A North East MP has clashed with a Government Minister over the lack of any national commemoration for the 200th anniversary of Robert Stephenson founding the world’s first locomotive plant in the region.
Newcastle Central MP Chi Onwurah said the founding of Robert Stephenson and Company in 1823 had “developed the key enabling technology of the industrial revolution, transforming the physical, economic and social landscape of the United Kingdom and, indeed, countries around the world.” She said it was important to mark the occasion to both celebrate the country’s industrial heritage and also to “inspire a new generation of industrial innovators to solve the great challenges of our age.”
Ms Onwurah - herself a working engineer before moving into politics - clashed with Rail Minister Huw Merriman, who repeatedly said that the Government wanted to celebrate instead the bicentenary of opening of the Stockton and Darlington railway in two years’ time, rather than the anniversary of the founding of Robert Stephenson and Company this year.
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She said: “I am sorry if the Department did not realise that the anniversary is this year and that the debate should be about the company. Perhaps the Minister needs to spend more time in the North East to get that established.
“I am happy for the Minister to write to me to answer the question of what has been done to celebrate the anniversary of Robert Stephenson and Company. There are six months of the year left, and something could be done in that time. The merit of the anniversary is that it should be used to inspire our young people to take up careers in industry.”
Mr Merriman said: “We look forward with great excitement to our anniversaries, particularly the industry’s 200th anniversary, which will be in 2025. This is our chance to show national pride in our railways and all they have delivered - not just for this country but around the world.”
Robert Stephenson and Company was a locomotive manufacturing company founded in 1823 in Forth Street, just behind the current Central Station in Newcastle. It was the first company in the world created specifically to build railway engines, including early locomotives such as Locomotion No. 1 and the Rocket.
