Josh MacAlister
MP for Whitehaven and Workington · Labour · United Kingdom
“Just this Saturday, as a constituency MP, I saw the amazing impact of Kells in bringing the community together, especially children. That community building comes down to great characters, such as Peter Smith at Kells or Vince and Lana at Derwent Park Rangers, who have all been getting into schools to teach rugby league for well over 20 y…”
“The changes that we are making will address the objectives that the hon. Member set out in his questions. In closing, I place on the record my thanks to teachers, volunteers, coaches, school leaders, local clubs and national governing bodies for the work they do every day to create sporting opportunities for young people across our countr…”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Vickers. I thank the hon. Member for West Dorset (Edward Morello) for securing this important debate on rugby in schools. When I was asked to sub in for the Minister for School Standards in responding to this debate, I knew that it would not be trying.”
“That is exactly what we are trying to do with the school sport partnerships model. We recognise that despite the funding of recent years, participation in school sport has remained fairly flat; it is well below what we need as a country in order to have a healthy population of young people who benefit from all that sport has to offer.”
“We must ensure that girls in every community have access to high-quality rugby opportunities through curriculum PE, extracurricular activity and inclusive formats that allow them to build confidence, develop skills and enjoy being active.”
“Their contribution can help schools to achieve the right balance between participation and competition. We know that those are not competing priorities, as every child should have the opportunity to participate, develop competence and build confidence through the sport.”
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“The point is that we are going to pay for it, and we will pay more through private sector borrowing than we will through the state. The second big difference is that unlike a road or a hospital, there was a guaranteed revenue stream through a contract for difference, so there is a really good rationale for why we should not have fiscal rules that bias us towards 100% private sector borrowing, rather than the state either taking a cashless equity stake via this development process or actually investing. If you do that, it will give GB Energy the ability to then take risks on the much more novel aspects of the portfolio and have failures. If GB Energy does not have failures, it will not be doing its job.”
“The capitalisation of GB Energy is really important, because that gives it some degree of resource to take risks. I am quite interested in whether, as well as investing in novel technologies with a high-risk appetite, GB Energy can either take cashless equity stakes or invest in more established technologies, because if you have a more balanced portfolio, it might give you the ability to take risks in some aspects. That gets you into a conversation about the fiscal rules. The one thing I would say about this area is that if you compare offshore wind and other established energy technologies with roads or hospitals, the big difference in my mind is that for offshore wind we will build those wind farms whether the state invests or not, and we will pay as consumers, whereas roads and hospitals will not get built if the state does not.”
“Q This is a follow-up for Ravi Gurumurthy, on the theme of autonomy and flexibility for GBE. For this to be a success, there needs to be some appetite for risk taken by GBE. Historically, Government agencies have not been known for being particularly free to do that. The Bill intends to provide a degree of flexibility for GBE to operate and respond with autonomy and pace. Given the work that Nesta has done in this space, Ravi, can you say a little more about what gives you the confidence that the Bill sets that up in the right way? Ravi Gurumurthy: It is a very challenging question. As you know, good intentions in this area often do not translate. You can mandate and say you want to operate with risk appetite, but it does not really translate into behaviour. What do I think are some of the components?”
“There will still be nervousness within the private sector: “Do I want to be the first developer to test local planning? What does the risk profile of that look like?” I see a clear role for GB Energy to partner with the private sector to help to accelerate the return of investment in that market, or for example within the growth of the floating offshore wind market, where there are clear opportunities that go beyond just the energy sector and into transition, such as floating offshore wind in Scotland or in the Celtic sea, where we know that there is a much bigger economic growth story. Those are areas where I think we could see public and private capital working very comfortably together.”
“Q Dan McGrail, this is a question for you. What are the views of your private sector members about the role that GB Energy can play in de-risking investments and crowding in private sector investment? What are they saying at the moment? Dan McGrail: Occupying space where there is a highly liquid market for private capital is unlikely to bring much additionality. Offshore wind is one of those places —fixed-bottom offshore wind, to be precise. That is a mature market; there is capital that will flow to projects if the wider investment conditions of those projects are right, and that is more Government policy-related. However, there are other markets. For example, onshore wind in England has basically been under-invested in for the past decade.”
