Coalfields Regeneration Trust

Sally Jameson Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Adam Jogee]

My hon. Friend and neighbour makes the important point that this is about pride, power and people. The sooner we see the Government respond positively to his calls and to the calls of many on the Labour Benches, the better.

Wages in the former coalfield communities are 6% to 7% lower than the national average. There is a shortage of quality jobs, as we have heard, leading to a brain drain, as working-age residents with degree-level qualifications leave to find jobs elsewhere. This is a dangerous cycle; our young people are forced to leave their communities to find the best jobs. It leaves communities like mine losing out not just on economic growth, but on the energy and dynamism that young people bring to the job market.

[Sally Jameson (Doncaster Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

I thank my hon. Friend for securing this debate. Does he agree that it is imperative that the Government stand firm on their agenda to invest in green industries? Members on the Opposition Benches, who I notice are not in their places tonight, want to cancel that green agenda, which will not just cancel opportunities for coalfields like ours to re-industrialise and provide those high-skilled, high-wage jobs of the future, but jeopardise the opportunity for this country as a whole to have cheaper and more secure energy.

[Adam Jogee]

My hon. Friend makes a very good point and I agree with her wholeheartedly. It says a lot that people who have been mouthing off in recent weeks and months are missing in action this evening.

The 2024 “State of the Coalfields” report found that,

“if the coalfields had been a region in their own right, all clustered together in one corner of the country, the statistics would probably show them to be the most deprived region in the United Kingdom.”

That is unacceptable and it says a lot. It would be the responsibility of any Government of this country to address this disparity, but for a Labour Government, it must be our duty to do so. Our movement was born in the coalfields, ensuring that communities like mine in Newcastle-under-Lyme could prosper and thrive, while making sure that local people had a fair go, as my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central (Gareth Snell) alluded to. That is why, in 1999, the last Labour Government set up the Coalfields Regeneration Trust. It was created to support the regeneration of coalfield communities, and it did just that. Since 1999, the CRT has helped 26,332 people into work, created and safeguarded 5,174 jobs, and helped 341,871 people to improve their health and wellbeing.