Bill Esterson MP: speeches

Speeches

• 29 Oct 2024 · Northern Powerhouse · Hansard source

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  The successful investments announced are a great example of this Government delivering jobs and economic growth, in the north of England and across the country. Does my right hon. Friend agree that this is in stark contrast to the abysmal record of the Conservative party in its 14 years in government?

• 29 Oct 2024 · Northern Powerhouse · Hansard source

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  The creation of the national wealth fund, and the record success of the £63 billion of investment announced at the investment summit, comes on top of investments that Ministers have just announced in carbon capture in the north-west. Those are examples of the success—

• 7 Oct 2024 · Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage · Hansard source

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  Unlike the shadow Secretary of State, I am very pleased that the Secretary of State has announced jobs in Teesside—jobs from which my constituents in the north-west of England will potentially benefit. I am also very pleased that we have a Government who are committed to an industrial strategy, and who believe in Government working in partnership with business. The Secretary of State mentioned just how important it is that we have this technology if we are to decarbonise; he quoted James Richardson in making the case. It will be crucial for the abatement of heavy industries such as chemicals, glass—the Secretary of State went to visit a glass factory in the north-west on Friday—and cement, but it will also be crucial for hydrogen production, for the new gas-fired power stations and, indeed, for converting waste into energy. How long does he think we will need this technology for the abatement of heavy industry, and how long does he think we will need it for hydrogen production and production from gas?

• 12 Sept 2024 · Rioters: Prosecutions · Hansard source

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  4. What steps she is taking to help ensure rioters are prosecuted efficiently and effectively.

• 12 Sept 2024 · Rioters: Prosecutions · Hansard source

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  I thank the Solicitor General for her kind words, and I congratulate her in turn on her appointment. I also congratulate the Government on their excellent response to the riots over the summer, which she has just outlined. My hon. and learned Friend has talked about the early release scheme, which is, of course, the result of the shortage of prison places inherited from the previous Government, but does she agree that those convicted and imprisoned as a result of the riots, and those imprisoned for inciting the riots, should not benefit from the early release scheme?

• 11 Sept 2024 · Clean Energy Projects · Hansard source

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  9. What recent discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on support for clean energy projects in Wales.

• 11 Sept 2024 · Clean Energy Projects · Hansard source

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  My right hon. Friend mentioned the exciting opportunities from offshore wind for the people and economy of Wales. Can she tell the House about the discussions that she and her Cabinet colleagues have had with the Crown Estate about maximising the benefits from those opportunities?

• 11 Sept 2024 · Port Talbot Transition Project · Hansard source

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  I congratulate my right hon. Friend on securing this improved deal. I know how hard he has worked over many years, not just in the short term before and since the election, as he referred to in his answer to the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Mid Buckinghamshire (Greg Smith). On procurement, will there be a presumption in favour of using British-produced steel both in nationally significant projects in green energy and in defence? That would be in stark contrast to what the previous Government did, in particular with the fleet solid support contract.

• 9 Sept 2024 · Level 3 Vocational Pathways · Hansard source

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  There are a great many opportunities for technicians and engineers, which will only increase with the Government’s plans for clean energy and their industrial strategy. However, we are currently short of intermediate and advanced-level skilled workers in this country, so will the Secretary of State tell us how her plans will ensure that more young people make the most of those opportunities, and how our education system will deliver the qualifications they need?

• 9 Sept 2024 · Level 3 Vocational Pathways · Hansard source

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  1. What steps she is taking to ensure the adequacy of the provision of level 3 vocational pathways for students.

• 5 Sept 2024 · UK Steel Manufacturing · Hansard source

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  Steel is a strategically important industry for this country, as my hon. Friend has made very clear, and I welcome her commitment that decarbonisation must not mean de-industrialisation. We must avoid the mistakes of the past. One of the mistakes made by the previous Government was the delay in developing grid capacity and grid connections. How are this Government working with British Steel and Port Talbot to make sure that the grid capacity and connections are in place to enable electric arc furnace production to be started as soon as possible?

• 4 Sept 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  I associate myself with the Prime Minister’s remarks about the loss of life in the channel, and about Grenfell. The latest suicide figures are a sobering reminder of the misery caused by mental ill health. Maghull Health Park in my constituency is a centre of excellence, with high, medium and low-security hospitals on the same site. The staff do an amazing job, but demand has gone through the roof, especially since the pandemic. Does my right hon. and learned Friend agree that it is essential that we give mental and physical healthcare the same level of priority in this country?

• 4 Sept 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Q1. If he will list his official engagements for Wednesday 4 September.

• 3 Sept 2024 · Economic Stability · Hansard source

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  The Minister refers to the £22 billion black hole in the public finances left by the last Government, and which they hid from the British public. Does that not highlight just how important it is to ensure transparency and independent analysis of economic decisions?

