Sir David Amess Summer Adjournment - 22nd July 2025

16:09 Mary Glindon (Labour)

To remain on the topic of our young people, the north-east mayoral combined authority recently approved an £8.5 million investment for the expansion of the energy academy in my constituency. The offshore energy industries along the Tyne are a source of enormous pride. The Tyne is open for business, and the expansion of the energy academy only strengthens that case. That funding will be used to create a new energy campus, tripling the number of students who will be able to enrol each year. The offshore renewable energy sector is set to create an additional 4,500 jobs in manufacturing and engineering along the river over the next decade. It is right that a young person growing up in any of the wards in my constituency should have the opportunity to compete for new green jobs.

However, if companies and local officials are moving the earth to ensure that the jobs and investment are there, we cannot allow obstacles to get in the way. When I say “obstacles”, I mean it in the literal sense; for eight years, I have led a campaign to remove the power cables over the Tyne, which are a barrier to businesses securing work for large renewable energy structures. Last year, the Institute for Public Policy Research identified Newcastle as the travel to work area with the third highest green potential in Britain. However, the current situation puts at risk possible net gross value added benefits of up to £1.2 billion. It has been proposed that the removal of the cables will be completed in 2032. That is too late—the race for green jobs is now.

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18:15 Perran Moon (Labour)

This debate, in Sir David’s name, presents me with a fantastic opportunity to do something that I so rarely have the chance to do: talk about Cornwall. First, I will speak of the immense opportunity that Cornwall has in its future, recognised by the Labour Government. It is hard to overstate the economic and strategic value of Cornwall’s vast assets in renewable energy and critical minerals, which are both so clearly fundamental to our economic growth and net zero ambitions. In the UK, we import tin from as far afield as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, China and Australia, with all the damaging environmental impacts that come with such imports. Yet in Camborne and Redruth, we sit on the third highest-grade tin deposits in the world, and there is plenty of it. That is not just a statistic; it is a strategic national asset.

The renewable energy and critical minerals opportunities are not the only factors that make our land so distinct. Our language, culture and heritage, as well as our economic potential, mark us out on this island. I want to ensure that our language, culture and distinctiveness are recognised, respected and reflected in decisions made at the heart of Government. That includes getting a devolution deal that works for Cornwall and that celebrates our national minority status. Our language, culture and industrial mining heritage are not just things we do; they are who we are, they are part of our landscape and identity, and they have helped define who we were, who we are and, I am certain, who we will be.

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Z?e Franklin (Liberal Democrat)

Despite the suggestions from Reform MPs and some Conservatives that policies on the environment are a waste of governmental time and money, residents from across my Guildford constituency have spoken clearly, urgently and passionately about the crisis facing our environment. What is striking is not just how much people care, but how much they believe that the Government are falling short. Sixty-five per cent of Surrey residents do not think the Government are doing enough on climate and nature. Polling by Surrey county council’s resident insight unit shows that climate change and environmental policy consistently rank in the top five public concerns, alongside healthcare and NHS privatisation.

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