Royal Mail: Universal Service Obligation

Debate between Liz Twist and Blair McDougall

Wednesday 11th March 2026 Commons Chamber

[Blair McDougall]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that helpful and practical suggestion. I will certainly add it to the agenda for the meeting, and report back to him on the outcomes of those discussions.

[Liz Twist (Blaydon and Consett) (Lab)]

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Blyth and Ashington (Ian Lavery) for asking this urgent question because, as he will know, too many constituents are suffering this situation. When this first started, I asked Royal Mail why it was happening. I got polite replies, but frankly, at this stage, fine words butter no parsnips. We really need some action. May I urge the Minister to push Ofcom to take action on this issue?

[Blair McDougall]

My hon. Friend is, as ever, a doughty campaigner for everyone in the communities she represents. I will certainly be pressing Ofcom on these issues, and I will continue to press Royal Mail directly as well, stressing that we want to see an improvement in standards. The current standards of delivery are simply not good enough.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Liz Twist and Blair McDougall

Thursday 29th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Blair McDougall]

The hon. Member is right to highlight the Government’s commitment to tackling inadequacies in the way rates are calculated, and that is exactly what my hon. Friend the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury spoke about from the Dispatch Box the other day. Beyond the rates issue, we are protecting high street businesses from upward-only rental review clauses, and we are introducing a community right to buy so that people can take ownership of valued community assets on the high street. We also have rental options for empty properties on the high street and action on bogus businesses, as the Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade, my hon. Friend the Member for Halifax (Kate Dearden), mentioned. We are doing a great deal to help the businesses the hon. Member described.

[Liz Twist (Blaydon and Consett) (Lab)]

14. What steps he is taking to implement the modern industrial strategy.

[Luke Akehurst (North Durham) (Lab)]

15. What steps he is taking to implement the modern industrial strategy.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Blair McDougall)]

We are focused on delivering our industrial strategy so that we are once again a nation that makes things, invents new industries and exports around the world. We are investing £100 billion in industries through the National Wealth Fund, directing £9 billion in research and innovation funding to key growth industries, and bringing forward a huge increase in support for exporters through UK Export Finance.

[Liz Twist]

For 14 years under the last Government, my constituents’ living standards stagnated. Across Blaydon and Consett, we have many successful manufacturing and engineering firms such as Slaters Electricals and Petersen Stainless Rigging in Blaydon, Gardner Aerospace and CAV Systems in Consett, and many more. Can my hon. Friend set out how our modern industrial strategy will support businesses in my constituency to raise living standards for my constituents?

[Blair McDougall]

My hon. Friend is such a powerful advocate for the industrial strengths of her part of the world, and it is on exactly those strengths that our industrial strategy is working to drive up business investment to create the high-quality jobs that will improve living standards and deliver better public services for everyone. The Government’s northern growth strategy aims to increase the potential of the northern growth corridor to catalyse growth in sectors such as those she describes, and I know we will continue to work with her to make sure her constituents get the most out of that.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Liz Twist and Blair McDougall

Thursday 11th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Blair McDougall]

The hon. Lady intervened on me to make a similar point in yesterday’s debate. She and her party knew that the transitional covid relief was coming to end and that revaluation was coming, because that had been agreed when the Conservatives were in Government. The difference with this Government is that we have put in more than £4 billion to cushion that transition. That shows our support for small businesses, versus them being thrown overboard by her party when they were in government.

[Liz Twist (Blaydon and Consett) (Lab)]

Earlier this year, 150,000 workers across the north-east benefited from the increase in the national minimum wage, with another increase due in April as a result of the Budget. However, it is important that these increases are actually applied, so the Minister set out what steps she is taking to ensure that employers comply?