Barrow is well known for many things.

We’ve been world leaders in ironworks with the founders of Barrow exporting railways to the world. They understood that for a secure economy we needed more than one industry and created the jute manufacturing business that became a world leader in its own right.

The Ironworks became a shipyard where we now build our nuclear deterrent, the most complex piece of engineering on the planet and we are the only place in the UK capable of doing it.

We protect our nation, a source of great pride to us locally and the backbone of the economy in Barrow and Furness and many other towns across the UK in a vast supply chain of many thousands of jobs.

Like those founders, I’d also like to see a more sustainable economy here, with home grown employees for our major industry and the wealth created supporting our local businesses and High Streets, with more than one large industry contributing.

I was therefore excited to speak at the launch of Associated British Ports master plan for Barrow last week which, if realised, would help deliver a raft of new industry to the area.

Plans include a floating solar park and upgrades to the offshore wind industry, proposals for hydrogen import and a carbon storage facility making use of the depleted gas fields in Morecambe Bay.

The huge opportunity for Morecambe Net Zero Cluster is world leading, with potential to be the UK's biggest carbon capture facility with storage for up to 1 gigaton of CO2.

These are the opportunities we should grasp, so while talking to ministers about our poor infrastructure on road and rail, I’ll be championing the case for our port too and making the case for Barrow and Furness to be leading the way on clean green energy.