International Investment Summit

Jade Botterill Excerpts

Thursday 17th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Jade Botterill (Ossett and Denby Dale) (Lab)]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for the opportunity to deliver my maiden speech in this important debate on international investment, the benefits of which will be felt right across all regions of our country.

I want to begin by paying tribute to my predecessor, Mark Eastwood. He was a dedicated servant to his previous constituency of Dewsbury. On behalf of myself and our community, I say thank you.

Being the Member for the area in which I grew up is truly the honour of my life. I will forever be grateful to the people across Ossett and Denby Dale who put their faith in me to represent the area that I proudly call home. I pay tribute to the Labour members across the constituency, especially stalwart member Robert Gosling, without whom I would not be standing here today.

I would also like to take the opportunity to thank my parents for their support, as well as my brother, who has always been there for me during some of the most challenging times. I am delighted that they have travelled from Wakefield to be in the Public Gallery today. Their own commitment to our community in their long careers of public service—working hard and talking straight—are principles that I hope to emulate here. My mum is so committed to the north that this is her first ever trip to London—proof, were it ever needed, that us northerners only come south if somebody makes us.

I know many Members have already spoken about the beauty of their patches, but with respect, I must make the case for Ossett and Denby Dale. Driving from Ossett towards the Wakefield rural villages and into Denby Dale, the sky widens and the moors roll out before you. On that drive, when I see the Emley Moor mast appear from the horizon, built taller than the Eiffel tower, I know I am home. It is beautiful, it is Yorkshire and it is the place that made me who I am today.

It is not just those moors and views that move me; it is also the people who call them home. We are people of talent, community and, as good Yorkshire folk say, hard graft. In fact, that beautiful landscape is the fruit of exactly that graft, of that talent. You see it in the pits dug across the countryside that served to fuel and heat our nation. You see it in the fields—ploughed, planted and grazed by countless generations to feed not just Yorkshire but the rest of the country. You see it in the town markets, which have bustled with small traders, craftsmen and local farmers for generations. That landscape is not just the cradle of talent, but a product of it.

Each town, each village has its own community, its own culture—all quietly, proudly distinct. As well as hard work, these towns and villages are famous for their culture, their creativity and their heritage—home to brass bands, Morris dancers, maypoles and even a Doctor Who, but most importantly of all, the world’s greatest rugby league team, Wakefield Trinity. Labour may be a party of the Union, but in West Yorkshire, when it comes to rugby, we watch the proper stuff and as you will know, Madam Deputy Speaker, that is league.

We are also home to Yorkshire Sculpture Park, with its Barbara Hepworths and Henry Moores, and the National Coal Mining Museum, which roots us in our proud history. I am enthusiastic—sometimes maybe a little too enthusiastic—that my constituency contains so many wonderful pubs and brewers. We have the ever expanding Ossett Brewery and our famous yearly festival, Ossett Beercart.

Just as we work hard and play hard, we also pie hard. Indeed, for over 200 years, the people of Denby Dale have marked special occasions in the only way I think appropriate: by baking enormous pies to feed thousands —some even as long as 40 feet, with nine tonnes of filling and 200 pints of bitter. That history and that culture must be championed. It is Yorkshire culture; it is our culture.

But I refuse to talk about my community only in the past tense—about opportunities we used to have and industries we used to lead. Indeed, I want my successors in this place to be celebrating the creativity and achievements of children being born in my constituency today. Sadly, however, the Social Mobility Commission recently reported that many young people in Ossett and Denby Dale, and other post-industrial communities across our nation, face an uphill battle. Growing up in a rural town, I know that feeling all too well: that the place you are from is overlooked—forgotten, even; that opportunities are few and far between; and that the only path to success in life is leaving your family, your friends, your home. After briefly living in London in my twenties for work, I remember feeling like the token northerner with the funny accent. I found myself having to speak eloquently so folk down here could actually understand me. The only problem with that was that when I got back home, my friends and family would ask me why I was speaking so posh. It actually made me feel quite lost.

Young people in Ossett and Denby Dale, and in towns and villages across our country, should not feel like they have to get out to get ahead—and yet so many of them do. To talk solely about what was once possible in our community is to betray those young people. Instead, our politics must be built on their dreams and on their potential: decent, secure jobs with reliable public transport to get them there; good affordable housing where they can build their families and their future; high-quality education and skills training; access to creativity and culture; aspiration, hope.

England is a nation of towns and villages like mine—of community, of culture, of graft. For England to succeed, towns and villages must succeed, and it will be my mission in this place to see that happen.