in our asylum system so that no human trafficking gang is able to take advantage of our generosity and humanity to fill their own pockets. Our new plan for immigration will protect and support those in genuine need of asylum; deter illegal entry into the UK; create new legal, safe routes to asylum; break the business model of criminal trafficking networks; and remove more easily from the UK those with no right to be here.

Redcar and Cleveland is over 300 miles away from Dover, but illegal immigration is still one of the biggest issues that my constituents contact me about, and for years their concerns have been dismissed by a political class who are not willing to face up to the challenge of illegal immigration and who are too quick to brand anyone who challenges illegal immigration a racist. Those quick to dismiss need think only of the 39 Vietnamese people who died in the back of a lorry in October 2019, or the 300 people who have died trying to cross the channel since 1999. That is to say nothing of the dangers faced by our coastguard, the Royal Navy or our maritime workers, which they have to endure to protect these lives at sea. The most compassionate approach to illegal immigration has to be to stop people climbing in the back of lorries or in dinghies across the channel, and that is what our plan aims to do.

Finally, as we build back better, we must build back greener too. By implementing the Environment Bill, we will set legally binding environment targets to tackle air pollution, cut plastic waste and revolutionise how we recycle. We continue to lead the way globally in acting on climate change, hosting the vital COP26 climate negotiations in November and rolling out our 10-point plan for a green industrial revolution. As we step away from carbon-intensive industries, particularly our steel and chemical industries, we must ensure that we facilitate people transitioning into new green collar jobs, which is why I welcome the lifetime skills guarantee.

There is so much more that I would like to say. We have a real, fantastic agenda for the next 12 months, but, to finish, this Government are leading the way out of the covid pandemic and into a decade of growth and prosperity. There can be no doubt that they are delivering on the people’s priorities for Redcar and Cleveland, and for the country. This Queen’s Speech encapsulates exactly that, and I wholly support it.