Adam Jogee MP: speeches

Speeches

• 22 Apr 2025 · Coalfields Regeneration Trust · Hansard source

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  I am grateful for the intervention from my hon. Friend,, who has a much better head of hair than his predecessor—and it is his. He makes a very good point. As I said to my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central, pride, power and people must drive us as we move forward. Despite 15 years of Conservative-led Governments failing the CRT and, by extension, our coalfield communities, the CRT has still managed to create an asset base worth £55.5 million, supporting almost 3,500 jobs.

• 22 Apr 2025 · Coalfields Regeneration Trust · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for that intervention. My wife is from Northern Ireland, so when he said he was making inquiries, I was worried how far that was going to go. He raises a very important point, both about the power of British coal and the importance of Newcastle-under-Lyme for many parts of our United Kingdom.

• 22 Apr 2025 · Coalfields Regeneration Trust · Hansard source

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  I will happily give way to another Staffordshire colleague.

• 22 Apr 2025 · Coalfields Regeneration Trust · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend makes a very good point. She speaks to the cross-nation commitment to this issue, and about the many people who live in, work in and benefit from the potential in our coalfield communities.

• 22 Apr 2025 · Coalfields Regeneration Trust · Hansard source

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  The hon. Member for Strangford, of course, wants to intervene.

• 22 Apr 2025 · Coalfields Regeneration Trust · Hansard source

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  I want to start by acknowledging the death of the Holy Father yesterday. Many people in Newcastle-under-Lyme, up and down the kingdom and across the world will be feeling his death deeply. Our thoughts are with the Catholic community the world over, and all who admired him. This week, we mark St George’s day 2025. As I have said in this House before, I am proud of my Britishness and my Englishness, and I say a very happy St George’s day to my constituents back home in Newcastle-under-Lyme and to people right across England. The case for Government support for the Coalfields Regeneration Trust makes itself. I want to start by thanking all those at the trust for their work. Support for the trust aligns very closely with the Government’s priorities for our country. The trust provides support to some of our most deprived communities, and its work continues the legacy of the last Labour Government and the late former Deputy Prime Minister, Lord Prescott.

• 22 Apr 2025 · Coalfields Regeneration Trust · Hansard source

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  I agree wholeheartedly with my hon. Friend, and not for the first time. I would make that call not just for Derbyshire, but for Staffordshire, too.

• 22 Apr 2025 · Coalfields Regeneration Trust · Hansard source

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  I agree, and I will make that specific request later in my remarks. My hon. Friend raises a very good point; I join him in calling on Government to step up and help to deliver for my constituents and his. I am sorry to say that I was not in his patch at the weekend, but I am looking forward to an invitation before too long. The former coalfields have a job density of only 57 employee jobs per 100 working-age residents, compared with a national average of 73 per 100 and 88 per 100 in the main regional cities. More than 18.7% of people living in the coalfields—many of whom are represented by hon. Members in the Chamber this evening—are classed as economically inactive. That must change, and it forms a key part of my focus as the Member of Parliament for Newcastle-under-Lyme.

• 22 Apr 2025 · Coalfields Regeneration Trust · Hansard source

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  I have seven neighbours—almost all Labour now, which is marvellous. My hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent North (David Williams) raises a powerful point and speaks to the CRT’s reach up and down the country, not least in north Staffordshire.

• 22 Apr 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T4. The Conservatives presided over 14 years of total failure in our justice system. [ Interruption. ] Let me be topical. To restore justice in this country and keep my constituents safe, we cannot just do more of the same; we need more transparency about the time criminals spend in jail, and common-sense sentencing must mean exactly that. How does the Secretary of State think technology can help to make that possible?

• 7 Apr 2025 · Road Maintenance · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to the shadow Minister for giving way. I get on with him relatively well— [ Interruption. ] Very well, I should say, though we will get on even better if he agrees with my point. He has just said that people should vote Conservative because of the successes to which he has just referred. What would he say to my constituents in Newcastle-under-Lyme who have a Tory borough council and county council—and have done for several years—who describe our roads as “deeply sunken” and “physically uncomfortable to drive over”, and say that they have “crumbling surfaces”, “failed resurfacing work” and “repairs that don’t last” and “worsening conditions despite recent repairs”. Several constituents have noted that “only a few potholes” were ever patched and “hazardous conditions from multiple directions”—