• 3 Sept 2024 · Contracts for Difference · Hansard source

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  My right hon. Friend is correct that clean energy is by far the cheapest way to power the UK, as confirmed by industry bodies today in welcoming his announcement, but there will be intense international competition for investment. How does he foresee ensuring that we have the competitive advantage in attracting that investment for years to come?

• 30 Jul 2024 · Southport Incident · Hansard source

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  Thank you, Mr Speaker. My hon. Friend the Member for Southport is at the vigil that is taking place as we gather here. I am sure that he and his constituents are grateful for the visits of the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary earlier today. He and they will also be grateful to the Home Secretary and the shadow Home Secretary for what they have said this evening. This is about Bebe, it is about Elsie and it is about Alice. It is about three young children who were murdered. The Prime Minister talked about a collective trauma for the people of Merseyside, and I think that is exactly what is going on. My constituents are reflecting that, as are the people in Southport. I want to pass on the thanks of my constituents to the emergency services for their response, and for the fact that they are back at work today, as the Home Secretary said. I also want to thank those local people who intervened, as the shadow Home Secretary mentioned. I want to add to what the Home Secretary said about the importance of the responsibility of everyone here and everyone more widely, and to the concerns that she and the shadow Home Secretary expressed about what has been said on social media. I think the best way to respond to it is to look at the overwhelming sense of love and support that is seen at the vigil, and in the many messages that have been left in the floral tributes and online from the vast majority of people, not just in Southport but across the country. That is the appropriate way to support those victims and their grieving loved ones this evening.

• 29 Jul 2024 · Public Spending: Inheritance · Hansard source

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  Welcome to your place, Madam Deputy Speaker. It was not just the public finances that the Conservatives mismanaged over 14 years; they failed to support industry too. Figures published today demonstrate that Britain has dropped out of the top 10 countries for manufacturing for the first time since the industrial revolution. I welcome my right hon. Friend’s commitment to leveraging millions more in private investment to make up for the record low levels of private investment we saw under the previous Government. Does she agree that the latest manufacturing figures show how critical it is that the Government work closely with business and trade unions on a long-term industrial strategy?

• 24 Jul 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  Q12. The Liverpool city region has one of the biggest concentrations of offshore wind in the world, and 100,000 homes could be powered by the Mersey tidal project, yet some Opposition Members want to block the jobs, the lower bills and the energy security that come with renewable energy. May I encourage my right hon. Friend to resist the siren voices opposite and support a range of technologies, including the Mersey tidal project, to maximise the benefits of clean energy for our country?

• 23 Jul 2024 · New Health Centre: Maghull · Hansard source

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  3. Whether his Department plans to provide capital funding for a new health centre at Maghull in Sefton Central constituency.

• 23 Jul 2024 · New Health Centre: Maghull · Hansard source

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  I congratulate my right hon. and hon. Friends on their appointments. The predecessors of my right hon. Friend the Health Secretary—there have been quite a few over the past few years—all agreed with me that a health centre in Maghull in my constituency was a priority for the health service, but as my hon. Friend has just said, the allocation of capital by integrated care boards has meant that the priority has been acute hospitals, sometimes at the expense of community facilities. Will my hon. Friend meet me to discuss the importance of investment in health centres such as the one in Maghull, which make such a difference to reducing waiting times in the NHS and improving patient outcomes?

• 22 Jul 2024 · Economy, Welfare and Public Services · Hansard source

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  The shadow Chancellor was talking just now about fiscal responsibility. During the election campaign, he committed to a series of tax cuts, but I noticed that yesterday on Laura Kuenssberg’s show he said that it would not have been possible for him to proceed with those tax cuts. What has changed, and why did he make that commitment during the election campaign, knowing full well that he could not afford to carry it out?

• 18 Jul 2024 · Clean Energy Superpower Mission · Hansard source

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  It is great to see you back in the Chair, Mr Speaker. It is also great to see the Secretary of State at the Dispatch Box on this side of the House again. I welcome what he said about the jobs, lower bills, energy security and climate action that lie at the heart of this Government’s plans. That is very true in respect of the Liverpool city region, where offshore wind—as he said—will play an important and increasing role in our energy future, along with onshore wind, solar power, hydrogen, carbon capture and nuclear energy. However, we also have exciting plans for tidal energy in the region, and I hope he can confirm that it will form a part of what he wants to achieve through the plans that he has announced.

