Planning, the Green Belt and Rural Affairs

Sam Rushworth Excerpts

Friday 19th July 2024 Commons Chamber

[Sam Rushworth (Bishop Auckland) (Lab)]

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for allowing me this opportunity to make my maiden speech during the King’s Speech debate. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Southgate and Wood Green (Bambos Charalambous) for his excellent contribution, as well as the hon. Member for North Shropshire (Helen Morgan). Like her, I represent a rural constituency, and I recognise many of the issues she raised in my own community.

I also want to thank my predecessor, Dehenna Davison, for her service. In her maiden speech, she described Bishop Auckland as England’s “most beautiful constituency,” and on that point we agree. She is a formidable campaigner who did important work to raise awareness of migraines, lobular cancer and the danger of one-punch assaults. Although she already has the accolade of being the first ever Conservative MP for Bishop Auckland, I hope that, in decades to come, her legacy will be even more impressive as the only ever Conservative MP for Bishop Auckland.

If the House will indulge me for a moment, I would like to say a little about the place I call home, the people who live there and what makes them so special. Getting my priorities in order, I will start by talking about football. I had been looking forward to singing “one general election and one European cup” this summer, but that was not to be. I am gutted that our England team did not quite make it, but football did come home in 1909, when West Auckland became the first football team to win the world cup. That is true, and you can look it up.

Another important footballing moment came in 1958, when Bishop Auckland’s amateur football club famously provided players to help Manchester United fulfil their fixtures following the Munich air disaster.

I was really touched when I met Barry, who volunteers at the local Bishops football museum. I listened to his passion as he shared how a gentleman with dementia came in and recognised himself in an old black and white photograph. They developed a friendship as he used football memorabilia to help that gentleman reminisce and reconnect with his past. I am similarly grateful to others in my constituency who give up their time to run sports clubs, whether it is football, rugby, cricket or boxing, providing opportunities for young people to exercise, connect and enjoy themselves.

Secondly, I have to mention railways. It was in Shildon, in the south-east of my constituency, where Stephenson invented the Rocket locomotive, making Stockton to Darlington the world’s first commercial railway line 200 years ago next year. It is inspiring to see the commitment of local volunteers who work together to preserve this heritage, caring for parts of the line and organising bicentenary events. Likewise, it was inspiring to see those who worked to save the Shildon Railway Institute, which was set up by working people nearly two centuries ago, with a library and school rooms to upskill the local workforce for the new industrial age.

Thirdly, we are blessed with fabulous arts and culture in Bishop Auckland, which is the home of Stanley Jefferson, of Laurel and Hardy fame. It is also believed to be where Elgar first played the anthem “Land of Hope and Glory.” And how grateful I am to the volunteers who give their time to enable participation in the arts: Daisy Arts, Jack Drum, the Teesdale operatic society, the Weardale Warblers and “Kynren,” England’s most spectacular outdoor theatre production. The work they do is not only developing talent but building the character and confidence of the rising generation.

Fourthly, we have magnificent countryside. Under the new boundaries, the constituency brings together two Durham dales—Weardale and Teesdale—around the market town of Barnard Castle, which is not only a handy place to test your eyesight but is also an idyllic place to stroll along the river with your family on a sunny Easter bank holiday, surrounded as it is by hill sheep farms and moorlands that are home to rare wildflowers and endangered ground nesting birds. I am full of admiration for those who work on the land and put in the graft to keep this place so lovely and to provide us with food. Without wishing to disappoint the right hon. Member for North West Essex (Kemi Badenoch), when I recently met local farmers they were delighted to see that Labour is bringing in planning reforms and lifting the ban on onshore wind.

Finally, Bishop Auckland has a long connection with the Church. Auckland castle served for centuries as home to the Prince Bishops, while the seventh-century Escomb Saxon church is one of the oldest in England and stands as a monument to the devotion of the men and women who built it more than a millennium ago. What I find equally inspiring is the work done by churches in our community today, such as Woodhouse Close church and community centre and Shildon Alive, which recently received the King’s award for voluntary service.

What makes Bishop Auckland so special to me are the people I live among. People who have stood together in hard times, people who take pride in their neighbourhoods and people who serve without thought for themselves.

If I might make a slightly more political point as I draw to a close, we have just accepted the decline of northern heartlands like Bishop Auckland for too long. I live in the town centre, where one in three shops is boarded up. Our local businesses are excited to see the powers that this Government will devolve to local authorities to compulsorily purchase some of those buildings. We will hand them over to businesses and we will get our town centres booming again.

Finally, I am proud to be a Member of the most representative Parliament in our history, with the highest percentage of women, minorities and state-educated Members. There are also, on all Benches, some exceedingly talented people. It is already clear to me that while I will be bold in speaking up for my constituents, there will always be someone more gifted in oratory or more learned. However, I hope that if I can excel in anything, it will be in showing kindness and respect to my fellow Members, to the incredible staff who have done so much to make me feel welcome in this rather strange place, and to my constituents who I hope will always know, whatever our disagreements, that I love and care about them.