House of Commons
Prayers
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
Oral Answers to Questions
(3 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
David Burton-Sampson (Southend West and Leigh) (Lab)
Alex Baker (Aldershot) (Lab)
Ashley Dalton (West Lancashire) (Lab)
The Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Jonathan Reynolds)
small businesses are the beating heart of our high streets and communities, and they are essential to economic success and our growth mission. We want growth in every part of the UK, and small businesses have an enormous role to play in that.
David Burton-Sampson
In Southend and Leigh, there are over 7,100 small and medium-sized enterprises, and in areas like Leigh Road, the Broadway and London Road, very few units are empty. Will my right hon. Friend meet me and representatives of the local business community to understand the challenges they face, and to discover some of the opportunities that businesses have taken to really capture the market?
Jonathan Reynolds
I welcome my hon. Friend to his place. I have always enjoyed my visits to his constituency, particularly enjoying an ice cream at Rossi’s ice cream parlour. Those visits had a serious purpose: they helped us to build our programme for small business, which recognises not only issues such as late payments, which this Department will deal with, but the need for the whole Government to tackle access to finance and retail crime—the things that make a difference. I will be delighted to make sure that my hon. Friend gets the meeting that he requests with my officials, so we can continue to do that important work.
Alex Baker
Small businesses in my constituency are keen to play their part in the Government’s growth agenda, but they tell me that they have been priced out of trading in Farnborough town centre because of rising costs. Will the Secretary of State join me in congratulating the Federation of Small Businesses, which this September celebrates its 50th year of supporting small businesses in the UK? What is his Department doing to ensure that small businesses that want to trade on the high street are supported to do so?
Jonathan Reynolds
I also welcome my hon. Friend to her place. I was pleased to meet her at the Farnborough air show, of which I am sure her community is extremely proud. I also extend birthday wishes to the Federation of Small Businesses, with which we work very closely, particularly on policies on issues such as late payments. I am always aware of the FSB’s incredible coverage; it has over 150,000 members across the country. Of course, the FSB began in Blackpool, so it is another great thing that the north-west of England has given this country.
Ashley Dalton
West Lancashire is rich in small and medium-sized enterprises and boasts several markets, but local business owners and market traders tell me that a lack of access to cash banking services is a major obstacle to growing their businesses and is placing additional costs on trading. How are the Government planning to support SMEs’ access to cash banking services, especially in rural areas?
Jonathan Reynolds
This issue is important to Members in all parts of the country, but I recognise my hon. Friend’s particular point about prosperous rural economies. Access to banking and financial services is a prime example of the fact that the Government will work across every Department to make sure we are giving businesses what they need. I am not nostalgic, and I understand that banking has changed, but small businesses need to be able to deposit cash on the high street. The key policy in this area will be run by the Treasury, but this is about changing the eligibility for banking hubs, so that we have more of them. We will see at least an additional 350 in this Parliament, including in my constituency; tomorrow, I will take a sneak peek at the new banking hub in Stalybridge.
Mr Louie French (Old Bexley and Sidcup) (Con)
Under the Labour Mayor of London’s proposals, many small businesses that drive vans via the Blackwall tunnel will soon have to pay charges of up to £40 a day—the congestion charge, the ultra low emission zone charge, and the Mayor’s new tunnel tax. Do the Government agree that this is neither fair nor good for economic growth?
Jonathan Reynolds
I thank the hon. Member for raising a matter that is important to his constituency. My Department works very closely with a range of devolved arrangements around the UK, and it is important to work with them with respect and good faith. This question is clearly for the Mayor of London, but I recognise the hon. Member’s point. We always take heed of the aggregate impact on business of everything at every level of government, which is why having an industrial strategy and a small business plan is key.
Sarah Dyke (Glastonbury and Somerton) (LD)
Small businesses in the south-west have a huge role to play in growing the economy. However, the latest south-west small business index score, which measures the confidence of small businesses, has declined by 23%—there has been a fall of 30 points since the last quarter. Will the Minister meet me to discuss how we can support small businesses across the south-west?
