Euan Stainbank MP: speeches 2025

Speeches

• 18 Dec 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Merry Christmas, Mr Speaker. The Christmas spirit is alive and well in Falkirk, whether it be the Denny Boys getting everybody into the mood last month with their Ring doorbell edition of “Last Christmas”, the school Christmas fairs—which I know many of my family and friends who are teachers are still enjoying—or the very successful inaugural Falkirk festival of trees, which took place last weekend and the weekend before, thanks in no small part to the Falkirk Delivers team. Will the Leader of the House join me in thanking the workers, emergency services and volunteers in Falkirk and across the country who will be working so hard this Christmas so that we can all enjoy a restful Christmas and a peaceful new year?

• 17 Dec 2025 · INEOS Chemicals: Grangemouth · Hansard source

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  People in Falkirk, Grangemouth and across Forth valley are delighted to see the decisive action taken by this Government to preserve 500 jobs in our community. The £120 million investment and £150 million deal are Labour’s industrial strategy in action. It protects our industrial community and keeps essential national infrastructure viable. I hope that there is a consensus in this House that that is a welcome, positive step. It is worth noting that, earlier this year, the head of external affairs for INEOS told the Scottish Affairs Committee that prior to the November 2023 announcement of the refinery’s closure, “Both Governments were given the opportunity, the data and access to the data to make an investment decision, and neither Government chose to do that.” Both the Tories and the SNP had the opportunity in government to support workers at Grangemouth, but they did not lift a finger. Contrast that with this Government’s approach to the ethylene plant, acting decisively before it was too late. Our action today and further action support new industry, with the welcome announcement last week of MiAlgae bringing 400 jobs across Scotland. Grangemouth’s industrial future must move forward and the Labour Government are providing substantial further resources towards that. Will the Minister provide us with greater detail on what guarantees the Government have received from INEOS for the long-term viability of the ethylene site at Grangemouth and when Grangemouth can expect further funding announcements from the National Wealth Fund’s £200 million commitment, as well as the additional £14 million secured by Scottish Labour MPs in the Budget last month, to get announcements made soon?

• 16 Dec 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  The Hillsborough law will deliver a generational strengthening of legal aid, but does the Minister share my constituents’ concern about the fact that the Scottish Government have yet to confirm that similar non-means-tested legal aid will be available to bereaved families in Scotland?

• 15 Dec 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  On Armed Forces Day, it is crucial to mark the bravery of our armed forces personnel and bring our communities together. Will the Minister meet me to discuss how we can better support Armed Forces Day 2026 events in places such as Falkirk?

• 11 Dec 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I welcome the 340 jobs at Grangemouth announced this morning as a direct consequence of the investment made by this Labour Government and MiAlgae. [ Official Report , 15 December 2025; Vol. 777, c. 10WC.] (Correction) In less good news, the National Timber Group went into administration last month, making 500 workers across the country redundant. After five years at NTG, my constituent had her system access cut off, while working, with no warning, no process and no verbal communication. What dialogue have Ministers had with the administrators to ensure that a fair process is followed for NTG employees?

• 11 Dec 2025 · Oil Refining Sector · Hansard source

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  I hear the hon. Member on the strategic importance of oil refineries; we have seen it in Grangemouth for over 100 years. Back in February 2024, in response to a question from the former Member for East Lothian, the right hon. Member for Richmond and Northallerton (Rishi Sunak), the then Prime Minister, described the closure of Grangemouth refinery as “obviously a commercial decision”. Does the hon. Member for Brigg and Immingham (Martin Vickers) agree with that characterisation by the former Prime Minister, who was at the time his party’s leader, given that he is describing—and I agree with him—the strategic role that oil refineries play in his community?

• 11 Dec 2025 · Oil Refining Sector · Hansard source

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  Project Willow also recommended the delay or lifting of the cap on hydrotreated esters and fatty acids. Would the hon. Member agree with that approach being taken? This is the project and report on the future industrial options at Grangemouth.

