City Deal Funding (Aberdeen)

Stewart Malcolm McDonald Excerpts

Tuesday 30th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Callum McCaig]

I welcome that intervention. It may not have been heard by those in the Chamber, but while my hon. Friend the Member for Aberdeen North was talking my hon. Friend the Member for Banff and Buchan (Dr Whiteford) pointed out that her constituency is perhaps unique for a mainland constituency in not having a single mile of railtrack. That is quite remarkable, and I know that Aberdeenshire City Council is working in partnership with Nestrans on this issue for the future. It is something that could be developed through this process.

Councillor Jenny Laing, a Labour member and leader of Aberdeen City Council said:

“The proposals we have outlined will ensure the prosperity of our city and NE Scotland for decades to come by anchoring an economy of global significance for the benefit of the UK as a whole.”

This has the backing of Labour party in Aberdeen, and indeed of all parties in Aberdeen, and I think it has unanimous support in Aberdeenshire as well. This is a cross-party issue, although as a result of the success of the Scottish National party, only SNP Members from the north-east of Scotland are here to back it. If other parties were present, I am sure they would be adding to the calls for this, such is the importance of it to our region.

The oil and gas industry is critical to Aberdeen and the north-east of Scotland, but Aberdeen and our region is far more than oil and gas. There are proposals, subject to legal challenge by a certain presidential candidate, for a wind farm in Aberdeen bay to test the new and innovative technologies in offshore wind. I hope that that will go ahead, as there are huge benefits to be gained from it.

Aberdeen is also leading the way in the development of hydrogen technology. We now have the largest fleet of hydrogen buses anywhere in Europe, thanks to the support of my right hon. Friend the Member for Gordon (Alex Salmond) and the efforts of the Scottish Government, the European Union and Aberdeen City Council. It is a team effort.

Yes, we are an energy city and an energy region—but we are certainly more than just energy. Life sciences and food and drink are absolutely world class in the corner of the world that we call home. They, too, stand to benefit from significant investment in the infrastructure—physical and digital, and in the housing that my hon. Friend the Member for Aberdeen North talked about—and, above all, in the skills we require from our universities to build the capacity to allow these industries to flourish.

[Stewart McDonald (Glasgow South) (SNP)]

My hon. Friend makes an important point about infrastructure. One concern that I and my Glasgow colleagues have is about the devolution of powers to cities such as Manchester. That is, of course, to be welcomed, but it presents us with significant challenges. Does he agree that one way to help us meet those challenges would be for the Government to say unequivocally that HS2 will come to Scotland?

[Callum McCaig]

Aberdeen stands to lose out to a degree when it comes to HS2, but as part of team Scotland, I would say that there is a requirement to bring it to the central belt of Scotland. If that is to happen, there needs to be protection for Aberdeen— and, I am sure, for Inverness—given the potential for them to lose out. That would come in the form of landing slots and access to hub airports. It will never be economical to put high-speed rail up to the north-east of Scotland or the highlands, but we need connectivity to London and to the wider world through our airports.

Beyond the city deal and the physical infrastructure is the investment in skills and the utilisation of our world-class universities. Aberdeen University is a proud and ancient seat of learning, and Robert Gordon University is equally proud, if slightly younger. The two of them together make an immense contribution. We have some of the brightest and most talented young people from across the globe coming to study in our universities because of the contribution they make and the expertise they have. As I mentioned, it is not just in oil and gas; the bio-science and medical sciences provided in our universities are absolutely leading in terms of world-class research.

There are proposals for university enterprise zones elsewhere in the country. Part of the deal would be to allow that to happen through the combination of Aberdeen University and Robert Gordon University and by bringing business and the universities closer together, giving businesses incentives to invest in the research and development in which our universities can take part. That is an exciting development which will allow our universities to make a far greater contribution to the economy than the significant contribution that they already make.

Throughout my lifetime, Aberdeen has prided itself on being Europe’s oil and gas capital, and that has contributed immensely to the wealth of our city. The investment that it should, perhaps, have attracted in previous decades was absent, but let us be forward-looking. Aberdeen has a great future as an oil and gas city—indeed, as a global energy hub. Renewable energy will play a part, as, I hope, will hydrogen, but, above all, we will remain a key hub for oil and gas.

Much of the work that is done in Aberdeen now has little relevance to the North sea. The city is home to engineers who assess projects from the gulf of Mexico to Brazil, and from the coast of Africa to Kazakhstan and the South China sea. It is truly a global hub. The clusters of expertise, experience and knowledge that exist in our city and our region are absolutely world class. But—and there is a but—there is no guarantee that we will continue in that role. We need investment now, because otherwise we may face the prospect of losing the goose that lays the golden eggs.

Internationalisation is a key element. We need support for our exports, and support to enable our industries to find new markets. Many have done so already, but a huge number of smaller companies that could save huge amounts of money, in terms of oil and gas production, need to be helped to take their innovative products to further markets overseas. Investment in broadband is important in that context. The technology that handles seismic data, or project plans, that are produced from offices in Aberdeen is incredibly data-hungry. Huge band widths are required to allow information of such a size to be communicated to markets throughout the world. That investment will potentially provide far greater work for companies based in Aberdeen and the surrounding region.

The mood music that we hear from both councils, and from the Scottish and United Kingdom Governments, is very welcome. Clearly there is a job to be done, but I hope that convincing the Minister of the importance of the deal will help that work to be achieved. We realise that negotiation between the councils will be necessary at various levels, but it is incumbent on us, as representatives of the area, to press the case. The deal is vital to our region and vital to the economy, and it has the potential to deliver huge dividends not just to our area, but to the United Kingdom as a whole.

--- Later in debate ---

[James Wharton]

I have no doubt that the right hon. Gentleman has grand aspirations and that it is possible for him to hold them, but my contention is that what this Government are delivering is very significant indeed and meets the obligations and promises that were made in the referendum campaign.

I have provided the context, but what about the city deals themselves and where we are going? City deals are very important because our cities can be drivers for growth. UK cities account for 74% of our population and 78% of all jobs, and it is in the interests of everyone in the UK that cities are able to achieve their potential. Economic growth itself does not just happen—it happens in specific places.

Ensuring that our cities are globally successful is not going to be easy, but I believe that it can be done through active collaboration between Whitehall, the Scottish Government and local authorities that recognise its value.

[Stewart McDonald]

Last Friday I had a meeting with the Glasgow chamber of commerce. Investment that we would have thought would come to Glasgow is already being picked off by cities such as Manchester, following the promise to deliver more powers to them. That is a great concern to me as a Glasgow MP and to other colleagues. The chamber of commerce believes that we could meet that challenge if we got a solid commitment that High Speed 2 will come to Scotland and perhaps even start there. Will the Minister at least endeavour to look at that in more detail? I appreciate—