Jonathan Reynolds
Business confidence was strengthened considerably across the United Kingdom as a whole following the general election and the return to some political stability, which businesses of every size have sorely missed over recent years. However, I hear the hon. Lady’s point about her area and region, which is an important priority for me. I will ensure she gets the meeting she needs, so we can have a conversation about how we can work together to give people in her area a platform for success.
Mr Peter Bedford (Mid Leicestershire) (Con)
What action is the Government taking to support small and medium-sized businesses in getting access to finance, so that they can grow for the future?
Jonathan Reynolds
I thank the hon. Member for that question. That is a key issue. There have been positive developments in recent years, particularly through the work of the British Business Bank. The Government feel that the landscape for public finance institutions is now quite busy. The key policy is to ensure that the national wealth fund aligns with priorities in this area, expands the work that has been done, and ensures consistency, so there is a ready way for businesses to understand what can sometimes be a confusing landscape. Also, policies such as that on growth hubs will continue, so the interface for businesses is straightforward and simple, and, fundamentally, the product to access finance will be there when they need it.
Sarah Olney (Richmond Park) (LD)
It is a pleasure to see the Secretary of State at the Dispatch Box. Recent years have seen our SMEs struggling with reams of red tape when they attempt to trade with the rest of the world. Reporting this week has detailed the chaos and extortionate expense that small businesses in the agrifood industries have been dealing with since April’s introduction of the common user charge. I appreciate that this is yet another occasion on which the Government must deal with a mess not of their making, but what concrete steps is the Minister taking to support and empower our small businesses to trade internationally?
Jonathan Reynolds
I thank the hon. Lady for her kind words. I recognise that the Liberal Democrat manifesto shows that we have many common areas of interest, particularly on industrial strategy and trade. Under this Government, trade policy will match our domestic, economic and business priorities. We will be able to reset our relationship with the European Union because, to be frank, we are unencumbered by some of the internal politics of the last Government. We believe that we can make the most of opportunities around the world. Businesses tell me, as I am sure they tell every hon. Member here, that for many years, politics has been driving the agenda, rather than what businesses need. That will change, and has already begun to change. We will work with anyone in the House who is keen to provide a platform for success on knocking down barriers and getting businesses what they need.
Sarah Coombes (West Bromwich) (Lab)
Luke Myer (Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland) (Lab)
Melanie Onn (Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes) (Lab)
Lauren Edwards (Rochester and Strood) (Lab)
Anneliese Midgley (Knowsley) (Lab)
Rachel Hopkins (Luton South and South Bedfordshire) (Lab)
The Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Jonathan Reynolds)
It is lovely to see you in the Chair, Madam Deputy Speaker, and it is great to see so much interest in the industrial strategy from my hon. Friends. However, I believe Members in all parts of the House can and should support the strategy, and we will seek to make cross-party arrangements. The need is great. We must improve on the UK’s poor business investment performance, which has been the lowest in the G7 for some time. We must recognise that so much chopping and changing of policy in recent years has been to our detriment. That will come to an end under this Government and this industrial strategy.
Sarah Coombes
The Black Country has long been a manufacturing heartland, home to numerous businesses, large and small, that support thousands of good-quality local jobs. Given the Government’s commitment to supporting British manufacturing, will the Minister set out how the upcoming industrial strategy will support manufacturing businesses in the west midlands?
Jonathan Reynolds
It is wonderful to hear a strong and authentic voice from the Black Country making a charge for industrial strategy; I thank my hon. Friend for her comments. The purpose of the industrial strategy is to capture a much greater share of the big international investment cycles, to explain straightforwardly to investors what those are, to provide consistency and to choose sectors. That does not mean the sectors that are not part of the strategy are not important, but is simply because the strategy must have priorities in it. I think my hon. Friend will support our choices, which will be revealed in the forthcoming weeks. Her area will play a major role in the success of the strategy for the whole of the country.
Luke Myer
A key plank of our industrial strategy must be green jobs, which Teesside is perfectly positioned to deliver. Inward investment is important—I had a positive meeting this week with a company that wants to invest millions in green fuel—as is backing British manufacturers, which will require the development of the country’s skills base. Will the Minister provide assurances about his work with the Department for Education to ensure vocational education is protected, and British manufacturing is protected as well?