• 11 Dec 2025 · Oil Refining Sector · Hansard source

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  I note the attendance, and I welcome the hon. Gentleman’s presence in this debate. However, when we were talking about the Grangemouth refinery at the time that it mattered, in the previous Parliament, I note there was an active lack of interest from SNP politicians, with the exception of the former Member for East Lothian, who is no longer a member of the Scottish National party. I have raised the concern, and I have asked for direct intervention from my Government about skills funding for the college during Treasury questions. I very much welcome the enhancement of the local growth deal, which enabled the skills centre to be built. I will talk about the future of the refining sector. Since being elected I have repeatedly made the case that the best opportunity for Grangemouth is in refining biofuels, especially sustainable aviation fuel, due to its industrial role as a fuel supplier for Glasgow and Edinburgh throughout history, its equal proximity to Scotland’s two largest and busiest airports, its operational capacity and its proximity to a town that has the infrastructure necessary to host the required contractors. The £200 million national wealth fund commitment to Grangemouth first proposed by Scottish Labour MPs late last year, fought for by Scottish Labour Ministers and announced by the Prime Minister in February, should be spent primarily on developing a new anchor industry for our community that complements the existing skills profile of refinery workers. Ideally, we would not give private international capital a full stake in the project. Many businesses are interested in investing in refining biofuels at Grangemouth, and they are calling for policy certainty during the transitional phase into sustainable aviation fuel. Legislative measures such as the SAF mandate and the revenue certainty mechanism go a long way towards that, after the Government picked up the work that was delayed for far too long under the previous Administration. However, I would like the Minister to address the following points. Clarity on the revenue certainty mechanism and the pre-contractual work that can be carried out is crucial. Will the Government enable pre-contractual work to be carried out, as we did through contracts for difference, so that there are no delays once the RCM comes into effect later next year? Project Willow mentioned a proposal to delay the hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids cap. Despite substantial questioning from me, that has not been addressed yet by Ministers at either the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero or the Department for Transport. Will the Government consider altering, delaying or lifting the cap following that recommendation? Finally, it would be useful to have an update on how the £200 million is being deployed, following the welcome announcement on MiAlgae this year.

• 11 Dec 2025 · Oil Refining Sector · Hansard source

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  It is a privilege to serve under your chairship, Mr Western. I congratulate the hon. Member for Brigg and Immingham (Martin Vickers) on securing this important debate, and I agree with his comments regarding the strategic importance of oil refineries for their communities—if only colleagues who were previously in government had grasped that before the decision by Petroineos to close Grangemouth in November 2023 was announced. As has been remarked by colleagues, 2026 will mark the first year since, I believe, 1850 that Scotland does not have an oil refinery. This year marked 101 years since the start of oil refining in Grangemouth, and the date that refining ceased in April 2025 was a devastating time for the community I represent, the community of my hon. Friend the Member for Alloa and Grangemouth (Brian Leishman), the whole of Scotland and the United Kingdom. I remember sitting in the Falkirk council chamber when the announcement was made. The implications were obvious immediately: the loss of many of the highest-paying jobs in the Falkirk area, and the loss of a substantial tax base for Falkirk council and the Scottish and UK Governments. The announcement was completely unexpected for those of us in opposition parties, who were not in the know. The failure of Government, as my hon. Friend the Member for West Dunbartonshire (Douglas McAllister) has articulated on behalf of the Scottish Affairs Committee, to prepare our community or have a plan in place for a no job loss transition at Grangemouth refinery has become symbolic of a similar story happening across industrial communities for decades. It was infuriating to find out from the Scottish Affairs Committee report that, through late 2023 and 2024, when it would have mattered, many of the decision makers failed to act to prevent the unjust transition at Grangemouth. Petroineos confirmed to the Committee in April 2025 that, in the years prior to the announcement in November 2023, the then UK and Scottish Governments had requested information from the company, and subsequently chosen not to make an investment decision that would have saved the refinery. It was engaged for years with Government and no one lifted a finger to stop the path to the closure of refinery operations. Although I wish we had grasped the reality of the situation far more clearly in the transition from opposition to entering government, I welcome the determination of Ministers to get investment into Grangemouth quickly so that we can deliver that new industry to the community. Today—two weeks after the Chancellor allocated further Government funding to Grangemouth to speed up investment decisions—marks an exceptionally positive announcement for the area. Up to 310 jobs are coming to Grangemouth to support the construction and operation of MiAlgae, a Scottish biotech success story. That does not, however, diminish the fact that many high-paid, high-skilled jobs have been lost, and the constant worry that they and the industry will never come back is justifiably the primary emotion that still grips my community. We have an obligation not to repeat the mistakes of the past. We do not want the workers at Grangemouth, many of whom have not found employment since the closure in April, to be lost to the middle east, America or Norway. There is still a future for high-skilled refining workers at Grangemouth. That is why I welcome the Skills Transition Centre, announced back in February, funded out of the Falkirk and Grangemouth growth deal, which this Labour Government enhanced by £10 million when we came to power. However, the college that contains the skills centre is facing an existential financial crisis. One of the three campuses that constitutes Forth Valley college—the Alloa campus, in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Alloa and Grangemouth —is directly jeopardised by the 20% real-terms cut inflicted on colleges since 2021 by the SNP Government. The pathways for local kids to grasp the new industrial opportunities coming to our community will be actively barred if Government settlements for our further education sector are insufficient. Any consolidation that followed the closure of the Alloa campus would affect the courses available for thousands of young people in Falkirk, Stirling and especially Clackmannanshire. Kenny MacInnes, the principal of Forth Valley college, rightly reminded a conference recently that the college will be an instrumental part of whatever comes next at Grangemouth. The Scottish Government must bear that and Colleges Scotland’s recently published report in mind when they set their budget next year if they ever want to speak credibly about rebuilding opportunities in my community.

