Northern Rock

Part of Opposition Day — [4th Allotted Day] – in the House of Commons at 6:06 pm on 12 December 2007.

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Photo of David Anderson David Anderson PPS (Bill Rammell, Minister of State), Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills 6:06, 12 December 2007

The last time that we debated this issue, a number of my colleagues and I were accused in the Tory press the following morning of being parochial. Perhaps I have got it wrong, but I thought that that was part of my job. I have not read the job description, but I think it is all right to be parochial.

Last week, the House had a parochial debate about the road scheme around Stonehenge. The hon. Members for Salisbury (Robert Key), for North Dorset (Mr. Walter), for Somerton and Frome (Mr. Heath), for Bridgwater (Mr. Liddell-Grainger) and for Torbay (Mr. Sanders) and Sir George Young rightly argued their corners for their parts of the world. Mr. Beith has mentioned the A1. In any debate on transport and road structures, we would all argue strongly for the improvements that we want in our parts of the world. That is why we are here, and I feel no shame whatever about being parochial again. The argument is parochial, although it is also a national and potentially international argument.

I want to start with the parochial impact on the work force. There are thousands of workers in the north-east in this very key sector—one that is not a traditional strength in our area but one that we want to build on. If that fails, the knock-on impact could be very serious.

The trade union representing the majority of that work force has set up a charter of rights that it wants included in its discussions. It wants to be recognised as a stakeholder in the future of Northern Rock and to ensure long-term job security for its employees. It wants to protect and improve terms of employment for the employees and to improve and maintain existing pension rights.

Clearly, the union wants the work of the Northern Rock Foundation to continue and the bank to stay a listed company. It is entering discussions with the private companies and saying, "These are the things that we want to work with you on." As far as I am aware, it is not saying to us or any other political party that it wants to discuss nationalisation. For it, nationalisation would simply mean that it had failed totally and saw no way out other than nationalisation. The union says clearly that it would like politicians to stop playing politics with our lives and asks people to stop talking down Northern Rock's opportunity to make its way out of its situation. I hope that Members across the House will listen to that.

In my region, we are far too used to the realities of unemployment. Twenty years ago, the Conservative party was clear that unemployment was a price worth paying. The truth, of course, was that it was not paying it—but people in our part of the world were paying it in spades. We do not want to go back to those days—certainly not in respect of the people working at Northern Rock.

I turn now to the Northern Rock Foundation. This is a parochial point, but an important one to ordinary people on the ground. I shall go through some of the things that the foundation is doing day in, day out, as it promotes social justice. It has invested £8.5 million in work with disadvantaged young people across the north-east; £8 million in regeneration; £8 million in schemes to help disadvantaged people to set up their own businesses; £6.5 million in tackling domestic abuse; £6.5 million in reducing crime; £4.5 million in helping people with mental health problems who do not get support from elsewhere; £4 million in helping people with debt problems; £16 million in the cultural renaissance of the region, including £1 million in the establishment of the Sage music centre in Gateshead, which is now among the world's state-of-the-art opera houses; £5.5 million in heritage projects; £6 million in advice and support to local charities and development of the region's voluntary sector; and nearly £5 million in providing training and development support directly to local groups.

In my own constituency, the foundation has spent £15,000 to provide a live-at-home scheme for elderly people. Last week, I was fortunate to be able to go to their Christmas party with 100 people who, but for the foundation's support, would not be getting out of the house and enjoying this time of year. It has provided nearly £2 million to establish a domestic abuse rapid response service, £70,000 to a women's health project, and £120,000 to a young women's outreach project. Of course we do not want to lose that. It is a key thing in our region; we are very proud of it and want to hold on to it.