Jonathan Reynolds
I thank my hon. Friend for his question. Teesside is a hugely exciting part of the country. There is so much to be proud of there, and so much to be excited about for the future, because of its advantages and the offer that it can make. He asks about green jobs. I have said many times that decarbonisation cannot be deindustrialisation; that is very important. We must recognise that the policy mix that we have inherited is not the right one for delivering decarbonisation, so changes will have to be made. For any business at any level, skills and access to talent in the labour market will always be the foundational issue. We work very closely with our colleagues in the Department for Education. The creation of Skills England and a better link between the skills system and immigration are key parts of that. Moreover, changing the apprenticeship levy to the growth and skills levy, which we co-designed with business, shows that we are addressing this agenda in a comprehensive way for the step change that is required to make our policy a success.
Melanie Onn
The Secretary of State will be aware of Air Products, which intends to invest £2 billion in northern Lincolnshire and green hydrogen projects. Does he agree that that investment would not only transform the south bank of the Humber, including my constituency of Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes, bringing 1,400 new jobs, but be an ideal project to include in the global investment summit? Perhaps he would be interested in meeting representatives of Air Products and me at some point.
Jonathan Reynolds
Let me say how wonderful it is to see my hon. Friend back in her place, representing her community and bringing with her even more expertise from the roles that she has held and the work that she has done in her time outside Parliament. It is a key priority for me to ensure that good jobs in the supply chain come with the transition that we all now support. I can tell her not only that we are interested in Air Products, but that my colleague, the Minister of State for Industry, already has a meeting with it scheduled in the next few days, and we look forward to working with my hon. Friend not just on that, but on many issues in the weeks and months to come.
Lauren Edwards
The voluntary sector had a strong voice under the previous Labour Government, and partnership with it was key to our achievements in office. How will my right hon. Friend ensure that the voluntary sector has a strong voice once again under Labour, so that we can deliver the Government’s industrial strategy, particularly as it relates to the creative industries and the mission to ensure high-quality care for all?
Jonathan Reynolds
It is also great to see my hon. Friend in her place. I enjoyed working with her in her previous role in local government, and she brings all that expertise and achievement with her to this House.
I wish to embed our industrial strategy for the long term. I want to focus it on long-term, sustainable, inclusive and secure growth that will cover many sectors of the economy, as my hon. Friend has mentioned. That will mean the Government having to work in partnership not just with business, but with civil society, trade unions and local and regional leaders in a way, to be frank, that we have not been doing for some years. We will make sure, as she requests, that that is a priority, and is visible in the work that we do.
Anneliese Midgley
A Labour Government brought secure, well-paid working-class jobs to Knowsley with Ford Halewood. My dad getting a job there changed my family’s life and lifted us out of poverty. It did the same for thousands of families like ours. Does the Secretary of State agree that any successful industrial strategy must provide good-quality, unionised jobs to lift living standards in areas such as mine?
Jonathan Reynolds
It is also a pleasure to welcome my hon. Friend to her place, and I thank her for those comments, with which I thoroughly agree. This is what it is all about—good work and good wages in every part of the country. I will work with anyone to deliver that. Her personal story shows the difference that such a policy can make. I often reference, for instance, the difference that Nissan’s investment made to communities in Sunderland. When such investment is made and got right, it delivers long-term benefits for communities and for the UK—more so perhaps than any other policy area. If we want to address, as I do, the UK’s profound regional inequality, policies such as these are so important, so I thoroughly endorse her comments. The industrial strategy is only one part of the growth mission, but it is at the heart of the pro-worker, pro-business agenda not just of my Department, but of the whole Government.
Rachel Hopkins
I welcome our Labour Government’s commitment to decarbonisation, particularly for Britain’s automotive industry. It is a vital step in securing the sector’s future and safeguarding high-quality jobs, which are critical for the Vauxhall plant in my constituency of Luton South and South Bedfordshire. Will the Secretary of State update the House on how his Department is working across Government, including with the Treasury and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, to drive innovative decarbonisation solutions, to ensure the success of our growth mission?