• 7 Apr 2025 · Road Maintenance · Hansard source

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  From one Adam to another. When I was a child, my late grandmother used to say that you could always tell a drunk person in Harare, because they drove in a straight line. One of my constituents said to me recently that, “In the United Kingdom, we are meant to drive on the left-hand side of the road, but in Newcastle-under-Lyme many people drive on what’s left of the road.” [ Laughter. ] They are very wise people in north Staffordshire, Madam Deputy Speaker. The Secretary of State is making an excellent speech. What would her two messages be, first to the good people of Newcastle-under-Lyme as we approach Thursday 1 May, and secondly, to the current Conservative leadership of Staffordshire county council?

• 2 Apr 2025 · UK Industrial Strategy · Hansard source

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  1. What discussions he has had with the Northern Ireland Executive on the development of a new UK industrial strategy.

• 2 Apr 2025 · UK Industrial Strategy · Hansard source

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  Northern Ireland, like Newcastle-under-Lyme, has a proud industrial heritage. Can the Secretary of State expand on his answer and give us a flavour of the specific discussions he has had with industry, higher education institutions and the Executive on ensuring that Northern Ireland is right alongside Newcastle-under-Lyme at the heart of the Government’s new industrial strategy?

• 27 Mar 2025 · St Patrick’s Day and Northern Irish Affairs · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is wearing the England colours, so I will happily send best wishes to the Irish football team so long as England is not on the pitch. As we give thanks to those who made a contribution to our country, it is only right that we acknowledge John “Paddy” Hemingway, a pilot in the battle of Britain who recently passed away at the age of 105. Mr Hemingway was a volunteer who joined the RAF and flew spitfires in the battle of Britain, not because of where he was from but because of the ties, whether geographical, cultural or historic, that bind us together. Those values, now shared, are more important than ever. Mr Hemingway was one of 36 Irish pilots who fought in the battle of Britain, including Wing Commander Brendan “Paddy” Finucane, who was one of the RAF’s most successful fighter aces in the war. They are a reminder to us that Britain did not stand alone against fascism as it rose on the European continent throughout the war. Despite our often complicated shared history, it is a shared history none the less; one that has seen the fates of all the people who live across these islands, whether in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland or in the Republic of Ireland, bound together time and again. It would not be right to ignore the history of these islands in a debate such as this. Nobody wants to dwell on the past; we must be honest, though, that war, death and division played a significant role in the story of British-Irish relations. How lucky are we, however, that times have changed? Northern Ireland, for all its political imperfections—who are we to pass comment on other people’s jurisdictions, politically speaking—now has a functioning devolved Government led by the First Minister, Michelle O’Neill, and the Deputy First Minister, Emma Little-Pengelly. It has access to the UK internal market and to the European Union. It is on the tourist hit list and has made history. I want to acknowledge the very strong women from both Unionist and nationalist traditions who politically have shown real leadership. I think of my hon. Friend the Member for Belfast South and Mid Down (Claire Hanna), Baroness Ritchie and Lady Hermon, formerly of this parish, alongside the former First Minister, Baroness Foster. I know that my mother-in-law, if she were watching—she may be—would be very clear that you should never mess with a woman from anywhere on the island of Ireland. Political relations between Ireland and the United Kingdom have never been stronger, and that was evident in Dublin earlier this week, where the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee met a range of stakeholders, from former President Mary McAleese and her husband, Dr Martin McAleese, to former Taoisigh Leo Varadkar and Bertie Ahern. It was clear that ties east and west between Dublin and London are better and stronger, and my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister deserves much praise for his commitment to the British-Irish relationship, including hosting the first Saint Patrick’s day reception at Downing Street just last week. As we talk about British-Irish relations, I acknowledge the British ambassador in Dublin, Paul Johnston, and his wife Nicola. Paul will return home later this year as his posting comes to an end and it is only fitting that the House acknowledges his service to our national interest. Today’s debate is not about the constitution or borders, or just to discuss the party political nature of, and situation in, Northern Ireland. However, we cannot forget one of the greatest political developments in our shared history: the Good Friday agreement. A peace deal like no other, it remains the gold standard in diplomacy and one of the most significant peace processes in modern European history. After those terrible decades of tragedy and conflict, we now have peace on these islands because all sides came together, they compromised and they negotiated. There lies a lesson for all of us. As the Prime Minister said on his first visit to Dublin since the election, the relationship between our two countries “has never reached its full potential”. It is time to unlock that potential. This new era of co-operation and friendship is all the more critical at a time when we must stand together with our closest allies who share our values. I will quote Mr Hemingway on what he feels is his secret to achieving a long life; a secret I think my wife and some of the Members of this House might enjoy. He said: “I can’t say don’t drink…I can’t say don’t fly aeroplanes. I can’t say don’t shoot and get shot at – I’ve done everything, and I’m an Irishman. The only advice I can give is to be Irish.” In this case, I think we can apply “Northern Irish”, “British” and everything in between too. Since my election as the Member of Parliament for Newcastle-under-Lyme, I have made clear my personal affection for the royal family and particularly for Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. On her first historic visit to the Republic of Ireland, at the state banquet in Dublin castle, she began her speech with the words “A Uachtaráin, agus a chairde”—President and friends. The British head of state standing in Dublin speaking words in Irish showed how much times had changed. Her late Majesty went on to say: “Many British families have members who live in this country, as many Irish families have close relatives in the United Kingdom. These families share the two islands; they have visited each other and have come home to each other over the years. They are the ordinary people who yearned for the peace and understanding we now have between our two nations and between the communities within those two nations; a living testament to how much in common we have. These ties of family, friendship and affection are our most precious resource. They are the lifeblood of the partnership across these islands, a golden thread that runs through all our joint successes so far, and all we will go on to achieve.” For all the challenges that remain, for all that we have yet to do, “family, friendship and affection”, as Her late Majesty put it, will see us through. Happy Saint Patrick’s day, Madam Deputy Speaker. Here’s to Northern Ireland and to the bonds of friendship between the Republic of Ireland and our United Kingdom.

