Education and Opportunity

Debate between John Slinger and Caroline Nokes

Wednesday 24th July 2024 Commons Chamber

[John Slinger (Rugby) (Lab)]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. May I warmly congratulate you on taking up your position and warmly welcome the Secretary of State and her ministerial team to their positions, too? I express my deepest condolences to my hon. Friend the Member for Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr (Steve Witherden) for his loss. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham Selly Oak (Al Carns) on his sobering and powerful words, and other colleagues across the Chamber on their speeches today.

I start by thanking my family for their love and forbearance in recent months, my Labour and other friends for their support, and the people of Rugby and the villages for giving me the honour of representing my constituency, which has been my home for the last 17 years. As the MP representing the only seat with a sport named after it, I hope that the House will indulge me the occasional rugby analogy.

The rugby ball has been passed to me, notwithstanding a couple of minor mauls during the election campaign, which I overcame. I want to pay tribute to Mark Pawsey, my predecessor, who ran with the ball—literally and metaphorically—as a member of the Commons and Lords rugby team. Mark is an honourable, decent and kind man who served the House with distinction, worked tirelessly for his constituents and promoted the game of rugby internationally. I also put on record my respect for the former Labour Member Andy King, whose distinguished service continues to inspire me.

Rugby is a market town that has grown rapidly in recent years, surrounded by many small villages—too numerous to mention one by one—set in the beautiful Warwickshire countryside. To the north of the constituency is Bulkington, which some say is one of the largest villages in England, although my right hon. Friend the Member for Kingston upon Hull North and Cottingham (Dame Diana Johnson) may disagree.

Rugby’s population ballooned when the Oxford canal was constructed in the 1770s, and the railway hastened industrialisation. I say to any Front Benchers listening that being on the west coast main line can very much hasten any ministerial visits that they may or may not want to make. [Interruption.] No, stop at Rugby. The confluence of the M1, the M6 and the M45 near Rugby places us firmly in the logistics golden triangle.

Notwithstanding this logistical good fortune, Rugby’s potential lies primarily with its people. We have been blessed, and still are, by people who innovate, challenge norms and think creatively. Let us take sport: a plaque at Rugby School records that, in 1823, the legendary local schoolboy William Webb Ellis,

“with a fine disregard for the rules of football, took the ball in his arms and ran with it”.

Although my connection with the game of rugby as a player was, I confess, somewhat underwhelming, I am proud to say that my dad, who is in the Gallery, played for England as a schoolboy.

I will not join the House rugby team, but I might join a reformed House rock band. I am acutely aware of how dangerous such statements can be, given that yesterday I wandered innocently into a meeting of an all-party parliamentary group, and wandered out slightly bewildered as vice-chair. As a classically trained violinist and semi-retired rock musician, I am glad to represent a constituency filled to the brim with talented people. I will bang the drum and strum a chord for them. Rugby was the birthplace of the poet Rupert Brooke, whose words

“That there’s some corner of a foreign field that is forever England”

epitomised a quiet, contemplative English patriotism.

We have spawned famous rock bands and musicians, from Spacemen 3 to James Morrison. The creative arts scene is thriving, with fantastic local bands of all genres, an orchestra, dance schools, Rugby theatre for amateur dramatics, galleries and much more. The sporting scene is vibrant, with several rugby football and football teams, and a plethora of clubs in the town and villages, where selfless volunteers offer pretty much every sport to the community.

Rugby also has a proud track record of technological innovation. As hon. Members get on a jet plane this week, they should think of Rugby, as the prototype of the first jet engine was built by Sir Frank Whittle at the British Thomson-Houston works in the town in 1937. At the same site a decade later, a young Hungarian refugee Dennis Gabor invented holography. I live in hope that holographic technology advances so far that, one day, MPs can be beamed into multiple locations, to assist with our busy diaries. Until recently, dozens of giant masts formed part of the world’s most powerful radio transmitter. In 1927, the site was instrumental in the first transatlantic telephone call. I believe in maintaining the strongest possible transatlantic alliance, so I am proud that Rugby played its part in deepening the ties between our two great nations.

That pioneering industrial and scientific prowess persists. Today, GE Vernova builds world-leading advanced generators, including for Royal Navy vessels. At Ansty Park we have the Manufacturing Technology Centre, the London Electric Vehicle Company—which makes the electric cabs in which many of us newbies may have been moved around in recent days—and FANUC UK. When I visited the MTC recently with my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister and the West Midlands Mayor, it struck me that in order to unleash potential, we need partnership between business, the education and skills sector, local and national government, trade unions and much more. We met apprentices, beaming with pride at their achievements and in anticipation of a brighter future.

We also need investment, most importantly in education. I am therefore delighted that the King’s Speech includes measures to raise standards in education, reform the apprenticeships levy and establish Skills England. Having visited so many of our excellent state secondary schools and the brilliant local college, I am confident that the people of our area will do the modern-day equivalent of inventing a sport, designing an engine or writing an immortal poem.

Rugby is a place that is at ease with itself. We are a very diverse town, and that is unequivocally a huge strength. We learn from one another, celebrate one another’s traditions, break down barriers and focus on our common interests, something epitomised by the late Dr James Shera MBE, a mentor of mine who is sadly missed across the constituency.

Our charitable sector is strong. I will take the liberty of mentioning two local charities that inspire me: the Our Jay Foundation, which installs defibrillators; and Back and Forth Mens Mental Health, an issue close to my heart. The churches, temples and faith groups are at the heart of our community. The Street Pastors, who I shadowed on a late night shift, show kindness in action—kindness is a much underrated virtue.

The people of Rugby and the villages are compassionate. They warmly welcomed refugees from Ukraine. I pay tribute to the thriving Rugby Ukrainian community, its Ukrainian members bravely forging their new lives away from home, and all from the constituency who are helping them. The Benn Partnership’s “Meet and Eat” on Fridays, catered for by recent immigrants who not only cook the food but are learning English there, shows our cohesion. Our community invests in our young people, with fabulous youth centres, such as Hill Street and the Bradby Club. There are too many voluntary groups and organisations for me to mention; I simply salute them all.

We thrive more when we work together and when the Government are truly an enabler. I want to put on record my appreciation as a councillor of the work of council officers and all public servants in serving our community in difficult circumstances. I campaigned to become a Labour candidate using the phrase “Together we can”. I believe that is the only approach that will truly unleash the potential of the constituency. We now have a brilliantly led Labour council, a Labour MP and a Labour Government committed to empowering places with a strong vision.

I will do all I can to bring together people in this constituency, urban or rural, factory or farm worker, whatever their background, to tackle the problems we face, whether the lack of infrastructure such as GP surgeries, the need for more services at the superb Hospital of St Cross, insufficient affordable and social homes, town centre regeneration or the need to make our streets safer. In doing this, I am inspired by the late, great Ann Clwyd, for whom I worked, and the late, great Frank Field, with whom I worked.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

Order. I now have to call the Front Benchers.