Jonathan Reynolds
My hon. Friend is not a new colleague, and her advocacy of the automotive sector, particularly given her constituency interest in Stellantis, is well known and welcome. This was a challenging area, particularly for her constituency, that we inherited. The previous Government had neglected engagement with the business. Since we took office, we have had extensive engagement with Carlos Tavares and the Stellantis team. The journey that the automotive sector has to go on for decarbonisation presents challenges, and there is a challenging picture across all of Europe, but the neglect of the previous Government has ended. Not only am I closely engaged on the issue, as are my ministerial team, but so is the Secretary of State for Transport, particularly in relation to the zero emission vehicle mandate—a key area of policy for the business. We will continue that work, and I will continue to keep my hon. Friend, and any other local MPs, updated, as we have done to date.
George Freeman (Mid Norfolk) (Con)
I welcome the Secretary of State and his team to what I think is one of the most important Departments in Government. As a sometimes lonely voice on the Conservative Benches advocating for industrial strategy, I signal support for his intention. I am sure that he agrees that the big challenge is to convert our phenomenal science and technology leadership into sovereign industrial supply chain leadership around this country. Having led the strategy for life sciences—quantum, engineering biology, fusion—may I ask whether he agrees that the key to this is cross-departmental Whitehall work, and ensuring that we do not end up with endless earnest, well-intended committees, but actually engage the small businesses, entrepreneurs and investors who are driving these sectors of tomorrow?
Jonathan Reynolds
I genuinely thank the hon. Member for those comments, because I am serious when I say that I believe that industrial strategy should command support across the political spectrum. That is the norm in a lot of comparable countries to ours. I recognise not just the work that he did, but the number of times he did it; he was called back repeatedly by the last Government to do that work. I am often struck by the comments that Lord Willetts made in the Policy Exchange pamphlet about the lack of a supply chain for offshore wind really benefiting Scandinavian economies, rather than ours.
There are common areas of interest, and to make this industrial strategy more successful than the very credible approach taken by the Conservative Government when Theresa May was Prime Minister, we need it to last longer, and for it to have consistency and permanence. I know that the advocates and designers of that policy wanted the chance to do that. The strategy must also be cross-departmental. It will be led by my Department, but it cannot be solely my Department that is engaged. I can tell the hon. Member that all my Cabinet colleagues share our objectives and a keenness to make this work. We do not just want strategies put on the shelf for the short or long term; we want the strategy to make a difference in the communities that everyone in the Chamber represents. I welcome that cross-party support.
Tim Farron (Westmorland and Lonsdale) (LD)
A successful industrial strategy obviously has to include a wise workforce strategy. In the lakes and dales of Westmorland, the workforce is far too small for our needs and is sadly shrinking—66% of hospitality and tourism businesses in the second busiest visitor destination in the country are working below capacity because they do not have enough staff. There are two main issues: a lack of affordable places for people to live, and an inability to bring people in from overseas. Will the Secretary of State support the extension of housing grants to build more social rented homes in Westmorland, and a youth mobility visa deal with the European Union, which would allow us to bring in people to supplement our far-too-small workforce?
Jonathan Reynolds
The hon. Member makes a really important point. We all have common areas of concern about the United Kingdom economy as a whole—the poor productivity since the financial crisis, the level of growth not delivering the living standards and public services that we want, and the low investment figure—but there are also specific challenges in each part of the country. The relationship between national policy, local policy and local leadership is the way to address those issues.
The hon. Member is an extremely skilled parliamentarian, and he added on a couple of issues that are clearly beyond the remit of the Department for Business and Trade—he did it very well. On the reset of the relationship with the European Union, there are practical, pragmatic measures that I will ask all Members to support, particularly on the recognition of professional qualifications, which I think could have been part of the deal, and what we are planning for food and agricultural products, if we can be successful in that negotiation. Those are our asks. There will be asks from the other side, and we will have to work with our partners to negotiate these things, but I recognise the hon. Member’s key point: yes, there are UK-wide needs, but there are specific needs in each area, and we have to get them right—for his area, for mine, and for everyone’s present.