• 27 Mar 2025 · St Patrick’s Day and Northern Irish Affairs · Hansard source

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  indicated assent .

• 27 Mar 2025 · St Patrick’s Day and Northern Irish Affairs · Hansard source

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  I congratulate my hon. Friend and his wife on the imminent arrival of their first child in the coming days. We all wish him and Poppy well. He makes an important point. Internal trade within our United Kingdom and with our closest neighbour, the Republic of Ireland, would and does benefit all of us. The stronger that is, the better for my constituents and his.

• 27 Mar 2025 · St Patrick’s Day and Northern Irish Affairs · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That this House has considered St Patrick’s day 2025 and Northern Irish affairs. I am grateful to all colleagues who sponsored the debate application and to the Backbench Business Committee for granting us time on the Floor of the Chamber. The cross-party support for the debate is testament to the close bond between the UK and Ireland and the House’s acknowledgment of Northern Ireland’s place in the United Kingdom. I refer hon. Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. I serve on the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, ably chaired by my hon. Friend the Member for Gower (Tonia Antoniazzi), and I am particularly grateful to the team of Stephen, Kay, Karen, Joe and Chloe who support the Committee’s work—they are all excellent people. I also chair the all-party parliamentary group on Ireland and the Irish in Britain. The issues before the House this afternoon are close to my heart. As anyone who knows me will say, I have always had a great love and affinity for the good people of Northern Ireland, and indeed the Republic of Ireland, as well as what could be described as a healthy appreciation for St Patrick’s day this year and all years. We are joined in the Gallery by former deputy mayor Councillor Liz McShane, a councillor in Folkestone and Hythe and a North Down native. We were to be joined by Mr Michael Lonergan, the political supremo at the Irish embassy, but, alas, I think he is lunching. Michael has done more for British-Irish relations in recent years than anyone else I know. We will miss him when he returns home later this year. I have not met anybody who can so easily have breakfast with the DUP, morning tea with Sinn Féin, lunch with the Liberals, afternoon tea with the Tories, pre-dinner drinks with the SDLP and the Ulster Unionists, and then dinner with Labour, and then get up and do it all again the next day.

