Social Security and Pensions
Debate between Jeremy Corbyn and Guy Opperman(1 year, 10 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North) (Ind)
I am pleased that we are having this debate and that, for once, it is fully subscribed to, which is very welcome. We are dealing with issues of terrible poverty in this country, brought about by a combination of low wages, insufficiency of benefits, very high rents, and inflation driven largely by the greed of the energy companies, which are making so much money. This House needs to reflect seriously on how the fifth-richest country in the world can have more and more people sleeping rough, begging on our streets and trying to eke out an existence.
Guy Opperman
I am listening very closely to the right hon. Gentleman’s speech. Does he attribute any blame for the fiscal difficulties that the country faces to what Mr Putin has done in Ukraine—yes or no?
Jeremy Corbyn
Could the Minister hold in his excitement for one moment? He is the Minister responsible for the inadequacy of benefits; perhaps he should reflect on that. Yes, the war in Ukraine has had an effect on global energy prices, although the effect has been bigger in some countries than others. Countries such as France deal with that by taking energy companies into public ownership to protect their citizens from the grotesque energy price increases that his Government are quite happy to mete out to the people of this country.
UK-Listed Mining Companies
Debate between Jeremy Corbyn and Guy OppermanWestminster Hall is an alternative Chamber for MPs to hold debates, named after the adjoining Westminster Hall.
Each debate is chaired by an MP from the Panel of Chairs, rather than the Speaker or Deputy Speaker. A Government Minister will give the final speech, and no votes may be called on the debate topic.
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
Guy Opperman (Hexham) (Con)
Mining is part of the north-east’s industrial heritage, and in my constituency alone there are more than 100 former mines. Lead, tin and coal mining shaped my local area. The hon. Member for Falkirk (Eric Joyce) made miners abroad the focus of his speech, and I should make it clear that I wholeheartedly back the extractive industries transparency initiative and the Financial Conduct Authority’s proposals. All efforts are being made to ensure that a vital trade is conducted ethically and transparently. It is entirely right to say that we have an obligation to support the poorest states in the world and to help countries in Africa, whether through our international aid commitment or by other means, and that effort should be supported. My focus, though, will be on the actions of UK mining companies in this country.
I want to focus on the more controversial issue of open-cast mining, which is relevant to my constituents for three reasons. I have three of the most significant open-cast sites in the country, including the huge site at Shotton, which is run by Banks. I should make two declarations. As a lawyer, I have previously represented individuals who have sued mining companies. I believe that I have some limited shares in BHP Billiton, a company that is obviously relevant to this debate.
From a constituency MP’s point of view, the way in which mining companies engage with the community is significant, whether they are local, national or international. We all know that people are inherently distrustful of significant change that they cannot control. For example, we resent all our decisions and power being taken away from us by large unitary authorities. Mine is based in Morpeth, which seems more interested in other parts of the county. The issue is particularly significant when we lack a local development plan or a local minerals plan to determine how our county is to approach mining development and management of the green belt.
UK Coal has proposed a significant, large open-cast site in Whittonstall. On Saturday I met the protest group who are campaigning vigorously against the proposal, which would blight their community tremendously. UK Coal has promised a £1.2 million sweetener for the local community if it gets planning permission. All well and good, one might think, but that money is not secured. As is well known, UK Coal, which is the largest miner in this country, had an emergency meeting just last week at which it voted through a range of measures in an attempt to rescue the company. It is already on the verge of closing mines such as Saw Mill and Maltby, and my constituents are worried that the £1.2 million sweetener will not be placed in a secure trust controlled by a third party, so that whatever happened to UK Coal that money would still be available to the community. The comparison between how international communities are treated and how local communities are treated is very relevant.
A development is proposed at Halton Lea Gate, a small village on the Cumbrian border. It has a tradition of mining, but my constituents face three and a half years of open-cast mining as HM Project Developments Ltd attempts to dig out 140,000 tonnes of coal. That open-casting will take place 57 metres from the nearest home. I have persistently campaigned against that, not least because the village is on the edge of the north Pennines area of outstanding natural beauty, and is within sight of the Pennine way.
We held a village hall meeting in August, when we were amazed that the decision of an inspector, who had decided that there was a national need for the mineral in question—coal—clashed with a decision at Bradley, a similar open-cast site in Durham. The latter decision was taken by a different inspector on 23 February 2012. Both decisions are being reviewed by a High Court judge, who must come to a view on the correct way ahead. That is particularly relevant in the context of our energy policy in this country, because we need to decide whether we are focused on gas, renewable, nuclear or shale gas and—with particular relevance to mining organisations—what role coal has in our future energy programme.
The third site that I am concerned about is the Shotton mine run by Banks, which is a traditional north-east company. I accept that companies wishing to get community support, whether internationally or locally, for mining projects must engage the local community. It can be done. By and large, Banks has been very successful with the significant mine at Shotton next to the A1. The company pays good wages; there are many local jobs, and the way in which it engages with the community is excellent. There is also a significant tourism benefit, which I recommend to all Members of the House and to the country, in the form of Northumberlandia, the largest earth sculpture in the country. It could well be the new Angel of the North, even if it is slightly more horizontal. However, Banks has chosen to diversify and move away from a traditional mining environment into property speculation, with proposals to build houses around the village of Ponteland. I cannot express enough my disappointment that a good mining company is attempting to form a cash cow of housing on the green belt. Frankly, it should be ashamed of itself.
Banks is not the only one. A company called Lugano is universally detested for the way that it is buying up huge swathes of land for green-belt development. Lugano is not registered in this country and appears to be owned by a private trust in Guernsey. I have no way of finding out who the real owners are, where the profits go or where it pays its taxes. Sources tell me that the beneficiary of the trust is a Jewish organisation based in Lugano, Switzerland, and clearly, as a result, it would not be liable for any taxation in this country. It certainly has no experience of the sort of development that it is proposing. Furthermore, Lugano seems to be employing former officers of the local county council. Those officers have failed to produce the mineral plans and local development plans that we all require under localism and, having been paid off £500,000 by the local authority, they are now being employed to advise developers how to get round the planning system that they so grievously failed to organise prior to their departure with the pay-off.
Guy Opperman
I would go much further than that, and within the bounds of libel, say that it is outrageous. It is totally wrong and it takes the local community for fools. It will be resisted, and I am assured that the provisions on the green belt—these proposals all concern the green belt, whether they are for open-cast mining or for housing—are greatly supported, for example, by the comments of the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government:
“The green belt is an important protection against urban sprawl, providing a green lung around towns and cities. The national planning policy framework delivers the coalition’s agreement to safeguard the green belt. Inappropriate development should not be approved in the green belt, and boundaries should be altered only in exceptional circumstances.”—[Official Report, 17 September 2012; Vol. 550, c. 619-620.]
I endorse that entirely.
I finish my brief contribution by assuring my constituents and colleagues that such actions are not what localism is about, nor is it what responsible mining companies are about. This kind of shady operator creates an atmosphere, frankly, of nimbyism, and I do not blame people in the slightest for being against such developments. I, for one, will be doing everything that I can to support them, as well as everything in my power to stop such companies.