Martin Vickers (Brigg and Immingham) (Con)
Further to the question about Air Products asked by the hon. Member for Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes (Melanie Onn), she and I met the company last night; as is often the case, business wants to move faster than the Government. Will the Secretary of State give an assurance that he will do his very best to ensure that his Department meets the deadlines that Air Products hopes for? In a wider context, as the hon. Lady said, northern Lincolnshire is a prime area for the renewables sector, and the Air Products development is key to that.
Jonathan Reynolds
The hon. Gentleman is right to say that business is often frustrated by the pace at which the Government can go. We are doing a considerable amount of work on how business interfaces with the Government as a whole, how that is managed as a relationship, and how we can assemble the different parts of the state in the way needed to respond to some of our big investment opportunities.
Frankly, in the past, we have often seen the UK miss out, particularly to, for instance, the French. The “Choose France” policy has been fairly successful from their point of view by taking some investments that I believe should have come to the UK. They have got ahead of us. We have to understand that the competitive environment that we are now in is extremely challenging and we have missed out on things. We have to change and get it right and better. I will work with the hon. Gentleman— I have already highlighted the meeting scheduled with my Minister of State—and he makes a fair point that we all recognise has to be addressed.
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)
I welcome the Secretary of State to his place and wish him well in the position he now controls. In Northern Ireland we have many businesses that can excel, but when it comes to an industrial strategy I particularly highlight the defence sector and the cyber-security sector. Just last Friday, my right hon. Friend the Member for Belfast East (Gavin Robinson) and I had a chance to visit Thales in east Belfast. Staff there explained to us that they employ almost 700 people on the site, and they also have an apprenticeships plan that is in action and are taking on another 25 apprenticeships. When it comes to expertise, they have the skills, experience and success, but they do not have the defence contracts, as they have in the rest of the United Kingdom. Will the Secretary of State say some words into the ear of the Secretary of State for Defence to ensure that Northern Ireland can play a bigger part when it comes to accessing those contracts?
Jonathan Reynolds
I absolutely agree with the strengths that the hon. Gentleman identified; he will know that I visited Northern Ireland as the shadow Secretary of State, partly to make that point. We are responsible for the promotion of the defence trade, so the relationship with the Ministry of Defence and the Secretary of State for Defence is very strong. I will absolutely do as the hon. Gentleman requests.
Gareth Bacon (Orpington) (Con)
The Government have repeatedly stated that securing economic growth is their fundamental mission, and that is, of course, an entirely laudable aim, but the fact is that more red tape will have the opposite effect. In the light of the right hon. Gentleman’s plans to introduce radical new labour laws, what would he say in response to the Federation of Small Businesses, which has made it clear that firms are increasingly worried about the Government’s proposals, fearing that they will drive up the costs and risks of doing business and thereby reduce their competitiveness and financial stability?
Jonathan Reynolds
I welcome the hon. Gentleman and the new shadow ministerial team to their posts. I have sat on those Benches in many questions sessions and understand how it can be at times.
Businesses of all sizes overwhelmingly supported the Labour party at the general election. How we behave in government will be exactly how we behaved in opposition, and we will co-design policy to ensure that. There is nothing in what we call the plan to make work pay—the new deal for working people—that is not already in the public domain. We had a manifesto with all that in it.
It is important to recognise—[Interruption.] There is a bit of chuntering coming from the Opposition Front Bench; again, something that I am not unfamiliar with. Look at the success of businesses in this area. Look at the businesses that already recognise trade unions and that already pay the living wage—look at that success. We are going to raise the employment floor, but it will be to a level above which many UK businesses are already operating. It is important to talk about the really successful things that businesses are doing to make sure that their workforces are treated with dignity and respect and get the living standards and prosperity that Members on this side of the House are all about delivering more of.
Alistair Strathern (Hitchin) (Lab)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Gareth Thomas)
The decline of too many high street businesses was one powerful example of the failure of the last Government’s economic record and the cost of living crisis they caused. Working with business and others, we are determined to breathe new life into our high streets. In particular, we will stamp out late payments, tackle soaring levels of retail crime and create a fairer business rates system.