• 27 Mar 2025 · St Patrick’s Day and Northern Irish Affairs · Hansard source

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  I have been to Hammersmith’s Irish Cultural Centre many times. My hon. Friend speaks rightly of the contribution that it makes to people of Irish descent not just in London but up and down the country. There are also Irish centres in Birmingham, Manchester and other parts of the United Kingdom. He makes a good point, and I congratulate all those at that centre on the work they do. In Northern Ireland we have great wordsmiths such as the poet Seamus Heaney, the playwright Brian Friel, and Anna Burns, the author of “Milkman”. All of them have achieved international acclaim in both the English and Irish languages. We also have musicians such as Van Morrison—although he was a little bit mean to my friend the hon. Member for South Antrim (Robin Swann), who has the pleasure of representing the community that my wife was born in and where my parents-in-law live—and, notably, the Ulster-Scots folk music movement, who have had real popularity right across the United Kingdom and indeed the world. Of course, much-loved TV shows such as Channel 4’s “Derry Girls” and even “Game of Thrones” owe Northern Ireland a great deal. Anyone who has been to Northern Ireland will have seen its natural beauty up close. It is the home of the Giant’s Causeway, the Ring of Gullion, Slieve Donard, which towers over Newcastle, County Down—an act of solidarity with God’s own constituency of Newcastle-under-Lyme. I must also mention the island of Ireland’s contribution to one of our most beloved institutions: the great British pub. From Ballycastle to Bletchley, Coalisland to Camden, Fermanagh to Falkirk, Portballintrae in the constituency of the hon. and learned Member for North Antrim (Jim Allister) to Pembrokeshire, Templepatrick to Tyneside, Ballybeen to Golders Green and everywhere in between, who does not like a good pint? Whether it be a pint of Guinness, Guinness 0.0 or Guinness Clear—otherwise known as water—the approach and culture have deeply influenced our pubs, and we are all the better for it. Pubs across Newcastle-under-Lyme, whether it is the Westbury Tavern in Westbury Park, the Potters Wheel just up from Bradwell Lodge, the Sneyd Arms in town where I was last Saturday having a cold drink or the Hand and Trumpet in Wrinehill, pubs across my part of the world, as I know in many others, know how to pour a good pint of Guinness. It was in Belfast shipyard and particularly at Harland & Wolff where many vessels for the Royal Navy and the merchant fleet were built, including the famous HMS Belfast. In both world wars, Irish volunteers fought in the British Army, the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy. Men and women from across the island of Ireland helped build the earliest tunnels for the London underground, as well as more modern works, such as the Victoria line, which gets me from Euston station on a Monday morning to this place. Many Irish people continue to move to our United Kingdom to work in our national health service, education system and, more widely, our public services. I take this moment to pay tribute to them for their hard work and their contributions to our country. Does my hon. Friend want to give way?

• 27 Mar 2025 · St Patrick’s Day and Northern Irish Affairs · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to all colleagues who have taken part in this debate. I thank my hon. Friends the Members for Mid and South Pembrokeshire (Henry Tufnell), for Hammersmith and Chiswick (Andy Slaughter) and for Stafford (Leigh Ingham) and the right hon. Member for Staffordshire Moorlands (Dame Karen Bradley) for their interventions. I am grateful to the hon. and learned Member for North Antrim (Jim Allister) for taking part. I am sorry that he did not like my speech. I have not been called “fuzzy” or “bleary-eyed”, but I have been called warm, so I shall take that. He gave a speech very much in the spirit in which he tends to speak, and I am sure his colleagues up at Stormont miss him very much indeed. I pay tribute to the hon. Member for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East (Seamus Logan), who gave a very good speech. He shared some stories, and I suspect there are a few more that we will hear some other time. My hon. Friend the Member for Luton South and South Bedfordshire (Rachel Hopkins) showed herself to be the tenacious champion that we know she is for the Irish community in her constituency. The hon. Member for Romford (Andrew Rosindell) ought not to do away with his inner Irishness—blood is thicker than water. He made a very strong case for the restoration of the order of St Patrick, and auditioned very well to be one of its first recipients. My father shares a birthday with him on 17 March, so we will be friends. My hon. Friend the Member for Brent East (Dawn Butler) made a very good speech sharing the story of the Irish in her part of the world. She did say—I have written it down—“Brent is where it’s at,” but I do not think she has yet been to Newcastle-under-Lyme. I thank the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Broadland and Fakenham (Jerome Mayhew), for his contribution and for putting a target on my back, which is a great way to get my colleagues on this side of the Chamber to be my friends. I thank him none the less, and I pay tribute to his late father, who was of course Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. I thank the Minister for her remarks; I also thank the Liberal Democrats spokesperson, the hon. Member for Chelmsford (Marie Goldman), who perhaps merged two speeches from this week in her contribution, which we welcome none the less. This has been an excellent debate. I look forward to all hon. Members coming together for a similar one in March 2026, as we celebrate Northern Ireland and the relationship between our United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Question put and agreed to. Resolved, That this House has considered St Patrick’s day and Northern Irish affairs.

