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Regional Economy (Tackling the Recession)

As we say in the House of Commons, everything that could be said will have been said, but not everybody has yet said it. Therefore, Mr. Cook, you will have to hear four more speakers saying the same kind of thing about what we are trying to do with the north-east regional economy. Although we are talking about the regional economy, no one has mentioned The Sage Gateshead, which makes a huge contribution to our intellectual and cultural life in the north-east. We are proud to have opposite this place, for those Members of Parliament who would like a stroll afterwards, the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art. That is an extraordinary achievement when one thinks of the august occasions on which this council chamber might have been used, as the right hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed said. It was used in the first instance by Mr. Gladstone himself, way back in 1862, when he said that this town of ours was an infant Hercules. If he came today and saw MIMA, he might stop chopping down his trees and have a look at some of our wonderful portraits and paintings. In terms of the regional economy and culture, I want to mention the Pentland school in Billingham. I had the honour of being at the Royal Albert hall last night for a concert by the Northern Sinfonia, where it was announced that a national competition had been held among schools for the best composition. Lo and behold—I do not know how many people were there; maybe 10,000, as it was a full hall—the winning school was Pentland school in Middlesbrough. Actually, it is in your constituency, Mr. Cook; I am happy to acknowledge that, and I know that you have taken a big interest in the school. That achievement is not something that one might read about, but it is what we do in this area: children learn to compose music that ends up at the Royal Albert hall and in the music section of the BBC. It is an amazing achievement. You, Mr. Cook, and my right hon. Friend the Minister will remember when we came into politics in Middlesbrough in 1981. You were MP for Stockton, North, and my right hon. Friend became the MP for Newcastle upon Tyne, East. Here in Middlesbrough between 1979 and 1981, we lost 22,000 manufacturing jobs, a number that would have filled Ayresome Park. As my hon. Friend the Member for Easington reminded us, we had the coal and steel industries. We had two blast furnaces in Redcar. We had shipbuilding, foundries and chemicals. We have seen the transformation. If Mr. Gladstone came back today, what would he see? He would see not only MIMA but a university in the heart of our town. When I came to Middlesbrough in 1981, we could not get 6,000 students for the polytechnic. We now have 23,000 students, and the university is up for a national prize organised by The Times Educational Supplement. We see the changes. The old Stockton race course is now a wonderful showcase. We also have, of course, the Riverside football stadium, with a capacity of 35,000 spectators. Attendance is down at the moment, I must admit, but we had 18,000 at Ayresome Park. That shows what great pride we have in ourselves. We also have an elected mayor. I never believed in the concept of an elected mayor. It is not something that I supported. Elsewhere in the country, there are elected mayors who are not particularly successful, but the elected mayor of Middlesbrough, like the elected mayor of Hartlepool, has made a great contribution to his town and economy. He has worked with the council and Members of Parliament to develop a coherent strategy for the town that enables us to advance while we deal with our crises. We recognise, as my right hon. Friend the Minister said, that although the recession did not begin in Middlesbrough or on Teesside, we must suffer the consequences. By working together, we move forward. One lesson that we have learned in the past seven years is that by working together—the mayor of Middlesbrough, Members of Parliament and the council—we add to our town. It is a great success story. I will not make too long a speech. I have read the speeches that were made when the second world war began in 1939, 70 years ago. The Prime Minister announced the war in a two-minute speech. The Leader of the Opposition supported it in a two-minute speech. Winston Churchill and Lloyd George spoke for two minutes. Members of Parliament have made some progress since that time, but I will not delay the proceedings, as others wish to speak. I end on Redcar and Corus. As you will remember, Mr. Cook, in 1981, you and I marched from Consett to Jarrow to protest against the closure of Consett steel mill. We will not make a similar walk again, but will work with my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Redcar (Vera Baird), the Minister, other Members of Parliament, the owners and the trade unions. We have kept steel on Teesside for all these years. Steel production is improving, as is the market, and we are still there. We will give our heart and soul, and our time. Everything that can be done will be done. I want a message of optimism to go out from this town hall to that area. We are tired of reading about doom and gloom. We should begin with the story of the school children because that is what we can achieve in our area. The rubbish that we read and the controversial TV programmes about how terrible we are and how bad everything is are wrong. We will move forward, and I hope and believe that we will do so with a Labour Government. The alternative is just too bad to think about. A recently retired member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee said that if policy was changed too early, unemployment would rise to 5 million, as the right hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed mentioned. That would affect the people of Teesside and Middlesbrough, those in the service industry and those in manufacturing. This is a serious political game and we must win it in the interests of ordinary people.