Joe Morris – 2024 Maiden Speech on Planning, the Green Belt and Rural Affairs

The maiden speech made by Joe Morris, the Labour MP for Hexham, in the House of Commons on 19 July 2024.

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, and I thank the hon. Member for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton (Alison Griffiths). As the representative of the largest constituency in England, I share her concern for rural communities; I share a dedication to them, and I am the product of one of them.

First of all, I would like to thank the people of the Hexham constituency for placing their faith in me this July and sending me as their representative to this place. For many, it was their first time voting for my party, and I stand here as the first ever Labour MP for the constituency. It is an honour that I will never forget. I will work as hard as I can to repay that faith in the days, months and years ahead.

I also want to pay tribute to my predecessor, Guy Opperman. Having contested an election against him, I know that despite the fact that we disagree on many things, he is an incredibly decent man. I was pleased to get to know him a bit during the campaign. I know that a high bar has been set for me as a constituency MP. He is considered on all sides of the House to be an honourable man and a good public servant. It will be hard to match his legacy.

I would like to depart a little bit from tradition and pay tribute to some of my predecessors as Labour candidates in the constituency, who for over 100 years had the often thankless task of fighting to give the people of Hexham a Labour alternative to vote for. Until July, Ian McMinn had come the closest we ever got to winning the constituency, and his daughter Kirsty proposed me as the youth officer at my first ever Labour party meeting.

I would also like to welcome the areas that were added to the constituency, including the residents of Callerton and Throckley, who had been fantastically represented by my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle upon Tyne North (Catherine McKinnell) for many years. I hope to continue giving that same service to Kenton Bank Foot, Throckley, Newburn, Callerton, Woolsington and Walbottle. Longhorsley ward was previously represented by both my hon. Friend the Member for Blyth and Ashington (Ian Lavery) and the former Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed, both of whom also served communities in Hepscott, Morpeth’s Stobhill estate and Felton in their way and were great servants to those communities.

I would not be here today if it were not for the education that I received at Queen Elizabeth high school, Hexham middle school and the Sele first school in Hexham, from teachers like Alison Higgs, Robin Hodnett, Leanne Clarkson and Tony Webster. I know that a great state education has the ability to change lives and to lift and change entire areas. I want every child in the constituency to have access to the kind of education that I was lucky enough to get.

Hexham constituency is named for the town of Hexham, which boasts a wonderful abbey that has welcomed worshippers and visitors for over 1,300 years. In that time, it suffered raids, including from the forces of William Wallace. We also have one of the first ever purpose-built jails in England, and a farmers’ mart that is at the heart of our rural economy.

But the constituency that I represent is much more than just one town. We extend from the Cumbrian border, where my hon. Friend the Member for Carlisle (Ms Minns) and I each represent half of the village of Gilsland, through the Tyne valley and across to Callerton and Throckley in Newcastle. In the north, we border Scotland, taking in Kielder forest, where, rather aptly for England’s largest constituency by area, we have England’s largest forest. We are home to the largest man-made lake in northern Europe, almost 580 square miles of internationally renowned dark sky, and the Northumberland national park. We then go to our southern border, where the Allen valleys take in some of the most stunning scenery in England. We take in the Tyne valley line, Wylam, Prudhoe, Stocksfield, Riding Mill, Hexham, Haydon Bridge and Haltwhistle. We take in Ponteland and Darras Hall, and areas as diverse as Slaley and Slaggyford.

We have the UNESCO world heritage site of Hadrian’s wall running through the constituency. I am in the unfortunate position, though, of being the first ever MP for Hexham not to be able to take visitors to see the iconic Sycamore gap, which we so sadly lost to future generations last year. But the wall remains, as does the beauty that draws thousands of tourists to the constituency throughout the year, supporting the local economy in towns like Haltwhistle—the centre of Britain—Bellingham, Kielder, Wark, Byrness and Otterburn. I hope to see hon. Members from across the House walking the awe-inspiring Hadrian’s wall, enjoying the wonders of our dark skies, gazing at the beautiful Tyne valley from the train and taking in the joys of community life at events like Ovingham’s goose fair and the Northumberland county show.

With that being said, it will be no surprise to many hon. Members, or to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, who I was delighted to welcome to the constituency during the election campaign, that my constituency conjures images of the agricultural sector. We have a fantastic farming community. It has been my privilege to engage with those in it, and to get to know them over the election campaign. I know that the farming community represents the beating heart of our constituency’s identity. I look forward to working with the Secretary of State, his Ministers and friends across the House to improve outcomes for UK farmers and consumers, and to address the challenges that they face.

As well as the agriculture sector, we have a large manufacturing base in the constituency. We have sites like Egger in Hexham, which has a firm focus on the sustainability of the wood-based material manufacturing sector, and Essity in Prudhoe, which produces more than 800 million toilet rolls a year. When we do our shopping, the odds are that we are elbowing someone out of the way for some of Prudhoe’s finest produce. I have worked in the steel sector, and I know how important it is for the country to make things, and how important well-paid, highly skilled jobs are to communities like ours.

Alongside our large manufacturing base, my constituency has a thriving small and craft brewery scene. I was delighted to take a break from the campaign trail to attend the Corbridge beer festival, which is all about raising money for good causes and charities.

Although there is a lot of beauty in the constituency, there are huge challenges as well. We have a great local health service, but every single week, I see the need for long-term solutions to the social care crisis. Elderly residents in isolated rural communities are doubly disadvantaged, as they are hit by the rural cost of living premium and by poor public transport, and they are reliant on carers who are themselves struggling to make ends meet.

We also face an acute transport challenge. I think I am the third Member to cite George Stephenson in their maiden speech today; he was born in Wylam. The constituency’s buses are too infrequent, and its trains are too regularly cancelled. I will continue my predecessor’s campaign to reopen Gilsland train station, and I look forward to working with friends across the House, and with my good friend Kim McGuinness, our Mayor of the North-East, to improve transport for our rural communities.

My constituency also faces a dramatic housing shortage, with too many elderly people being unable to downsize into more appropriate homes in communities they know, and with young people being forced to move away from where they grew up. For towns like Barrasford and Humshaugh, as well as for larger towns such as Ponteland, this is a generational challenge. It is a huge concern for parents and grandparents, and it came up time and again on the doorstep during the general election.

Crime and antisocial behaviour also impact communities—from west Newcastle and the towns and villages, to the smallest and most isolated communities. I look forward to working with Susan Dungworth, our police and crime commissioner, on these matters. The cross-departmental rural crime strategy is so important. I have spoken to sheep farmers out in West Woodburn who have been struck by the attempted robbery of their quad bike.

The north-east is famous for its rivers, and the Tyne is one of the most important rivers in the country’s history. It was the very artery of our industry. Wherever I went, constituents demanded that we clean up our rivers, and I am pleased to see that the Government have already got to work on delivering on that promise. I look forward to supporting that work as much as I can.

At every door I knocked on during the election campaign, I got the message for change. I know it is incredibly important to get on with that change by supporting the King’s Speech, so that we become the confident, outward-looking nation that we so evidently can be. I am conscious that we cannot work miracles in this place, and as the first ever Labour MP for my constituency, I know that I was not sent to this place with an expectation of overnight success. I was sent here to get on with working with colleagues across the House to deliver genuine outcomes and genuine change for my constituents. I look forward to continuing that service.