Since being elected, I’ve supported the Solent’s maritime community and sought to champion its role in driving economic growth – not just in our region, but far beyond it too.
Yesterday I was very pleased to host a Parliamentary reception for Maritime Solent to celebrate their work and launch new data showing the massive impact of the Solent maritime economy.
This gave us real numbers behind what many of us already feel instinctively about this cluster’s contribution to Britain’s economic success, and behind our claim to be the UK’s leading maritime cluster, competing with the very best in the world.
And as I said in my speech, so much of this unique strength comes from operating as one interconnected cluster: wind turbine components made on the Isle of Wight cross the Solent through Southampton on their way to projects across Britain; Griffon Marine Ltd designs in Southampton, builds at Portsmouth and exports worldwide; and, we see the same strength when research developed in our universities is taken forward by local businesses, tested in Solent waters and applied by our ports, shipping and defence partners.
It’s a privilege, as one of the city’s MPs, to be able to continue to make the case for our maritime sector in Parliament and argue for the priorities that support growth and removal of barriers to investment, from grid capacity and port electrification to the infrastructure and skills that businesses need to grow.