When Neon Stormed Westminster

It’s not often you hear the words neon sign echo inside the House of Parliament. You expect tax codes and foreign policy, not MPs waxing lyrical about glowing tubes of gas. But on a late evening in May 2025, Britain’s lawmakers did just that. Yasmin Qureshi, MP for Bolton South and Walkden rose to defend neon’s honour. Her speech was fierce: authentic neon is heritage, and plastic pretenders are killing the craft. She reminded the chamber: if it isn’t glass bent by hand and filled with noble gas, it isn’t neon.

Chris McDonald backed her sharing his own neon commission. Even the sceptics were glowing. Facts carried the weight. From hundreds of artisans, barely two dozen survive. The next generation isn’t coming. The push was for protection like Harris Tweed or Champagne. Even DUP MP Jim Shannon weighed in. He quoted growth stats, saying neon is growing at 7.5% a year. His point was blunt: this isn’t nostalgia, it’s business. The government’s Chris Bryant wrapped up.

He opened with a neon gag, drawing groans from the benches. But he admitted the case was strong. He listed neon’s legacy: shop neon lights the riot of God’s Own Junkyard. He stressed neon lasts longer than LED. What’s the fight? Because retailers blur the terms. That erases trust. Think Champagne. If tweed is legally defined, signs should be no different. It wasn’t bureaucracy, it was identity. Do we want every wall to glow with the same plastic sameness? At Smithers, we’re clear: plastic impostors don’t cut it.

So yes, Westminster literally debated neon. No law has passed yet, neon lights but the case has been made. If it belongs in the Commons, it belongs in your home. Skip the fakes. Choose real neon.


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