“Government support and global co-operation on research and development on those technologies can speed up economic growth and bring about research into their deployment much more quickly, as well as putting the UK at the forefront of such development. I encourage the Government to include those considerations as part of their priorities for COP29, but I also encourage them to consider this: it is becoming increasingly difficult for Britain to be an influential, respected voice on nuclear energy, given that we have not allowed our nuclear sector to grow. Dithering by the previous Government has stalled our nuclear industry, and next year will mark 30 years since we successfully completed a new nuclear power station.”
“Secondly, the conference needs to examine the role of regulation and Governments, ensuring that we keep standards extremely high and focus on speed in our planning processes. Despite their designs being exactly the same, Sizewell C’s environmental impact assessment was 30% longer than that of Hinkley Point C, reaching over 40,000 pages. Global co-operation on regulation and standards could unlock much faster roll-out of nuclear technologies. Regulators from economies with developed nuclear sectors, such as the Office for Nuclear Regulation in the UK and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the US, should be working together closely to cut the time it takes to approve new technologies and designs. Thirdly, the Government should continue to focus on how they can support technologies such as advanced modular reactors and fusion programmes.”
“It contributes nearly £6 billion in added value to our economy, and provides a pathway to a just transition that creates rather than cuts jobs. With COP28 having been the moment when the world recognised the role that nuclear can play, COP29 needs to be the moment when we agree on how to make that happen. There are three barriers that need to be addressed, and the first is financing. Nuclear power plants have historically found it difficult to attract funding, given the upfront capital involved. The move to include nuclear in the EU’s green taxonomy is welcome, and the UK should seek to mirror it. Our own green taxonomy is still waiting to be published, after multiple delays under the last Government. The inclusion of nuclear, when it is published, is imperative to mobilise the capital needed to deliver our nuclear ambition.”
“Those challenges will only increase the importance of nuclear and the sheer volume of low-carbon power and heat it can produce. The Sizewell C project here in the UK is a great demonstration of what nuclear can achieve. Plans have been drawn up to use power from the station, when the needs of the grid have been met, to produce hydrogen, which can go towards reducing emissions by means of clean transport and machinery, and direct air capture, a critical part of Britain’s net zero road map. Aside from clean energy production, nuclear plays a vital role in economic growth and provides high-quality jobs around the world. Here in the UK, the nuclear industry supports nearly 90,000 direct jobs, including 16,000 in my own constituency.”
“Its ability to provide constant, reliable baseload power at scale allows it to complement more intermittent renewable energy sources, because we need the lights on, even when the sun does not shine and the wind does not blow. Nuclear also has a critical role to play in decarbonising hard-to-abate sectors of industry. As we approach the last two decades of our mission to reach net zero by 2050, the challenge of decarbonising sectors such as steel, cement and heavy chemicals will receive more and more attention in this place. We are also waking up to the fact that revolutionary technologies such as artificial intelligence, which will play such an important role in economic growth globally and here in the UK, will require vast amounts of energy.”
“I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Ealing Southall (Deirdre Costigan) for securing such an important and timely debate. The world has slowly come round to the fact that there is no net zero without nuclear. COP28 was a milestone for the industry, with the conference formally recognising for the first time the crucial role nuclear will play in tackling climate change. Twenty countries, including the UK, committed to tripling nuclear energy capacity by 2050. The recognition of the role of nuclear in tackling climate change was long overdue. Nuclear is the only large-scale, low-carbon energy source that can operate 24/7.”
“The UK should prioritise playing an important role in those discussions, but we must recognise that unless we fix our own industry, our ability to have influence on the global stage will be limited.”
“Now, in 2024, after 14 years of Conservative failure, we have not only stayed at square one, but actually moved backwards, with new disputes about how the land should be used. If Britain cannot demonstrate an ability to build new nuclear on land designated for it, in a community calling for it and with a supply chain ready to deliver it, how can we expect to be a serious voice at the table when it comes to pushing the world to accelerate the deployment of this crucial technology? COP29 will be a moment to decide how we roll out nuclear, how it is financed and regulated, and how future technologies are developed and brought to the market at speed.”
