After an exciting Monday morning seeing the LNER Azuma train arrive at Grimsby Town station and then go onto Cleethorpes Station as part of its line testing, I arrived in Westminster to join a Committee. The Standing Committee was reviewing the procedures of the Holocaust Memorial Bill, reviewing its public consultation progress. The Bill came back to the House this week and hopefully will now progress more swiftly (it was first proposed in 2016).
I met with representatives from the BBC to discuss the broadcaster’s rules on impartiality. The John Hardie Review will be published imminently to review the BBC’s actions with regard to incidents such as the social media comments made by BBC contractor Gary Lineker.
I joined the Delegated Legislation committee to impose sanctions on Belarus, which gives the UK the ability to sanction the import or export of goods and services, or impound property or income linked to the country’s business operations.
I am a member of the Victims and Prisoners Bill Committee. Every bill goes through the committee stage, where the bill is scrutinised line-by-line, with opportunities for opposition parties to make comments, or to ask for, or submit amendments. The committee will continue y Tuesday and Thursday for the next three weeks.
I met with Rachel da Souza, the Children’s Commissioner to discuss members’ and the public’s concerns about some of the sex education being delivered in schools. While some provision is good, there are other alarming stories about age-inappropriate discussions and some schools’ refusal to share the curriculum with parents when they request it.
I had meetings with the Net Zero Humber team, which includes Phillips66, VPI Power and Harbour Energy to discuss carbon capture usage and storage (CCUS) investment plans for the area. The proposed investment will be worth £7bn and create hundreds of new high skilled jobs here. The Government will be publishing its Track 1 Extension and Track 2 this year to help progress development of the industry more quickly.
Martin Vickers and I met with Secretary of State for the Department of Energy and Net Zero (DESNZ) to discuss these industry plans and also to talk about a proposed £1bn local investment into Green (produced using only renewable energy) Hydrogen to help kick-start the industry here. The investment is expecting to create 1,400 new jobs in the area over the next five years.
I have been out and about on the Grimsby industrial estates today and in Scartho. I will be out and about again tomorrow speaking with residents.
