Oral Answers to Questions

Stephen Flynn Excerpts

Thursday 28th October 2021 Commons Chamber

[Rebecca Pow]

I am genuinely interested in my hon. Friend’s work. This area comes under Department for Transport responsibilities; it does not have any plans as such to reinstate the freight facilities grant in England, but the Government are of course very interested in the shift to getting freight transported in other ways. The fund I mentioned earlier has mostly gone to rail because the case has to be made for whether it is better to do it by water, so I recommend that my hon. Friend gets in there and makes that case, remembering of course the other great benefits of waterways, especially through cities, for health and wellbeing.

[Stephen Flynn (Aberdeen South) (SNP)]

8. What recent discussions he has had with the (a) Prime Minister and (b) US Administration on agricultural exports to the United States.

[The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (George Eustice)]

Recent discussions with the US have led to several positive outcomes for the UK. We have resolved the Airbus-Boeing dispute, leading to the suspension of the 25% tariff on Scotch whisky; for the first time in two decades, British beef is on US plates; and most recently, my officials spoke to their US counterparts, who confirmed their intention to enable the import of British lamb following the Prime Minister’s discussions on that with President Biden.

[Stephen Flynn]

That is an incredibly important point. Of course, when the Prime Minister left the White House, he declared to Scottish and UK businesses that they would indeed once again be able to export their lamb to the United States of America, but we have seen from leaked memos from the Secretary of State’s own Department that that was not necessarily the case. Perhaps he can shine a little more detail on that. When will Scottish producers be able to export their lamb to the United States?

[George Eustice]

I cannot put a timescale on precisely when that will happen, but as I said, the Prime Minister had very positive discussions on this very issue with President Biden, and my officials have been continuing that discussion with US officials, who have confirmed their intention to enable the import of British lamb to the United States.

--- Later in debate ---

[Stephen Flynn (Aberdeen South) (SNP)]

T2. Marine Scotland’s sea fisheries statistics have recently shown that the value of landings right across Scotland has fallen. In Aberdeen alone, it has fallen by some 34%, so I ask the Secretary of State: where is the sea of opportunity?

[George Eustice]

The truth is that the impacts of covid have had an impact on fish prices over the last 18 months. They have gone from a historic high down to quite low levels; they have now recovered. It is also the case that some North sea stocks, notably cod, have been in a difficult place over the last couple of years, so fisheries administrations have taken the right and necessary decision to reduce some of those quotas.

EU Trade and Co-operation Agreement: Fishing Industry

Stephen Flynn Excerpts

Thursday 14th January 2021 Commons Chamber

[George Eustice]

This is an issue that is often raised and refers, I think, specifically to a Lithuanian vessel that started to access our waters last year, targeting mainly horse mackerel. There are things we can do and are doing through technical measures. We have already banned pulse trawlers, which were predominantly a Dutch part of the fleet. We are also looking at new spatial measures to protect Dogger Bank.

[Stephen Flynn (Aberdeen South) (SNP) [V]]

Mr Speaker:

“as a seafood exporter, it feels as though our own government has thrown us into the cold Atlantic waters without a lifejacket”.

Those are not my words, but those of John Ross Jr., an historic smoked salmon producer based in my Aberdeen South constituency. Will the Secretary of State stop patronising businesses by referring to this Brexit chaos as “teething issues”? Will he apologise to John Ross Jr. and can he confirm when he will deliver full financial compensation for all the damage his Government are currently causing?

[George Eustice]

The salmon industry in Scotland benefits from tariff-free access to the EU market. While there have been, as I said, some problems, particularly around groupage and mixed consignments, the salmon trade has continued. We estimate that there are about 20 to 30 lorries a day crossing the short straits predominantly carrying Scottish salmon.

Waste Incineration Facilities

Stephen Flynn Excerpts

Tuesday 11th February 2020 Westminster Hall

[Mrs Hodgson]

That is an important point. I will come on to someone without whom I and most of the campaigners would not have been able to launch such a strong and informed appeal against this decision, making a world of difference.

I am so proud to represent and work with people who show such determination and community spirit. Like them, I oppose the planning application and will be speaking at the appeal process, which begins next week. I also thank the United Kingdom Without Incineration Network and Shlomo Dowen, in particular, for his work and support on this campaign. We could not have got this far without his expertise—a point the right hon. Member for Vale of Glamorgan (Alun Cairns) touched on.

As the shadow Minister for public health, it would be remiss of me not to point out the public health implications of gasification and incineration, which need to be taken into account. In the planning application in my constituency, we still do not know what technology will be used, even though the application has reached this stage. We know that the technology has never been used in the UK before, although we are told that it has been used in Japan, a country with very different safety standards and regulations from the UK.

The lack of information and transparency from the planning applicant does little to allay the fears of my constituents and me. On Saturday, constituents told me that young families were moving away from the area because of the fear of carcinogenics, diseases and birth defects. My constituents should not have to live in fear of being test subjects for something such as that.

[Stephen Flynn (Aberdeen South) (SNP)]

I thank the hon. Lady for securing this debate. In my constituency, an incinerator is due to be built near our local primary school and a number of local houses in Torry. Does she share my concerns about the potential public health impact on residents and the children at that school?

[Mrs Hodgson]

I absolutely do. In our previous debate, I spoke about how nine primary schools in my constituency, as well as many thousands of homes, are within a one-mile radius of this development. That is unacceptable, so I agree with the hon. Gentleman. Also, a technology that has never been used in the UK before is not welcome in Washington and Sunderland West—or, probably, in any of our constituencies.

Surely a technology that is expected to release millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide during the anticipated lifetime of the gasification facility should not be backed by the Government. Indeed, that is a direct contradiction of the Government’s policies on climate change and waste processing. For every one tonne of plastic incinerated, approximately two tonnes of CO₂ are released into the atmosphere, therefore contributing to climate change, whereas, perversely, one tonne of plastic in landfill releases zero CO₂, so incineration cannot be and is not the solution we seek—it has to be more recycling.