Jim Shannon

It is always a real pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Hobhouse. I thank the hon. Member for Jarrow and Gateshead East (Kate Osborne) for setting the scene incredibly well. It is no secret that I love history, but I love the history of social politics as well, and this story is a great example of that key issue. The nature of my life, and I suspect the life of most of us here, is to look out for those who are less well off. Our job, and my privilege and honour as the MP for Strangford, is to chase the bread-and-butter issues. Having read this story over the years, I am pleased that the hon. Lady has brought it forward. It is not just a significant historical moment for her constituency; it holds immense importance for workers across this great United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. I will mention this later in my speech, but the shipworkers at Harland & Wolff in Northern Ireland were of a similar mind and made a similar protest to that of the men from Jarrow. I am pleased to see the Minister in his place; I have absolutely no doubt that we will get an encouraging response to our requests. I am also pleased to see the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Bromley and Biggin Hill (Peter Fortune), and the Liberal Democrat spokesperson, the hon. Member for Richmond Park (Sarah Olney). It is incredibly encouraging to hear that, 90 years after the Jarrow crusade, the men’s descendants were invited to Downing Street. That is a real privilege. It is an acknowledgment of the significance of their work—those 200 men marching some 300 miles—that they were recognised centrally in Government by our Prime Minister. It endorses that campaign of many years ago. That has offered a sense a closure for many whose ancestors have passed on, as the difficulties that their families faced have finally been formally acknowledged. The determination of those formidable men who marched almost 300 miles to make their case for employment was admirable. We must remember that they did not take the train, a vehicle or a horse and carriage; they walked 300 miles, because they believed in the campaign. As someone who loves history, I love the idea that people thought so much of the campaign that they did that. Although they probably returned from London feeling dejected because they had not achieved their goal, I want to make a point about what they did achieve. They achieved the establishment of some social reforms. They achieved the right to have work. They were perhaps the first people to see the NHS and the welfare system introduced, as it was later by the Labour Government. Those were the key social issues that they were chasing way back then. They may have felt dejected some 90 years ago, but the Jarrow crusaders can claim that their walk introduced some of those social reforms. It introduced the issues to which the hon. Member for Jarrow and Gateshead East referred: better housing, the right to better working conditions and the right to secure work. Shipbuilding is an industry that Northern Ireland shares with the north-east of England, and both have experienced the consequences of industrial decline. When the Jarrow men were marching some 90 years ago, men in Belfast were doing something similar—maybe not as far as 300 miles, but they were out protesting in support of the Jarrow men. Both communities have experienced the consequences of industrial decline, striking or taking action over job losses and increasing poverty. Poverty was as rife in Jarrow as it was in Belfast and in other parts of the United Kingdom. However, we must never be tempted to write off shipbuilding and engineering as industries of the past. With the recent investment in defence, there is an opportunity to rebuild industry in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and support job creation. In his response to our requests, the Minister will undoubtedly tell us about the progress that the Government are making. I can see that progress in Belfast with Harland & Wolff: the Government are handing out contracts to ensure that Harland & Wolff can recruit in Belfast again—not like it did when there were 25,000-odd workers, but 1,000 or 2,000—and establish itself at the forefront of modern shipbuilding. That is good news for Northern Ireland, for the shipyard in Belfast and for my constituents in Strangford, who are only 15 or 20 minutes away from possible employment. I want to make a plea, if I can. Today, too many young people across the United Kingdom feel, as the men who took part in the Jarrow crusade did, that their efforts are being ignored. As elected representatives, we always encourage our constituents—especially our young people—to apply for jobs, but some young people say to me, “I’ve made application after application, and I haven’t even had a letter of response from the employers,” so many of them despair. I am really encouraged by the Prime Minister’s commitment to try to help young people. He is saying the right things, but the right words mean something only when they become the reality. He said that young people today face “an economic catastrophe and a moral failure”, and he and the Government have indicated that that must be righted. I will tell a quick story about my youngest son. He is a young man now, married with two children, but I remember that when he first applied for a job he made something like 70 applications. Unfortunately, not one was successful and he did not get one reply—that was even more discouraging. If someone writes you a letter, you might not agree with them, but for goodness’s sake, you should write back and tell them that. It was disappointing, but then a part-time job came up. It was only four hours—this was when he was just 18, 19 or 20—and he said, “What should I do?” I said, “You take the job, mate, and I tell you what: make sure you are 15 minutes early and stay 15 minutes later.” He did, and then the job was eight hours, then 16 hours, then 24 hours, then 36 hours and then 40 hours. Then he became the deputy manager of the shop, then the manager and then the manager of another shop. Those are the things that give our young people encouragement. In the Prime Minister’s commitment, I see an opportunity to encourage our young people and give them hope for the future. Not that I am better than anybody else, but when the Prime Minister came here to take his oath, I saw him beforehand. I remember him from when he was last here in 2015. I shook his hand, gave him a hug and wished him well. I said, “Prime Minister, our people need hope. Our people need encouragement. That’s what I ask you to do for our people.” The Prime Minister’s word has been “hope”, not because I said it to him, but because he appreciated—perhaps we both appreciated—what the word was to be. The concern must be acted upon. I call on the Government to grow British industry and invest in job creation to ensure that our young people are supported into employment. The 200 men who marched from Jarrow some 90 years ago should never have had to walk to London to make their demands, but they did, and they perhaps changed a part of history. That encourages us all as we look forward. Similarly, young people today should not feel that they have to go to extreme lengths to be heard by the Government. Like the Prime Minister, I hope for a change that makes a difference, encourages our young people, lifts this nation and makes us more united so that we can do better for our people and young people of the future. To the hon. Member for Jarrow and Gateshead East, I again say well done.