“I wholeheartedly agree. In the past 30 years, eight nuclear power plants have closed, and installed nuclear capacity in the UK has dropped by 25%. A decision is due in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Morecambe and Lunesdale (Lizzi Collinge) about extending the life of an existing reactor, and it will be important to secure that for all the reasons we have discussed. By 2028, Sizewell B is scheduled to be Britain’s last remaining operational nuclear power plant, which should be sobering for all of us. Unfortunately, my constituency is a great case study of where things have gone wrong—and can go wrong in the future. In 2008, the Moorside land next to Sellafield was designated for new nuclear use.”
“There is a reason why the last COP recognised the importance of nuclear—it was because of such debates among experts. It is not enough to will the ends of net zero goals without willing also the means and being prepared to deal with our reality. Look at the debate in Germany: ideological positions have been taken against nuclear, and some of the industrial processes and hard-to-decarbonise parts of the economy are exposed to that recklessness. I encourage those in the debate to keep that in mind when they make their points.”
“I thank the Minister for that answer, and I praise the Government team for the way they have responded to the complete chaos left in the wake of 14 years of a Conservative Government. In my previous work I visited young offenders institutions, which have been left in total chaos by the last Government. Part of their recklessness was to start a botched recruitment process for the graduate recruitment training programme for prison officers. It is currently delivered by Unlocked Graduates, which is doing fantastic work. The Government’s chief inspector of prisons has said there is a real risk that that programme ending will add to the recruitment problems that the Government face. Will they restart that procurement process and meet me to discuss its future?”
“I thank the Minister for her answer. It is just over two years since I published the independent review of children’s social care, which was commissioned by the previous Government. The review called for a radical reset of the whole children’s social care system, which was urgently needed, and the previous Government took some modest steps down that track but failed to realise the potential. Since the election, a number of the children, families and care-experienced adults who were involved in the review have been in touch with me to share their hopes that we will be able to deliver on the ambition of the review. Do the Government intend to prioritise the resources that will be needed to implement the review in the upcoming spending review?”
“I thank the hon. Gentleman—apologies, the right hon. Gentleman—for giving way. Some 18 years ago, a younger Member for Doncaster North approved land at Moorside, next to Sellafield, for new nuclear use, but 18 years on we are now at the eleventh hour, thanks to the indecision, chaos and confusion of the last Government, who were unable to make long-term decisions about the nuclear future of our country but are now lecturing this Government. Why is the shadow Minister defending the last Government’s approach when it is so apparent that a new approach is needed?”
“I thank my hon. Friend securing this important Adjournment debate. Whitehaven in my constituency, not dissimilarly from Haltwhistle, is on the brink of becoming a banking desert. Does my hon. Friend agree that we should not have to wait for towns to become banking deserts before banking hubs become an option? A better system would be to change the rules for banking hubs, so that they are a “last plus one”, rather than there having to be a complete banking desert before the option becomes available.”
“I am determined to play my part to deliver this Labour Government’s mission and to ensure that west Cumbria feels the maximum possible benefit of the change we want to bring about for our country.”
“Our nuclear heritage and our skilled workforce mean we have what it takes to be the ideal location for the next generation of nuclear power. The Government are determined to make the most of new jobs in the energy transition, to reform our broken planning system and to decarbonise the grid, and these three things offer the opportunity for the people of Whitehaven and Workington to fly. A Labour Government with a proper industrial strategy and the right targeted investment could completely transform the economic geography of my community. These are decisions that need to be made to create the growth we have promised and to tackle the climate crisis our planet faces.”
“It is because of this graft that my constituency is home to the UK New Balance trainer factory—I am not wearing them right now—and the Iggesund paper mill, which has been experimenting with leading carbon capture technology. It is home to Forth Engineering and React Engineering, and hundreds of other businesses represented by Britain’s Energy Coast Business Cluster, from the coal and iron mines to the steelworks. Of course, there is the world’s first civil nuclear power station at the site now famously known as Sellafield, home to a world-leading decommissioning mission, which is stimulating innovation in robotics and AI. We led the world, and we can again. We have the people, the will, the determination and now, thankfully, the Government to do it.”
