MPs Argue Over Real Vs Fake Neon
It’s not often you hear the words neon sign echo inside the hallowed halls of Westminster. You expect tax codes and foreign policy, certainly not a row over what counts as real neon. But on a late evening in May 2025, Britain’s lawmakers did just that. Labour’s Yasmin Qureshi stood tall to back neon craftsmen. Her speech was fierce: gas-filled glass is culture, and cheap LED impostors are strangling it. She told MPs straight: only gas-filled glass tubes qualify as neon.
another Labour MP chimed in sharing his own neon commission. The benches nodded across parties. The numbers hit home. Only 27 full-time neon benders remain in the UK. The craft risks extinction. Ideas for certification marks were floated. Even DUP MP Jim Shannon weighed in. He brought the numbers, saying the global neon market could hit $3.3bn by 2031. Translation: the glow means commerce as well as culture. Closing was Chris Bryant, Minister for Creative Industries.
He opened with a neon gag, shop neon lights drawing groans from the benches. But beneath the jokes was recognition. He listed neon’s legacy: the riot of God’s Own Junkyard. He said neon’s eco record is unfairly maligned. What’s the fight? Because consumers are duped daily. That kills the craft. Think Scotch whisky. If tweed is legally defined, then neon deserves truth in labelling. The night was more than politics.
Do we let a century-old craft vanish? We’ll say it plain: plastic impostors don’t cut it. The Commons went neon. The Act is only an idea, but the glow is alive. If MPs can defend neon in Parliament, you can hang it in your lounge. Ditch the pretenders. Choose real neon.
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