Productivity and Economic Growth: East Midlands Debate
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Jo White
Main Page: Jo White (Labour - Bassetlaw)Department Debates - View all Jo White's debates with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Productivity and Economic Growth: East Midlands
Jo White Excerpts(1 day, 9 hours ago)
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Steve Darling
Yes. Let me reflect on the three areas that we need to be driving in particular. The first is our green energy approach, which the Government have made significant steps on. I am disappointed that the previous Government had a policy that did not prioritise the new schemes. A number of zombie schemes were sticking in the system. We need only look at the shock to our economy.
Jo White (Bassetlaw) (Lab)
The hon. Gentleman talks about green carbon-neutral schemes coming forward. I welcome yesterday’s announcement of a construction partner for the STEP Fusion plant at West Burton in Nottinghamshire: the consortium known as ILIOS, which is led by a joint venture between Kier and Nuvia, supported by AECOM, A_AL Architects, and Turner & Townsend. This will see the creation of thousands of jobs right across the region. We should welcome that initiative by our Government.
Steve Darling
I am delighted to welcome that, but we need to drive harder. We need only look at the massive impact on our economy of the incredibly foolish war that has been launched by Donald Trump. Uncoupling ourselves from the oil and gas industry will be a good way of protecting ourselves from such impacts in the future.
The second area I will reflect on is our young people. The fact that 16.1% of young people are unemployed is a real challenge. In my constituency of Torbay, there is a description of a “bay mentality”. A barrister came to speak at the school of one of my sons. He talked about using one’s connections ruthlessly. In a working-class setting, that is not so easy. People do not have such connections. My challenge to the Minister is, beyond the scheme announced by the Government yesterday, how are we looking at opportunities for working-class youngsters in particular to gain enrichment and experience, to get them to a better place?
Finally, given how many progressive Labour Members are present, I am shocked that so far we have not talked about rejoining the customs union. I look forward to the Minister sharing a date for when she is planning to complete the negotiations to rejoin the customs union, which will grow our economy significantly.