Oral Answers to Questions

Mike Tapp Excerpts

Thursday 15th May 2025 Commons Chamber

[Jayne Kirkham (Truro and Falmouth) (Lab/Co-op)]

4. What steps she is taking to support the maritime sector.

[Mike Tapp (Dover and Deal) (Lab)]

14. What steps she is taking to support sustainability in the maritime sector.

[Lorraine Beavers (Blackpool North and Fleetwood) (Lab)]

21. What steps she is taking to support the maritime sector.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mike Kane]

My hon. Friend is a fierce advocate for the maritime community in her constituency. This Government are committed to unlocking investment in UK ports, and I was delighted by the announcement just yesterday by LS Eco Advanced Cables that it will be investing £1 billion into the Port of Tyne, which will be the first of many such investments over the months and years ahead. We are streamlining regulatory and planning processes, updating our national policy statement for ports, which is long overdue, and we will make targeted investments through the national wealth fund. I would be delighted to meet my hon. Friend to discuss that.

[Mike Tapp]

The Port of Dover has ambitious targets to be the first green shipping corridor. What are the Government’s plans to ensure sufficient power supplies to the port for ships to plug into?

[Mike Kane]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising that infrastructure, which is so important to our nation. I was pleased to meet Doug Bannister, the chief executive officer of the Port of Dover, just the other day to talk about these matters. This Government are implementing a new strategic planning process and reforming connections to ensure that electricity meets future demands. If we do that right, we can have the greenest shipping corridors in the world.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Lilian Greenwood)]

The Department is providing Gloucestershire county council with an extra £9 million of highway maintenance funding this year, taking its total funding to £35 million. That will allow the council to get on with the job of fixing those potholes.

[Mike Tapp (Dover and Deal) (Lab)]

T6. I am absolutely delighted to see the Government pushing forward with the new lower Thames crossing. Are there plans to explore widening the carriage in the parts that need it from the crossing to Dover to assist trade transit?

[Lilian Greenwood]

Improvements to the A2 as it approaches Dover are being considered as part of the pipeline of enhancements being developed for possible delivery in a future road investment strategy beyond 2030.