Madeleine Moon
Main Page: Madeleine Moon (Labour - Bridgend)Westminster Hall is an alternative Chamber for MPs to hold debates, named after the adjoining Westminster Hall.
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Several hon. Members rose—
Mrs Madeleine Moon (in the Chair)
Order. Given the number of hon. Members standing, some of whom have not notified the Chair of their wish to speak, I am imposing a five-minute limit on speeches. That may be reduced, depending on how the time goes and interventions.
Jo Churchill (Bury St Edmunds) (Con)
I could not agree more with what the hon. Lady is saying about catapult centres, but, for firms like Mettalis in my constituency, it would be better to incentivise R&D credits across the piece and also look at the other method of driving innovation, which would be to make the enterprise investment scheme applicable to steel as well.
Mrs Madeleine Moon (in the Chair)
Order. It is inappropriate for the hon. Lady to arrive part-way through the debate and then make an immediate intervention.
Anna Turley
I appreciate the hon. Lady’s point because I do not think it should be an either/or: we can work together on investing seriously in research and development in steel.
On the MPI facility, no other such facility in Europe possesses equal capability. Support for a materials catapult on Teesside will give British steel making the cutting edge in research and development, encouraging greater investment and resilience for the industry. The MPI, as my hon. Friend the Member for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland has said, has had a direct approach from Sweden. We have also got experts coming from Germany, Australia and Holland. If foreign Governments and commercial operators are engaging with our researchers in the UK to future-proof their steel sectors, can the Minister explain why it is such a struggle to convince officials in the British Government? Do they know something that industry and innovation experts do not?
So those two areas show the potential that we have on Teesside for steel to play a key role in our economic regeneration. It must not be forgotten that we have a thriving chemicals industry and a dynamic port. We have the potential for more investment in energy from waste, carbon capture and storage, carbon dioxide conversion and potash mining. When oil and gas recovers, that can also play a vital role in our economy. I thank the Government for making Redcar College one of its spokes for national colleges for oil and gas. We have great opportunities. Boro have done their bit to get us in the premier league; now it is time for all of us to step up.
Mrs Madeleine Moon (in the Chair)
Order. Despite the generosity of the Scottish National party spokesman in offering to reduce his speech time, I am going to have to reduce the time to three minutes.