Alan Gemmell MP: speeches 2024

26 published records · newest first.

Speeches

17 Dec 2024 · Women’s State Pension Age Communication: PHSO Report · Hansard source
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As my right hon. Friend has noted, many women will be disappointed by this decision—including women I have met in Central Ayrshire when campaigning, since I have been an MP, and at constituency surgeries as recently as Friday—even though they know that we are cleaning up 14 years of Tory mess, dither and delay and failure. Caring responsibilities often fall on women, and an awful lot of 1950s women have spoken about the financial, emotional and physical pressures that they face in caring for a loved one. Will my right hon. Friend set out how the Government plan to support carers over the coming months and years?
3 Dec 2024 · Economic Investment · Hansard source
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New green businesses such as XLCC in Ayrshire, a sub-sea cable manufacturer, are seeking long-term investment to create jobs. Recently, my hon. Friend the Member for North Ayrshire and Arran (Irene Campbell) and I visited its training academy in Irvine. What more will my right hon. Friend the Chancellor do to help Scottish businesses such as XLCC to secure long-term investment, and might she visit Ayrshire to see it in action?
3 Dec 2024 · Economic Investment · Hansard source
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11. What steps she is taking to increase long-term investment in the economy.
26 Nov 2024 · “Get Britain Working” White Paper · Hansard source
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We have heard much about the failures of the Conservative party, but after 17 years of SNP failures, young people in Central Ayrshire are looking to this Government for the opportunity for a good job. What more will my right hon. Friend do, through today’s announcement, to help young people in Central Ayrshire and across Scotland?
11 Nov 2024 · Pensions Review · Hansard source
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18. What progress her Department has made on the pensions review.
11 Nov 2024 · Pensions Review · Hansard source
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David Carson and Patricia Kennedy, constituents of mine in Central Ayrshire, face massively reduced pensions payments from their pre-1997 contributions to their Hewlett Packard pension, because current legislation index-links contributions from 1997 only. What assessment has the pensions review made so far of the challenges facing pension schemes, and will the Minister meet me to discuss David and Patricia’s case? The issue affects some hundreds of thousands of people.
29 Oct 2024 · World Stroke Day · Hansard source
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Will the hon. Lady allow me to place on record my thanks to the innovative team at the stroke unit in Crosshouse hospital, whose new treatment, thrombolysis, means that—as the hon. Lady said—there is a way for many people to recover following strokes? I would like to thank charge nurse Elizabeth, consultants Martin and Sundeep, and Julie and Debbie in the hospital management team for saving my former teacher, Christine Stewart, when she self-diagnosed with FAST.
29 Oct 2024 · Ministerial Code: Policy Announcements · Hansard source
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Conservative Members, in their faux outrage, have complete amnesia about their series of egregious failures in government, for which people in my constituency are still paying the price. Does my right hon. Friend agree that we need to consider the future that this Government can bring to the people of Central Ayrshire?
28 Oct 2024 · Remembrance and Veterans · Hansard source
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I join the House in thanking our armed forces, including people from Central Ayrshire who have served our country and who continue to put their lives on the line in the defence of our country, and those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. I also thank the Royal British Legion Irvine and Troon branches, as well as the Ayr and Prestwick branch of the Royal Air Forces Association and the Prestwick community council for the remembrance services they help to arrange in the towns of Irvine, Prestwick and Troon, and their important work year-round to support veterans and their families. I also thank Veterans First Point in Irvine, which is staffed by veterans and is a one-stop shop for veterans and their families. I hope the House extends its congratulations to the Ayr and Prestwick branch of the Royal Air Forces Association, which received the President’s cup at this year’s national conference. It was recognised as the top branch in the RAFA for its excellent work with veterans and service personnel in the community, as well as facilitating remembrance services for Polish colleagues at the Polish war memorial. It happens to have the oldest veteran in the constituency, Flight Lieutenant (retired) Harry Richardson DFC, a 106-year-old world war two hero pilot. I also recognise the work of the colleagues who help us remember around the world, particularly the Commonwealth war graves staff and the colleagues I used to work with in embassies and the British Council on remembrance events. My former colleague Dr Debanjan Chakrabarti visited a number of Commonwealth war graves in north-east India with me, including the cemetery in Kohima. As those of us who attended Mr Speaker’s remembrance event this morning will know, this year marks the 80th anniversary of the battle of Kohima in April 1944, which was a turning point in the war in Asia. Many believe that the assistance that the Naga people gave British and Indian troops as guides, porters and combatants was critical in our success of that campaign. I well remember being welcomed to Kohima by the Naga people, visiting the Kohima cemetery high in the Naga hills and walking along row upon row of British and Indian graves. There, I read the Kohima epitaph: “When you go home, tell them of us and say, for your tomorrow, we gave our today.”