Alistair Strathern
High street businesses such as Rose’s café in Shefford and Jamie’s Shoe Repairs in Hitchin do so much to bring joy and life to their high streets and make the towns and villages in my constituency so special, but far too many high street businesses right across my constituency have been feeling the squeeze over recent years and just did not feel that the previous Government had their back. What will we be doing differently to make sure that we will always be on the side of the high street businesses that make our communities such fantastic places to live?
Gareth Thomas
First, let me take this opportunity to say how much of a pleasure it is to see my hon. Friend back in this House; I went up to his constituency during the by-election campaign, and his result was one of many on election night that brought us all great pleasure.
We set out a five-point plan when we were in opposition to support businesses on high streets. At the heart of that was a plan to introduce a fairer business rates system, which I know colleagues in the Treasury are working very hard on. We also want to tackle the high levels of retail crime that scar too many of our high streets, and we will be bringing forward proposals on that in due course too.
Josh Babarinde (Eastbourne) (LD)
To grow, high street businesses in Eastbourne are relying on Government investment through initiatives such as the towns fund, of which my town was selected to be a beneficiary. Our towns fund board is fired up and ready to go, but still awaiting further instructions from Government on how to proceed. Will the Secretary of State, working with his Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government colleagues, urgently update me on whether Eastbourne’s high street businesses can still expect to benefit from the £20 million towns fund investment that they need and deserve?
Gareth Thomas
As the hon. Gentleman may know, the towns fund is the responsibility of colleagues in MHCLG. I will happily draw his comments to the attention of the Minister who has responsibility for it. But we are determined to work across Government to breathe new life into our high streets, and I am sure that the Minister will be very interested to meet the hon. Gentleman and take forward his concerns.
Gareth Snell (Stoke-on-Trent Central) (Lab/Co-op)
Whether it is better buses, more policing or city centre living, support for our high streets ought to be a cross-Government approach, because of the many levers that are available. Can the Minister say a bit more about what conversations he is having with other Departments to ensure that support for high streets stretches across every facet of this new Labour Government?
Gareth Thomas
My hon. Friend is absolutely right to say that there are policies across the whole of Government that impact on small businesses and particularly on high street businesses. One of the most significant issues is the need to see a fairer business rates system that creates better incentives for businesses to invest in the high street, in comparison with the competition from online giants, so we are working with colleagues in the Treasury on that. We are working with colleagues in the Home Office to address retail crime—there has been a huge surge in shoplifting—which my hon. Friend knows has scarred too many high streets. We are also working with other colleagues, as I referenced in response to the previous question, to try to bring forward a stronger offer to small businesses.
Sir Ashley Fox (Bridgwater) (Con)
Small and medium-sized enterprises are the lifeblood of our high streets, and there are many such businesses in my constituency of Bridgwater. I understand, though, that SMEs now face paying thousands of pounds in fines if they do not uphold the Government’s new French-style employment reforms. Will the Minister consider exempting SMEs from any financial sanctions by the new fair work agency?
Gareth Thomas
I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on his election to this House. I gently say that he will have heard from my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State that we have already consulted widely with the business community about our plans to improve rights for employees. We did that when we were in opposition and we have continued to do it in government. I am struck by the support that our plans have from small businesses and high street businesses, but we will continue to work with small businesses on the details of those plans.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)
I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.
Sarah Olney (Richmond Park) (LD)
For too long, our high streets have been hostages to an outdated and damaging business rates system. Empty shopfronts and shuttered windows should never become the norm in our town centres. Small businesses in desperate need of a helping hand will have been deeply concerned not to see any mention of business rates system reform in the King’s Speech. Can the Minister assure us that business rates system reform is coming soon and that, when it does, it will be a comprehensive replacement of that damaging system?
Gareth Thomas
As I have said in response to previous questions, we are looking at that with Treasury colleagues. In opposition, we made commitments to introduce a fairer business rates system. Work on that is being led by Treasury colleagues, who will bring forward proposals in due course.
