Immigration and Home Affairs

Richard Baker Excerpts

Tuesday 23rd July 2024 Commons Chamber

[Richard Baker (Glenrothes and Mid Fife) (Lab)]

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for allowing me the opportunity to give my maiden speech. It is a privilege to follow so many excellent maiden speeches in this important debate. I congratulate the hon. Member for Bridgwater (Sir Ashley Fox) on his powerful and witty speech. I must also congratulate in particular my hon. Friend the Member for Alloa and Grangemouth (Brian Leishman) on his excellent speech, too. As a former professional golfer, it is fitting that he won his seat on such a huge swing, and his brilliant speech showed us why. The bar has been set intimidatingly high in this debate.

I feel all the more honoured to be elected by the people of Glenrothes and Mid Fife to be their representative in the House and follow in the footsteps of predecessors who served the constituency with such distinction. I pay tribute to the outgoing MP, Peter Grant, who served with such commitment and so diligently on behalf of his constituents. He will rightly be proud in particular of his contribution to the successful campaign for the reintroduction of the Levenmouth rail link both as Fife council leader and as an MP, for his service on the Public Accounts Committee and for campaigning for the rights of victims of financial scandals through his role on the all-party parliamentary group on personal banking and fairer financial services.

I also pay tribute to Peter’s predecessor, Lindsay Roy, who was such a brilliant MP for the constituency. Today, Lindsay is a tireless advocate for Parkinson’s UK, making the case with passion and eloquence for improved support for people with Parkinson’s and for investment in medical research. His example should not only give hope to people with Parkinson’s; he is an inspiration to us all.

I am a new Member in this Parliament, but I was privileged to serve in the Scottish Parliament for 12 years. I have already observed some of the differences between Holyrood and here. This institution is older and often more complex—as indeed are many of its Members—and there are many procedures and protocols to learn, but while there are differences between the Parliaments, the purpose we have is a common one: to serve our constituents. We have heard over the past weeks how it is vital to have strong relationships between the UK Government and the devolved Administrations. That is of course true. However, I believe that there are still too few opportunities for Members of each of our UK Parliaments to work together on many matters of shared responsibility and interest. I hope that there can be greater collaboration between all our parliamentarians in the course of the next five years.

On a personal note, may I say that I am proud that my wife Claire Baker continues to serve the people of Mid Scotland and Fife in the Scottish Parliament with such skill and dedication? I was delighted that Claire and our daughter Catherine could be in the Gallery when I was sworn in.

I have also been greatly privileged to work for disability charities in my time away from elected politics. For the past two years, I have worked with the charity Enable in a role supporting people with learning disabilities on campaigns for their rights, not to speak on their behalf but to support them to be their own advocates for change as experts by experience. In the media, in public forums and in Parliaments, Enable member ambassadors have told their own stories and powerfully argued the case for a more equal society. The need to tackle these inequalities is clear when people with learning disabilities have a life expectancy of 20 years less than the rest of the population, only about 7% are in paid employment, they have fewer opportunities in education and they are twice as likely to experience bullying. I will miss working with them, but I will not miss the opportunity in this Parliament to make our country a fairer and a more equal place for disabled people.

I will also not miss the opportunity to be a champion in the Chamber for the people of Glenrothes and Mid Fife. The constituency stretches across Fife, from Methil, Buckhaven and the Wemyss villages on the coast to ancient Markinch and the new town of Glenrothes, and from Kinglassie and Cardenden and the villages of Benarty to Lochgelly and Kelty. Those and other communities in the constituency have their own histories and priorities, but so many are linked by their proud connections to the mining industry. That is why the decision by this Government to end the injustice of the miners’ pension scheme, so that funds in the scheme are kept for its beneficiaries, will be so important for so many of my constituents.

The communities of my constituency can look back on a proud industrial heritage, but it is vital that they can also look forward to their future as a hub for innovation, technology and our growing renewable sector. The biomass plant at Markinch, the hydrogen for domestic energy pilot at Buckhaven, and the Fife energy park at Methil are all examples of how our contingency can benefit from the exciting plans for GB Energy and our goal for Scotland to play a leading role in making Britain a green energy powerhouse.

We have to seize this opportunity. Buckhaven and Methil have the highest number of deprived communities in Fife, which is why we have to realise the ambition for the area and increase employment through expansion in renewables. It is vital that UK Ministers work collaboratively with management, unions, the Scottish Government and Fife council to ensure that despite the financial difficulties of Harland & Wolff, which operates the fabrication yard at Methil, the 200 skilled jobs and apprenticeships at the yard are secured, along with its infrastructure and facilities. That skilled workforce and the facilities at the yard will be instrumental in realising Fife’s ambition to be a thriving hub for the renewables sector in Scotland.

It means so much to me to be given the chance to be a champion for our part of Scotland. My mother was a teacher at Beath High, the school attended by one of our most celebrated novelists Sir Ian Rankin, who grew up in Cardenden in the constituency. In Sir Ian’s book “Set in Darkness”, Inspector Rebas carries out criminal investigations at the Scottish Parliament. We can only wonder where he finds inspiration for the plots of his novels, but I am sure we can all agree that Fife can be proud to call one of our finest writers one of our own.

I also know how resilient our communities can be, and how we can look to better days even after the toughest of times. When I was growing up in Fife, my father was a vicar in Lochgelly during the miners’ strike. My father-in-law Jim was a proud member of the National Union of Mineworkers. When I stood for election to this place in 2015, he gave me a miner’s lamp to bring with me to Westminster if I won, to remind me what I was here to do. I was not elected in 2015, and after that election nearly 10 years ago, many would have thought that the flame of the Labour and trade union movement was fragile and flickering, but today in this Parliament it burns brighter than ever. Ten years later, the lamp will be with me here in Westminster, and it will remind me why I am here: to deliver the change that our country needs and to show that, through political action, we can deliver the stronger, fairer society that so many people in my constituency gave so much to achieve.