24 Oct 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source
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Will my right hon. Friend tell me what steps he is taking to keep Scotland at the heart of the Union and keep Ayrshire’s economy growing?
24 Oct 2024 · Government’s Five Missions · Hansard source
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5. What steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to implement the Government’s five missions.
24 Oct 2024 · Government’s Five Missions · Hansard source
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The excellent Ayrshire chamber of commerce is helping Ayrshire businesses to grow. After 17 years of the Scottish National party failing business in Scotland, businesses in Ayrshire need that support, as well as this Government’s five missions. Does the Minister agree that, to deliver the change that our country needs, we need a new way of doing politics, working in partnership with communities, business, civil society and trade unions?
17 Oct 2024 · International Investment Summit · Hansard source
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I join in the congratulations of colleagues who have made excellent maiden speeches, including my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth West (Jessica Toale). I was only sad not to hear the names of her bulldogs and perhaps even her Mini. My hon. Friends the Members for Buckingham and Bletchley (Callum Anderson) and for Bangor Aberconwy (Claire Hughes) gave such important mentions of their mums in their lives. I congratulate the Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Wycombe (Emma Reynolds) on this record-breaking £63 billion of investment. It is a sign of the confidence in the British economy and this Labour Government. It is more than double the amount committed at the last Government summit and is set to create nearly 38,000 jobs across the UK, including in Scotland, with £2.5 billion committed for Green Volt, Europe’s largest floating wind project, to develop its north-east Scotland site. Iberdrola announced it was doubling its investment in the UK through Scottish Power from £12 billion to £24 billion over the next four years. As a former trade commissioner, I thank my former colleagues in the Department for Business and Trade and in markets such as India for the incredible work they will have been doing to achieve that investment. I well remember the beavering away and constant phone calls to major investors at such moments. Having been at the last summit, I am sure my invite to this one was lost in the post. I know from my time in India that international investors were already beginning to price in the benefits of a change in government. They see a Labour Government as a source of stability and predictability and the UK becoming a place for long-term, safe investment. That is the stability dividend that my hon. Friend the Minister has already spoken about. I just say that the £63 billion, while a record sum, is not enough for Scotland. We have seen significant investment in the first 100 days, but we would like to see even more come north of the border, and in particular to communities such as mine in Ayrshire. My hon. Friends the Members for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock (Elaine Stewart), for Kilmarnock and Loudoun (Lillian Jones) and for North Ayrshire and Arran (Irene Campbell) are keen that increasing investment in Ayrshire is at the forefront of Ministers’ minds. For the first time in 10 years, we have four Ayrshire Labour MPs committed to growth and investment and a Labour Government who can deliver it. My hon. Friends and I are working with the three local authority chief executives and the excellent principal of Ayrshire college to develop that “Invest in Ayrshire” proposition, and we are looking at the opportunities for our region and our skills gaps, because 14 years of the Tories and 17 of the SNP have let communities in Ayrshire down. Our towns were promised funding by the last Conservative Government and we, like other communities promised that towns funding, are lobbying the Minister for Democracy and Local Growth, my hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham North and Kimberley (Alex Norris). We want the towns of Irvine and Kilmarnock prioritised, but we know that other hon. Friends will be making similar cases. We need to see a mix of public and private investment in our towns to deliver the change that our communities need. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland is also working closely with us so that we can ensure that the Ayrshire growth deal meets the real current and future needs of the Ayrshire economy. In the thousands of conversations I had during the election campaign, it was clear to me that jobs, investment and growth will be the most significant change this Labour Government can bring to communities across Ayrshire. