Jim Shannon

It is a real pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir John. I thank the hon. Member for Leigh and Atherton (Jo Platt) for highlighting the wonderful benefits of social enterprises and community ownership. She is back with a bang—well done to her for securing this debate. I wish to give a Northern Ireland perspective and set out some of the exceptional ways in which we are doing things there. We are at a transformative moment for Northern Ireland. For too long, our economic story was told through the lens of what we lacked or what had been lost. Today, it is a joy to tell the story of the 1,200 social enterprises across our townlands. It is a story of resilience and innovation, with £933 million in annual turnover that stays in our communities. If that is not a good story to tell, I would like to know what is. In Northern Ireland, social enterprise is not just nice to have; it is foundational. In my constituency—from the Gatelodge café at Ards hospital, which provides training and employment for young people with learning difficulties, to the Comber farmers’ market, a volunteer-led initiative that provides a platform for local producers while serving as a vital social hub for the town—we are seeing what happens when local people take the keys to their own future. Community ownership is how we reclaim our disused barracks, our closed pubs and our historic halls and turn them into hubs of health, heritage, hope and vision. To truly unlock that potential, we must move beyond the grant reliance trap. We need a dedicated regional community ownership fund tailored to the unique needs of local community infrastructure. We also need legislative support to strengthen our right to buy, so that no community asset is lost simply because the paperwork is too complex. We need progressive procurement to ensure that the £3 billion that our Government spend every year prioritises businesses that deliver real social value back to our streets. Our sector is mature. Over half of our social enterprises have been trading for more than a decade. They are led by women—there are plenty of women here, as an indication of that. They are led by people with lived experience. They are motivated by a shared belief that profits should serve people, not the other way round. Let us not just build back; let us build ours. Let us ensure that every pound spent in Northern Ireland works twice as hard: once for the service it provides, and once for the community it empowers. The drive and the ability are there. What is needed is the support. I look forward to the Minister’s speech. We must invest in local communities, understanding that every pound invested will not only have its returns in tax but, more importantly, fire up a generation to make their living doing something that they are passionate about and that helps their local community. We all have that desire. Working together, we can make those dreams a reality.