Oral Answers to Questions

Alan Strickland Excerpts

Wednesday 11th November 2026 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

No is the answer to that, today. We are honouring our manifesto pledge to have deeper ties. There is the prospect of a deal with Europe that could add up to 0.4% to GDP—[Interruption.] The Opposition laugh at growth in our economy. This is the Conservative party! Any growth on that scale is worth taking, and we will take it. We will seek that deal. On young people, I agree with what the right hon. Gentleman has said. Young people need support to get into work. To cut their benefits without that support is wrong. I mentioned a statistic a moment ago: a quarter of a million young people were NEET in the last three years of the last Conservative Government. That is because that Government rejected the report from Sir Kevan Collins that would have given young people better mental health support and other support. That is why we saw the huge rise in the number of young people not in education, employment or training. We need to grow our economy. We need to rethink the support we give to our young people. We need an education system that is both academic and technical—that is balanced between the two—and my right hon. Friend the Work and Pensions Secretary will set out those reforms as we embark on our response to the Milburn report next week.

[Alan Strickland (Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor) (Lab)]

Q5. The north-east has a wealth of innovative defence businesses but receives less than 1% of Ministry of Defence industry funding. That is why there is so much interest in the decision on the Skynet satellite programme, which could bring 500 jobs to my constituency and thousands to the supply chain, and help to reindustrialise the north-east. Can the Prime Minister give an update on when we can expect this important decision and, more broadly, will he meet north-east MPs to discuss how we can put north-east industry at the heart of our national defence?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is a champion for the north-east, and particularly for reindustrialisation, which we are completely committed to in his region. The issue he raises is a live process, and I have to say to him that no final decisions have yet been made, but we are determined that our decision will drive good jobs in his region and reindustrialisation across the country, as well as building the defence and the security of the United Kingdom.

Oral Answers to Questions

Alan Strickland Excerpts

Wednesday 4th February 2026 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the hon. Member for raising that matter; I know how important it is for her constituents. We have taken measures in relation to strengthening oversight and the control we have, and we will not hesitate to go further. I will make sure that she gets a meeting with the relevant Minister.

[Alan Strickland (Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor) (Lab)]

Q9.   It was a privilege to join fellow north-east MPs at the weekend on the destroyer HMS Duncan, to meet the crew and to be briefed on the exciting plans for the innovative future of the Royal Navy—a future that should be bright, given the £10 billion frigate deal with Norway, and a future that we absolutely want our region to be part of. Does the Prime Minister agree that, given the north-east’s strengths in AI, satellite technology and advanced manufacturing, north-east workers and businesses should be at the heart of the future hybrid Navy? Will Ministers meet us and industry leaders to put the north-east at the heart of our future defence?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the commanding officer and crew of HMS Duncan for their service, and I also thank my hon. Friend. I remember meeting the brilliant workforce in his region, and I know that the Defence Ministers will be delighted to do the same. Our record defence spending is supporting jobs and growth across the north-east. We invested £200 million in Octric Semiconductors in his constituency last year. As we increase defence spending, the north-east will play a major role, securing good, skilled jobs for generations to come.

Oral Answers to Questions

Alan Strickland Excerpts

Wednesday 29th October 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for raising this important issue, which I know is of real concern to him. I reassure him that I am in regular contact with Chief Constable Jon Boutcher and the PSNI on it, as he would expect. As he is aware, we provided a record settlement of £19.3 billion a year on average for the Executive, and we invested £113 million in additional security funding for the PSNI to help to address specific security challenges. While it is for the Executive to set the PSNI budget, I reassure him that our commitment is to keeping people safe in Northern Ireland.

[Alan Strickland (Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor) (Lab)]

Q5.   I am speaking on behalf of my constituents Shannon and Tyler, who lost their two-year-old son Hudson earlier this year. Worried about their son, they called 111 and were told that he had gastroenteritis. In fact, Hudson had a twisted bowel and, after being rushed to hospital a few days later, he tragically died.Shannon and Tyler are full of praise for the NHS medical staff who worked so hard to save their son’s life, but they just wish they had been offered an in-person appointment sooner, which might have given a more accurate diagnosis. They want Hudson’s legacy to be better access to face-to-face NHS appointments for children under five, so that other families do not face this tragic situation. Their online petition on the matter has gained over 80,000 signatures. Will the Prime Minister join me in sending the best wishes of the House to Hudson’s family, and will he ensure that they meet a Health Minister to discuss their courageous campaign?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising that tragic case. I am sure that I speak for the whole House in saying that we send our sympathies and thoughts to Hudson’s parents, Shannon and Tyler. I will make sure that they get the meeting that he has asked for. This is exactly why we are working to improve access to face-to-face appointments for those who want one. To enable that, we have delivered the largest cash uplift for GPs in a decade, have put over 2,500 GPs into general practice, and are upgrading 1,000 surgeries to deliver 8 million more appointments.

Ukraine

Alan Strickland Excerpts

Monday 3rd March 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The right hon. Member is right. That is why the conversation over the weekend has been about the specific issue of a security guarantee in Ukraine, but also, importantly, the wider issue of how Europe steps up more generally in its own defence spending, capability and co-ordination. That is an important part of the discussion. We should not just focus on the question of the security guarantees; they are part of the argument, but they are not the whole argument.

[Alan Strickland (Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor) (Lab)]

I thank the Prime Minister in these incredibly difficult times for the strong leadership he shows. Does he agree that one of the many things that has become clear in recent months is that the security of Britain rests on a secure Europe, that a secure Europe relies on peace in Ukraine, and that peace in Ukraine requires a unified stance against Russian aggression? Does he agree that as free peoples in the UK, Europe, America and our other allies, we must stand firm and stand together and show that democracy will be defended and tyranny will not be tolerated?

[The Prime Minister]

I agree with all that, and I think the House agrees with it, too.

Oral Answers to Questions

Alan Strickland Excerpts

Wednesday 18th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Gentleman is right to raise that absolutely harrowing case. It is important that all the lessons are learnt. An independent process is taking place, but we must be clear about the need to overhaul children’s social care to keep young people safe, and to look again at the framework for home schooling, among other things. We do need to learn those lessons, and we are taking steps. There is a process going on at the moment, and I will update the House in due course.

[Alan Strickland (Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor) (Lab)]

May I thank the Prime Minister for the leadership that he has shown in securing the half-a-billion-pound deal to secure the future of the Hitachi rail factory in my constituency—a factory left in the lurch by the Conservative party for years? Does he agree that what we also need is a long-term plan for our proud high-tech rail manufacturing to drag it out of the mire that it was left in by the Tories?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for his question. The Conservatives really should not groan. I went up to the Hitachi factory earlier this year, before the election. The workforce were extremely anxious about the situation, because they feared that there would be a gap between contracts—[Interruption.] That gap would have meant that people were going to get laid off, and the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Alex Burghart) is chuntering from a sitting position, unable to understand the impact on working people.

The workforce were extremely anxious about the situation when I saw them, because they knew that if their colleagues were laid off, it would be bad for their colleagues and their community, and it would mean that they might go and get other jobs and not be able to come back if there was a new contract. I said then that I would do everything I could to ensure that we filled that gap, and I am very pleased that just the other week we were able to say that we have and that there is a contract. I went back up there to speak to the same workforce, and they were very pleased that they now do not have those anxieties. The Conservatives should be ashamed of their chuntering.