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business and Trade visited Prestwick airport during the election campaign, for which I am grateful, and he will remember that Prestwick is Scotland’s aerospace hub, with 55% of Scotland’s aerospace sector jobs. That sector already attracts international investment, but we want to do much, much more. Similarly, we are looking at GB Energy and this Government to drive further green investment in Ayrshire. We want to see parts of that green energy supply chain come to Ayrshire. We have a positive story to tell about transforming our coalfields into clean power fields, and we are proud to host our fair share of wind farms, which play a significant role in ensuring the Government meet their commitments to doubling onshore wind energy by 2030. We have also seen investment in companies such as XLCC, a subsea cable manufacturer, which has secured £87 million from the UK Infrastructure Bank to invest in the development of new subsea cable factories in the Scottish town of Hunterston, which was once home to nuclear power in Ayrshire. That industry is now on the way out, because of the failed policies of the SNP, which include a nuclear-free Scotland relying on English nuclear. I note that, once again, SNP Members are not in the Chamber in an important debate for Scotland’s economy. When Torness in Scotland stops generating, and if no replacement capacity is built, the power generated in England when there is low wind output—as on Monday this week, for example—will be needed to maintain supply in Scotland, and it will be significantly based on nuclear energy. I was pleased that the last Labour leadership of North Ayrshire council welcomed the opportunity to restart the conversation with the nuclear industry in Ayrshire, because the jobs and investment that the industry could bring would be significant. With Ardagh Glass, Irvine continues to be a major centre for glass manufacturing—another industry that benefits from stability and predictability in policymaking and that is looking to make a significant investment in the green transition. To conclude, I hope my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State sees that there are significant opportunities for greater investment in Ayrshire and will ask her brilliant colleagues in the Office for Investment to prioritise working with my colleagues and me to make that investment happen.
15 Oct 2024 · House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill · Hansard source
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rose—
15 Oct 2024 · House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill · Hansard source
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I agree with the hon. Gentleman that trust in politics is at a low point, in part because of the egregious failures of the Conservatives when in government. This is a small and initial step that we can take to start to increase trust in politics, and that is partly why my party won the election.
15 Oct 2024 · House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill · Hansard source
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Would the hon. Gentleman care to comment on the 14 years of Tory Administration, which were full of reforming zeal and could have transformed this country in so many ways, yet failed my country so much. I just wanted to let the House know that no family in Central Ayrshire, other than potentially the distant descendants of the Earl of Eglinton and Winton, might support hereditary peers remaining in the other place. I hope that the hon. Gentleman will vote with us tonight and begin this important step of reform.
10 Oct 2024 · Sport: Team GB and ParalympicsGB · Hansard source
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It is a great privilege to have listened to so many of my colleagues’ maiden speeches this afternoon, including my hon. Friend the Member for East Kilbride and Strathaven (Joani Reid) and my hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Danny Beales), whose—rightly very proud—mum was in the Chamber. In today’s debate, we have heard about the importance of sport in communities across the UK, and I want to share with the House the truly inspirational achievements of my constituent Kayleigh Haggo, a Paralympian from Ayr. Kayleigh is a six-time world record holder in frame running, and was preparing to win gold in Paris this year when she was told two years ago that her sport would not be included in the games. In her own words, it felt like her whole world crashed around her, but with true Olympian spirit, Kayleigh spent the last two years becoming one of the best boccia players, and is ranked 13th in the world. She was selected for Team GB and made it all the way to the quarter-finals in Paris. This is a truly inspirational feat. We are all so very proud of what Kayleigh has achieved by representing Ayrshire in Team GB. I tried to contact Kayleigh to suggest that she might want to watch this debate, but it seems that she has a more important thing going on: it is her wedding day. I hope that the House will join me in congratulating her on her achievements, and on this very special day.