• 11 Dec 2025 · Oil Refining Sector · Hansard source

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  When the hon. Lady’s party was in power, in February 2024, in response to a question from the former Member for East Lothian, her then party leader said that the future of the Grangemouth refinery was “obviously a commercial decision”, essentially excluding themselves from taking any action. Does she agree or disagree with the former Prime Minister’s characterisation, considering what we have heard from the Conservative Benches—and I agree—about how oil refineries are strategically important? It was not a commercial decision, and something could have been done when her party was in office.

• 10 Dec 2025 · Seasonal Work · Hansard source

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  I will give way, given the hon. Gentleman’s insistence. Maybe he will mention some experience of hospitality workers as well.

• 10 Dec 2025 · Seasonal Work · Hansard source

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  It is important that we back our hospitality sector, and I said earlier that I think there should be more to come. Small businesses in the hospitality sector have talked to me about their energy prices.

• 10 Dec 2025 · Seasonal Work · Hansard source

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  I am going to confine my remarks to the criticisms of the Employment Rights Bill, because it is where my experience sits and because I tried—in no small part thanks to the efforts of yourself, Madam Deputy Speaker—to get into Monday’s debate on the Bill, but sadly I was not able to speak. Having said that, I do also want to make the point that it is imperative that all hon. Members listen to small businesses, as I did this Saturday as I helped out Falkirk Delivers and the Falkirk business improvement district team, disentangling the Christmas lights and carrying ladders about Falkirk High Street as they set up the inaugural Falkirk festival of trees. I encourage any hon. Member to visit the vastly brilliant hospitality venues in Falkirk. With that out of the way, I will now focus my contribution on the impact of the Employment Rights Bill. We have heard from the Opposition that small businesses are looking for more solutions, although I would point out that very few of them say that we should either cut welfare substantially in a way that would push children into poverty or rejoin the European Union as the immediate solution. It is imperative, though, that we talk about seasonal workers and not just the businesses that hire them; that is, of course, an important perspective, but it can often be a parochial view that involves talking to one side of the labour market—the employer—and failing to grasp the incentive system that we need to change in order to get people into work, as I believe the Employment Rights Bill will do. After years of hearing the Conservative Government using the stick—tough language about benefit sanctions, often kicking down at a workless generation that they directly caused and also directly failed to address when in government—the Conservatives now repeatedly slam the carrot: the Employment Rights Bill and this Government’s broader agenda to make work pay again. So in lieu, I will provide my own relatively recent experience to the House. With the exception of the pandemic—when I lost my insecure hospitality job as one of the workers who was not provided with furlough assistance because of the nature of my contract, and I had to move back in with my parents for the first time since I was 17—I have not gone one week unemployed since I was a teenager. After long days at school and, later, long days of studying law, I spent my weekends working behind the bar at weddings and various functions in the hospitality industry and the retail industry. I did this because of the ethos my family instilled in me as a 16-year-old, when I got my first seasonal job at Argos, that nothing is better for your self-esteem, your progression, your social skills, your life, your independence and, ultimately, your wallet than to get yourself in, and keep yourself in, work. I still remember hitting 1,000 orders on Christmas eve 2016 in that first job, only to be told on Boxing day, alongside many of my generation who worked hard in that seasonal job and made sure that the business was running, that I was not going to be kept on. We have to remind ourselves that the workers who work over Christmas in hospitality, in retail and in gift shops are the economy that we are talking about here. They are the ones who consistently keep the lights on in our high streets. In my experience, working on the minimum wage, insecure and low pay, high turnover and insecure hours are major characteristics of the sectors I have worked in. Until I moved out of the hospitality sector in June 2022, my income was sometimes enough to pay the rent on my digs and for my bills, food and the occasional trip to the pub or a Falkirk match—but, sadly, sometimes it was not. This is still the reality for far too many who work in