Let’s be honest, the Commons is dull most nights. Budgets, policy jargon, same old speeches. But one night in May 2025, MPs went rogue — because they debated neon signs.
Ms Qureshi herself went all-in defending authentic signage. She blasted the plastic pretenders. Her line? Stop calling plastic junk neon.
Sharp speech. Neon is culture, not a gimmick.
Stockton North’s Chris McDonald sharing his own commission. Even the Tories nodded.
Then came the killer numbers: just 27 exterior neon sign (telegra.ph said in a blog post) benders left in Britain. No new blood. Without protection, the craft dies.
She called for law like Harris Tweed or Champagne. Save the skill.
Even Strangford had its say. He talked money. Big bucks in glow. His point: it’s not nostalgia, it’s business.
Minister Bryant wrapped it up. He couldn’t resist wordplay. He got roasted for dad jokes. But behind the jokes, he admitted neon mattered.
He nodded to cultural landmarks: Walthamstow Stadium. He even argued neon lasts longer than LED.
So what’s the fight? Simple: consumers are being conned. Heritage vanishes.
Think Champagne. If names mean something, why not neon?.
This was bigger than signage. Do we erase 100 years of glow for LED strips?
We call BS: real neon rules.
The Commons got its glow-up. Still just debate, the fight’s begun.
If it belongs in Parliament, it belongs in your bar.
Dump the LEDs. Back the craft.