• 17 Jul 2024 · Debate on the Address · Hansard source

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  It is always a pleasure to speak in this Chamber. I have had the pleasure of doing so for the past 14 years, but it is not half a big improvement to be standing on the Government side of the Chamber. I look forward to giving full support to this new Labour Government in their endeavour, as they take their first steps in changing our country for the better. I congratulate my hon. Friends the Members for Bolton North East (Kirith Entwistle) and for Wolverhampton West (Warinder Juss), who gave outstanding maiden speeches. They have set the bar rather high for the rest of my hon. Friends, as I think they would all agree, but I wish them all well in their endeavours. Indeed, I congratulate all new and returning Members. We have an inheritance after 14 years, and I would just say to some of the Conservative Members who have defended the previous Government’s record, or at least have attempted to do so as they have made their various leadership pitches, that the economic performance of those 14 years tells a rather different story, with low living standards, a cost of living crisis and low growth. In fact, growth has been so low that, had we maintained the growth of the last Labour Government, GDP would be £140 billion higher, every household would on average have £5,800 more every single year and there would be £50 billion more, on the same tax rates, for spending and investing in our public services and our infrastructure. That is what 14 years of Conservative Government have meant for this country, and to cap it all we had the Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng exuberance of the mini-Budget, with the disastrous crashing of the economy, which has left people paying high interest rates even now, two years later. That is the record we inherit, it is what we have to fix and we have made a very good start. In the Gracious Speech, the importance of economic stability was underlined with the announcement of a Budget responsibility Bill to deliver stability and to attract investment by creating confidence throughout the economy. There is the national wealth fund to attract private investment and to invest in the massive opportunity available to us in this country, which, almost uniquely in western Europe, is through clean energy, with our geographical and geological opportunities, as well as our marvellous tech in this country, our science base and our universities. There are the reforms to planning to deliver infrastructure and housing, and the reform to skills to deliver for our workers and for their employers. The investment we have announced in transport, which is so important—the improvements in rail and in buses and the commitment to sustainable aviation fuel—show that this is a Government who actually understand the importance of integrated transport in delivering societal and economic improvements. Turning to the impact on my constituency, we, like everybody in this House, will benefit from the commitments to take action on NHS and dental waiting lists, and to improve appointments, as well as to recruit additional teachers and to bring in breakfast club places for our children. All of those will make a massive immediate difference, and they are part of the down payment that the Prime Minister committed to during the election campaign and reiterated in his brilliant speech earlier. In my constituency, one piece of legislation announced today above all is of particular significance. I represent many people whose loved ones died at Hillsborough, or who were injured or who attended, so I am very pleased—along with all of my Merseyside and Liverpool city region colleagues, and indeed many more in this House—for everyone who has campaigned so hard for justice for 35 years. The legal duty of candour on all public officials and authorities will now be created, as it should have been so many years ago. I am thrilled at the announcement about and the commitment to mental health in the Gracious Speech. Maghull health park in my constituency arguably has the most comprehensive array of mental health services in Europe, with medium and low secure provision to go with the well known high-secure Ashworth hospital, which is the best arrangement on a single location. Mersey Care NHS foundation trust, along with the Liverpool city region combined authority and Sefton council all want to see, as do I, investment in a world-leading diagnostic and research mental health facility on the same site. What we heard in the Gracious Speech gives me great confidence that such investment is likely to be available so that we can make the most of what we are already very good at in this country and make so much more of it. It must be right, as the sovereign said in the other place, that mental health should have the same attention as physical health. This brings me on to speak in more detail about energy. The Liverpool city region and the north-west of England are supremely well placed to be at the heart of the Government’s plans for investment in clean energy and energy security. Contrary to what some Conservative Members have been saying, this is about jobs, cheaper transport and lower energy bills. It is an economic investment as much as it is an environmental one. It is of course essential that we support workers in the oil and gas industry, so that we avoid the mistakes of deindustrialisation, and that there are jobs and training for people to make the transition and take advantage of the lower-carbon future that we all know is coming. In the Liverpool city region and across the country, it is absolutely right that we make the most of opportunities in fixed and floating offshore wind. I am so pleased that one of the Secretary of State’s first acts has been to end the ban on onshore wind, and indeed that he has announced three new solar farms. In the north-west and elsewhere there are plans for hydrogen, for carbon capture and storage, and for nuclear, and uniquely in the north-west, in the city region, we have great plans for the Mersey tidal project. They are all key to growth, to prosperity and to addressing the climate crisis, so I am thrilled that this is front and centre of Labour’s plans for government. There are many other aspects of the low-carbon future, including improvement in insulation in housing and plans for solar for people at home. That is something I have invested in, and I have seen the benefits with lower bills already. I would advocate that for everybody, and it is brilliant that we are committed to giving everybody the ability to make the most of such an opportunity. The Liverpool city region and the north-west are part of the HyNet project, which is a commitment to a series of green hydrogen generation units. We are also committed to improvements in green transport through the roll-out of EV charging points—something that has to happen much more quickly right across the country—and there are already net zero hydrogen buses in service in the city region. Elsewhere in the city region, Glass Futures is leading the way internationally in decarbonising the production of glass, and we are also looking at battery storage. Whether in the city region or elsewhere in the country, this really is key not just to Labour’s energy mission, but to the mission of sustaining the highest growth in the G7, and whether through investment in energy or improvements in public services, by having growth at the centre we really will see improvements in this country and we really will see a change from what we have seen over the past 14 years. The 14 years of chaos are over, and it is time to turn the page. As the Prime Minister said, it is time to work together—and he offered to do so with all Members in this House and people beyond this House—to start to rebuild Britain. Today’s Gracious Speech is an important down payment in securing Britain’s future.