hospitality, retail, social care and many other sectors, and it is ultimately the reason I got into politics: to improve the lot of those who, despite grafting and seeing little result for themselves or their families and sometimes working in quite deep poverty, still went in each day and got on with it. That same spirit lives on today in the young hospitality workers who are currently in dispute with their employer at the Village Hotel and at Vue in Glasgow. The hard-working generation that I am a part of are down there once again, organising and demanding better, because they are contributing and keeping our economy going, and they deserve fair pay and conditions over Christmas. More than anything, this was the reason I ran for election: I saw in my generation the corrosive social sickness that the previous Government neglectfully allowed this country, and especially my generation, to be infected with. After 14 long years, many in my generation looked at the workplace with no prospect of being able to build a better life than the one their parents had. I believe that the last Parliament was the first in history in which living standards went down. Off the back of that, too many in my generation saw that they could either work hard and see little reward or sit about and see little reward as well. Something had to radically change. This country had to make work pay again. That was the message in the manifesto that Labour stood on and promised the country that we would deliver if we had the privilege of winning office. This is what the Employment Rights Bill is designed to do, with day one rights to statutory sick pay, allowing workers who fall ill to bounce back into the workplace quicker and healthier, and day one rights to paternity leave—those were secured this week; I am grateful to the Minister—meaning that fathers can spend those precious first few days at home with their newly-born bairns, which I imagine will be crucial for many families this Christmas. Having said that, as Ministers are aware, I was desperately disappointed earlier this week when the concession was made to the Tories and Lib Dems in the other place on day one rights against unfair dismissal. Those same peers have, throughout the passage of the Employment Rights Bill, fought to bargain on behalf of the bad bosses to weaken the sick pay and paternity leave of millions of ordinary people. The obstructions of the other place to delivering that core manifesto commitment, which will benefit so many in my generation—those who are seasonal workers, to boot—must be addressed by the Government at another time and, from my perspective, with far more radical intent in regard to the other place. I cannot and I will not forget the workers I have pulled pints alongside.

• 10 Dec 2025 · Seasonal Work · Hansard source

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  An extensive amount of hospitality jobs were lost over the previous five years as well. I speak to small businesses in my constituency every week, and I do not deny that they have been hard pressed for a number of years. I know, because I was there—I was working in the industry.

• 10 Dec 2025 · Seasonal Work · Hansard source

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  Yes, absolutely. I also find it disgraceful that the Leader of the Opposition suggested this week that we should freeze the minimum wage. That would mean that, in later years, the workers who are going to keep the lights on this Christmas in the gift shops, the pubs and the restaurants would be entitled to less as inflation went up— [ Interruption. ] Well, they are part of the economy. If we did not have the workforce keeping the lights on in the first place, there would be no restaurants, no pubs and, sadly, no Christmas custom. That is the experience of far too many people in hospitality. This is the fourth Christmas in my working life that I am going to be able to spend with my family instead of working in the hospitality industry. If any of those on the Opposition Benches can share their experiences, I would be very interested to hear them, considering how much experience in business they utilised earlier in the debate. Throughout the progress of my career in this place and the votes that we make, I am not going to forget the workers I pulled pints beside and served tables with. I have heard too many stories about kids being bullied, belittled and booted out of the workplace by bad bosses during the first two years of their working lives. I do worry—and I have shared my concern with Ministers—that, especially in the seasonal work sector, this will now simply happen before the six-month mark. We should return to and address that later in the Parliament. I expect nothing from Opposition Members but an apology to the 1.5 million people who were put into in-work poverty during the shambolic 14-year tenure of the Conservatives. They built a low-wage, insecure, low-productivity economy, all while practising austerity, and now they have come back to this House with essentially the same ideas but with 200 less MPs.