• 27 Mar 2025 · St Patrick’s Day and Northern Irish Affairs · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to the right hon. Lady, who is a near neighbour and a former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, both for her interest in and commitment to Northern Irish affairs and for her full and appropriate tribute to Michael. I thank her for making it. For nations across the globe, St Patrick’s day is a day of celebration, acknowledgment and togetherness, and a day—it rather feels like a month nowadays—when the world can be described in two ways: those who are Irish and Northern Irish, and those who wished they were. The noble Lord, Lord Brennan, a man born to an Irish father and a Welsh mother, told me last night that as St David’s day is 1 March, he was not prepared to concede a month to celebrate St Patrick’s day unless it started around 8 March. I told him that as long as St George’s day is safe in April, I was happy to let the debate go on. St Patrick’s day’s global popularity is perhaps most obvious in the city of Chicago, which famously dyes its river green every year to mark this important milestone. While I appreciate the sentiment, I am sure that we have all had enough of the rivers and lakes in our country—whether the Thames outside this place or Lough Neagh—turning the most unusual of colours. Much of this is closer to home. I am proud of my own family roots in Northern Ireland. My late grandmother’s father was of good, solid County Down stock. I note the passing of his last remaining child, my great-aunt Margaret Wilson, who died at the grand old age of 105 last week. The blend of Irish and English is clearly a recipe for a good, long life. My own roots parked to one side, one of the best decisions I ever made—other than being born to a good Staffordshire woman in my mother, over which I had little influence—was to marry my brilliant, wonderful wife. I had little influence in that, either—she had to say yes. My wife is a woman of and from Northern Ireland but who calls the ancient and loyal borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme home.

• 27 Mar 2025 · St Patrick’s Day and Northern Irish Affairs · Hansard source

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  I thank my neighbour, in whose constituency my mother was born, for her timely and important intervention. I could not agree more. Many people from the island of Ireland moved to Newcastle-under-Lyme, to Staffordshire, as my hon. Friend said, and to coalfield communities up and down our country to work in our mines and in our metal manufacturing industries, settling with their families and bringing with them a sense of culture, new ideas and, of course, great craic. But many Irish women came to England in particular to work in our national health service. I want to acknowledge Louise Ryan, who, alongside Gráinne McPolin and Neha Doshi, has written a wonderful book entitled “Irish Nurses in the NHS”, which I read over the weekend, and which gives such voice to the contribution of Irish nurses in our beloved national health service. Many businesses and organisations in my constituency would not exist without people from the island of Ireland, and many of my constituents—some of my staff included—are proud to have strong Irish roots. I think of people like Rosi Monkman, who works at Keele University and lives in the Westlands, and my Labour predecessor, the former Member of Parliament, Paul Farrelly. I was out door-knocking in Clayton the other day when in quick succession I met Shannon, Maura, and then, of course, the wonderful Bob Bell and many more. I think of the Irish staff in this House, from Catherine Jackson, the restaurant manager, to the lovely Betty Thompson in the Terrace cafeteria downstairs: strong Irish women keeping this place going. Irish Heritage described the contribution of the Irish to cultural life in the United Kingdom as incalculable. The cultural contribution of both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland is beyond doubt.

• 27 Mar 2025 · St Patrick’s Day and Northern Irish Affairs · Hansard source

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  I will take Pembrokeshire first.

• 27 Mar 2025 · St Patrick’s Day and Northern Irish Affairs · Hansard source

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  I gently put it to the hon. and learned Member that he ought to correct himself slightly. The hon. Member for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East (Seamus Logan) is also from Northern Ireland. A number of colleagues who represent Northern Irish constituencies have sent apologies for having had to go home, no doubt to tend to their constituents. I put it on the record that they have made that point.

• 27 Mar 2025 · Public Transport: Newcastle-under-Lyme · Hansard source

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  2. What assessment she has made of the adequacy of the provision of public transport in Newcastle-under-Lyme.