“He went on to set up and lead a global chemicals company based in Whitehaven, before later chairing Harold Wilson’s development corporation and going on to serve in the other place. Today, my community is home to dozens of Ukrainian families that could well have the next Frank Schon in them. I hope we can offer those who wish to stay a permanent home here in this country. Lord Schon is one famous example, but there are thousands of men and women like him—from Whitehaven to Workington, Gosforth to Egremont, Cleator Moor to Seascale and Flimby to Seaton in the north of the constituency—pioneers, entrepreneurs and grafters who have helped west Cumbria to lead the world.”
“These are people such as Gary McKee, who ran a marathon every day for a year to raise over £1 million for cancer support; those in the growing network of Andy’s man clubs in our community, tackling the crisis of male suicide that my area faces; and community leaders, such as Rachel Holliday of Calderwood House, giving people a route out of homelessness. Our area has also forged those who were not born West Cumbrian, but who made our corner of the world their home, including pioneers and entrepreneurs such as Frank Schon, later Baron Schon of Whitehaven. Frank was an Austrian refugee who fled the Nazis, was bombed out of London and was taken in by a kind Cumbrian farmer.”
“Let me here pay special tribute to our amazing mountain rescue volunteers, our Royal National Lifeboat Institution volunteers—just this week, it will be celebrating its 200th anniversary—and all those who give up their time to volunteer in search and rescue services. I have an interest to declare as a serving mountain rescue volunteer, and I will champion volunteer search and rescue services at every opportunity. Behind the doors of the towns and villages across my constituency, you will find the warmest and friendliest marras in the country, people forged by the drama and confidence of the surrounding landscape and people with humility, respect and determination at their core.”
“It is a great honour and privilege to stand here as the first Member of Parliament for the new Whitehaven and Workington constituency. Whether it is the people of Whitehaven or the good people of Workington who are the jam eaters continues to be a source of fierce debate. Of course, I will remain neutral on that question, as I will on all rugby league-related matters. Nowhere is more blessed than my constituency, home to the highest peak and the deepest lake in England, with miles of beautiful coastline and the stunning western part of the Lake district, which has inspired millions.”
“That review found that the disadvantage faced by the care-experienced community in our country should be the civil rights issue of our time. Evidence of that disadvantage is found in worse education outcomes, worse health outcomes and shorter lives, but that disadvantage is fuelled by something that politicians often find too hard to discuss, and that MPs certainly find too hard to mention in this Chamber: the absence of love. I believe every child has the right to be loved, and we have the ability to build a care system that can provide that for them. I hope this Parliament will take up the challenge of addressing this moral outrage. The problem is huge, but the solutions are known, and with enough will, tens of thousands of lives can be transformed.”
“We may disagree on matters of policy, but she has been unfailingly gracious to me and generous with her time, demonstrating the “country before party” approach that we can all learn so much from. I may be new to this House, but I am not new to pushing Governments to get things done, as Opposition Members will know only too well, and I have worked with a number of Education Secretaries over the years. I founded and led a national charity to get more people into fulfilling careers on the frontline of children’s social work to ensure that every vulnerable child has a champion fighting their corner. From that, I was asked by the last Government to chair a landmark independent review of the children’s social care system.”
“Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I pay tribute to the fantastic maiden speeches that we have heard from across the House this evening, including that of the hon. Member for Didcot and Wantage (Olly Glover); I am sure that the whole House is reassured to know that he is not an alien. The first and only time I entered this Chamber before being sworn in as a Member of Parliament was as a secondary school citizenship teacher, bringing dozens of teenagers here to see their Parliament. On that occasion, I was required to use my teacher voice a number of times, but that is not something I plan to make a habit of in this House. I begin by putting on record my thanks to my predecessor for the now abolished Copeland constituency, Trudy Harrison.”
“As a new Member, I was going to start my very first question by congratulating you and saying that you are the best Speaker I have seen in the Chair. I welcome my right hon. Friend the Member for Manchester Central (Lucy Powell) to her place as Leader of the House. A number of my constituents have been directly affected by the infected blood scandal. Between the publication of the independent inquiry’s final report and the Dissolution of the last Parliament, there was not sufficient time to have a full debate on the report’s findings. Will the Government give time in the coming months for a full debate on that topic?”