• 10 Dec 2025 · Seasonal Work · Hansard source

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  Although I do not accept the premise, I think it is important to recognise that hospitality has struggled over a number of years. I am not in any way denying that. However, I do not know why the Employment Rights Bill is mentioned in the Opposition Day motion, given that its provisions have not yet come into place. It is important that we listen to hospitality and give feedback, but it is also important not to discourage young people from seeking job opportunities in the first place. That has happened for far too long—for the past 14 years under the hon. Gentleman’s Government.

• 10 Dec 2025 · Seasonal Work · Hansard source

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  As I am going to draw to a close, I will not take any more interventions. Moaning about the rates of maternity pay or proposing to freeze the minimum wage is not likely to incentivise more young people to grasp their first opportunity. It is not likely to encourage the people we are talking about here—the NEETs of my generation—into the workplace. This Government are delivering a fair wage and fair working conditions, but we do need to go further and faster, both on employment rights—instead of stepping back at the first sign of opposition from the Tories and the Lib Dems—and on support for the hospitality industry in my constituency. My hon. Friend the Member for Scarborough and Whitby (Alison Hume) pointed out something quite important: because of what this Government have done, the younger workers in our constituencies are going to be £1.40 an hour better off in their workplace. I only wish that, back when I got my first seasonal job, we had a Government who saw the value of my labour over the Christmas period.

• 9 Dec 2025 · Forth Valley: Industry · Hansard source

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  9. What fiscal steps she is taking to support industry in the Forth valley.

• 9 Dec 2025 · Forth Valley: Industry · Hansard source

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  I welcome the additional £14 million-plus to get new industry delivered quickly in Grangemouth and the £25 million to finalise the freeport in the Budget two weeks ago. Forth Valley college is vital to giving local working-class kids the skills they need to grasp the new opportunities that must come to Grangemouth, but it has been failed by the SNP Scottish Government’s staggering 20% cut to colleges since 2021. The Alloa campus now faces closure. Will the Minister consider stepping in with direct skills support for this vital college?

• 8 Dec 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Some 1,750 kids in Falkirk, most of whom have a parent in work, will be lifted from poverty and its lifelong economic consequences by the fully funded lifting of the two-child cap. Does the Minister agree that the cost of this poverty-alleviation policy is far less than the long-term cost of leaving those parents in poverty?

• 4 Dec 2025 · National Resilience · Hansard source

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  Considering that Chinese state-subsidised manufacturers have gained a rising market share in the UK over the past few years, that the Department for Transport and the National Cyber Security Centre have recently announced an investigation into kill switches in Chinese buses, and that the 10-year bus pipeline is expected imminently, will the Minister be raising our Government’s concerns about Chinese buses directly with the Chinese Government?

• 4 Dec 2025 · Proposed Chinese Embassy · Hansard source

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  My constituents are concerned about the broader domestic security risk that China is currently posing, beyond the potential implications of its embassy planning application. Considering that Chinese state-subsidised bus manufacturers have gained a rising market share in the UK over the past few years, the Department for Transport and National Cyber Security Centre—

• 4 Dec 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Last month, during consideration of a Lords message on the Employment Rights Bill, I said: “I have proportionate respect for the work of the other place”. —[ Official Report , 5 November 2025; Vol. 774, c. 978.] However, this House and the public—especially young, lower-paid and insecure workers—expect a popularly elected Government’s manifesto commitments not to be held up, compromised or rejected by the other place. Will the Leader of the House therefore schedule an urgent debate, in Government time and in this, the elected Chamber, on whether we should now abolish the House of Lords?

• 27 Nov 2025 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Forth Valley College recently announced that its Alloa campus risks closure due to SNP cuts. The prospect is devastating for Forth valley and is a direct threat to the opportunities of thousands of working-class Scottish kids from Stirling, Falkirk and especially Clackmannanshire. Reform Falkirk took a different view, commenting recently: “The College sector needs slimmed down too much focus on woke ideologies.” Does the Leader of the House agree that this is a ludicrous insult by Reform to our vital Scottish further education sector, which educates the people who make up our local economy and public services?

• 20 Nov 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Considering the imminent publication of the 10-year bus pipeline and rapidly rising Chinese market share in UK bus orders, will the Minister expand on what the Government will do to ensure that domestic manufacturers have a level playing field, which the SNP’s infamous ScotZEB2 shopping list for Chinese manufacturers dismally failed to deliver?