8 Oct 2024 · VAT: Independent Schools · Hansard source
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Fourteen years of Tory neglect have left many of our schools on their knees. The situation is no better in Scotland. After 17 years of the SNP, Scotland’s once world-beating reputation for education has been tarnished. I regularly meet and hear from teachers whose passion and dedication is palpable, including Mrs Boyd and Miss McKay, the primary 6 teachers at Struthers primary school in Troon. Some 21 of their pupils have sent me individual letters asking me to join the fair trade campaign to “Be the Change”. However, over a quarter of children in north Ayrshire now live in poverty. That means that 6,234 children are held back, even before the school day begins. Conservative Members have forgotten about the effects of austerity on constituencies such as mine. They and the SNP are living in their own fantasies. Having squandered reserves through financial incompetence, SNP-run North Ayrshire council faces £12.6 million of cuts in its upcoming budget. The situation has only been worsened by the council tax freeze imposed by the SNP in Holyrood. The council now proposes cutting 90 teaching posts between 2025 and 2027, and removing a total of 230 hours of pupil support assistance, equivalent to eight full-time staff; all school crossing patrols; one full-time post from the music service; and one full-time educational psychologist. That will be a travesty for children in north Ayrshire, and casts further shame on the SNP’s education record in Scotland. The independent Institute for Fiscal Studies has said that this VAT policy will raise more than £1 billion, and will see significant additional education spend in England, which means significant Barnett consequentials for Scotland, and for the young people in my constituency. Today’s generation of young people deserve no less, after suffering year after year of excuses. This Government are not prepared to settle for more of the same.
11 Sept 2024 · Building Safety and Resilience · Hansard source
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I was pleased to hear the Minister make reference to new towns. My constituency of Central Ayrshire benefits from the new town of Irvine, where I was born. Just recently, Irvine was part of the Government’s long-term plan for towns programme, and secured a commitment to £20 million to help us bring Irvine back to its best days. I hope that the Minister agrees that new towns are essential to economic growth and development, both in Scotland and the rest of the UK.
11 Sept 2024 · Building Safety and Resilience · Hansard source
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Before the Minister moves on to service charges, I remind the House of something that I said last week, following the Prime Minister’s statement, about a similar fire that took place in Irvine in my constituency in 1999. A fire ripped through a 14-storey block of flats, leading to one fatality. Thanks to the work of my predecessor, Sir Brian Donohoe, building regulations were changed following that fire. I hope that the Minister will consider those building regulations and the Garnock Court fire as he examines what went wrong in the terrible tragedy at Grenfell.
11 Sept 2024 · Port Talbot Transition Project · Hansard source
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I congratulate my right hon. Friend on the deal that he has announced. As a former British trade commissioner to India, I assure him that it is a better deal from a better and more serious Government than the Conservative Government. Will he tell the House what direct conversations he has had with Tata about future investments in the UK?
10 Sept 2024 · Ukraine · Hansard source
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The Secretary of State spent the last Sunday of the election campaign in Prestwick, near our town’s world war two Polish war memorial. Within days, he was in Odesa and has stepped up and sped up the support that the UK is delivering. Does he agree that we have started as we mean to go on and that this Government will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes?
4 Sept 2024 · Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 Report · Hansard source
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Today’s report lists a series of terrible failures that let down the Grenfell community. The Grenfell fire affected communities in every part of the UK, and I wish to pass on the thoughts of my constituents in Irvine to the families and loved ones. A fire at a 14-storey block of flats in Irvine in 1999 spread via external cladding. The Garnock Court fire resulted in one fatality and led to changes to Scottish building regulations, which the then local MP fought to have implemented. I hope my right hon. Friend will look at the lessons from the Garnock Court fire as he starts to address this terrible injustice.
3 Sept 2024 · Inward Investment: Fiscal Steps · Hansard source
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International investment is important for the aviation and aerospace sectors, and aviation and aerospace are important for my constituents in Central Ayrshire, with 55% of Scotland’s aerospace jobs based in Prestwick. Can my right hon. Friend tell me what more the Government will do to ensure continued international investment in these sectors?
3 Sept 2024 · Inward Investment: Fiscal Steps · Hansard source
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8. What fiscal steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to encourage inward investment.

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