Virginia Crosbie
Main Page: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)Department Debates - View all Virginia Crosbie's debates with the Cabinet Office
(3 years, 6 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
The Prime Minister
No, thank you.
We will establish a new UK infrastructure bank headquartered in Leeds, with £40 billion to invest as part of the greatest renewal of British national infrastructure since the Victorian age. We will ensure that the British people derive maximum benefit from the £300 billion of their money that the Government spend every year on public procurement by creating a wholly new system, consolidating 350 separate regulations into one regime, so that public investment can be even more effective as an instrument for levelling up the country.
We will use the sovereignty that we regain from the European Union to establish at least eight freeports, including in Teesside. Now that we are free of EU state aid rules, the Queen’s Speech proposes a new national subsidy system—
The Prime Minister
I will give way in a minute to my hon. Friend the Member for Ynys Môn (Virginia Crosbie).
The Queen’s Speech proposes a new national subsidy system, allowing the Government of the devolved Administrations to spur the creation of jobs and businesses.
Virginia Crosbie
My right hon. Friend is most gracious. Brexit has created huge opportunities in the form of freeports. Does he agree that freeports in places such as Anglesey will turbocharge the economy and give us thousands of jobs, investment and opportunity across the UK in places where it is desperately needed?
The Prime Minister
My hon. Friend is completely right. Anglesey could have no more powerful or effective champion than her not just on the matter of freeports, but on nuclear power as well, which she was probably also going to mention.
Virginia Crosbie (Ynys Môn) (Con)
It is a privilege to speak in today’s debate ar ran pobl Ynys Môn—on behalf of the people of Ynys Môn—and it is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Na h-Eileanan an Iar (Angus Brendan MacNeil), who has an island constituency too. I entered politics to give a voice to those who have none and to try my best to make tomorrow a better day for as many as possible. I am proud to be part of the team who are making that happen, but we need more of the same, so I am delighted that this Queen’s Speech builds on the Government’s levelling-up agenda.
On Ynys Môn, that agenda is much needed. Ynys Môn has one of the lowest levels of gross value added in the UK and has seen the loss of significant local employers over many years. It has been marginalised, and every year it loses young people who leave in search of good jobs and secure employment. With each one who leaves, a little more of the heritage and our Welsh language, which we are so proud of, leaves too. It is my job to give my community a voice that this Government will hear.
Communities across Ynys Môn are tenacious and determined, but for years they have had no voice. They need a Government who will enable them to see the fruits of their determination. I am determined to be that voice and ensure that Ynys Môn gets its fair share and that my constituents across the island see the benefit. I am unshakeable in my tenacity for jobs, jobs, jobs, investment and training—all the things that are in this Queen’s Speech. It is manna from heaven for a champion like me who wants the best for those I represent.
This legislative programme is hard-wired for opportunity, sparking aspiration for our communities not just on Anglesey but across the UK. People want to know that the UK Government are an enabler in the covid recovery, that they can get training and jobs that are highly skilled, and that they can own their own home and have job security, and it is all in here in this Queen’s Speech.
The Prime Minister is right: we cannot go back to pre-pandemic days. We must do even better. Already on Ynys Môn, progress is happening. We are a hotbed of cutting-edge technologies, from marine energy businesses such as Morlais and Minesto to wind and solar developments, and Wylfa Newydd—the best nuclear site in the UK. Thanks to the UK Government, £4.8 million will be invested in the Holyhead hydrogen hub, meaning jobs and investment. We also have leading research and innovation through Bangor University and Menai Science Park, and I am talking to companies that want to invest in Ynys Môn—companies that are excited about my bid for Anglesey to become a freeport. This is the beginning—the beginning of a momentous chapter for those communities left behind. Let us build, using this Queen’s Speech as our guiding light.