Helen Hayes (Dulwich and West Norwood) (Lab)
Becky Gittins (Clwyd East) (Lab)
The Minister for Trade Policy and Economic Security (Mr Douglas Alexander)
Forty-seven per cent of the United Kingdom’s total trade is with the European Union, and improving trade is a central part of the Government’s ambition to reset our relationship with Europe. Ministers have already been engaging positively on trade issues with our EU and member state counterparts, including EU Executive Vice-President Dombrovskis, German Vice-Chancellor Habeck and Italian Minister Tajani. The Government are seeking the practical changes needed to ensure smoother trade between the United Kingdom and Europe—for example, on mutual recognition of professional qualifications, which have already been mentioned.
Helen Hayes
Goods exports to the European Union are still 11% lower than in 2019, before the Brexit agreement took effect. Can the Minister confirm that, in seeking to grow the UK economy, the Government will take an evidence-based approach to the UK’s trading relationship with our nearest neighbours, and will take all possible measures to remove the barriers to trade that are holding our country back?
Mr Alexander
I thank my hon. Friend for her question and her observation on the character of trade in recent years. There has been better performance on services than on goods, but she is absolutely right to recognise the fall in goods trade with the European Union. Overall trade since 2018 has essentially flatlined. That is why the Government are determined to reset our relationship with the European Union more broadly. Within that broader objective, we will look specifically at the border in order to achieve less friction for trade.
Becky Gittins
Farmers in Clwyd East continue to raise concerns with me about trading barriers with the EU. They feel that the current arrangements disadvantage them, and that not enough has been done since we left the EU to facilitate trade between British farmers and EU countries. Will the Minister outline what steps his Department is taking to remove those barriers and get a better deal for the farming community of Clwyd East?
Mr Alexander
My hon. Friend is already establishing herself as a powerful voice for all constituency interests in Clwyd East. Alas, the concerns that she raises are not limited to that constituency. That is why, as part of the broader resetting of our relationship with the European Union, we are determined to tackle barriers to trade such as those she describes in relation to farmers, including through the negotiation of a UK-EU veterinary agreement that will help to reduce unnecessary border checks.
Mike Wood (Kingswinford and South Staffordshire) (Con)
I welcome the Minister back to the House and back to the Government Front Bench. On the final sitting day before recess, the Secretary of State slipped out an announcement that he expected trade talks to begin with a number of countries this autumn, and the Minister has just confirmed the intention to open talks with the European Union. When can we expect the Government to publish their negotiating objectives for scrutiny by the House ahead of those talks, as demanded by the Select Committee and committed to by the previous Government?
Mr Alexander
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his kind words of welcome both to this House and to the Dispatch Box. I hope that we will be able to exchange in exactly this kind of constructive dialogue in the months and years ahead. Clearly, we inherited a number of open negotiating mandates from the previous Government—not least in relation to the Gulf Co-operation Council and to India—and we are carefully reviewing those mandates, but we have already been clear that, as well as resetting the relationship with the European Union, we are keen to pursue essentially a twin-track strategy, whereby we take forward the work in relation to those free trade agreements.
Yuan Yang (Earley and Woodley) (Lab)
The Minister for Industry (Sarah Jones)
I thank my hon. Friend for her question, and welcome her and her expertise to this House. As she knows, investment by private corporations was the lowest in the G7 for almost all of the last Parliament, and the new Government are determined to reverse that decline. That begins with economic stability, something every business we talk to is crying out for. It involves the development of our industrial strategy, the levers to encourage investment, the national wealth fund, the British jobs bonus and the Industrial Strategy Council, which will provide the infrastructure that investors can understand and deal with. Next month, we will host the international investment summit with 300 industry leaders, demonstrating our mission of long-term growth, and because there is not a moment to lose, I am going to Italy tomorrow to meet key Italian investors to the UK and show that Britain is back.
Yuan Yang
I thank the Minister for her remarks, and wish her the best of success on her trip tomorrow. One of Europe’s best-performing sites for foreign direct investment in the life sciences is the Thames valley, including my constituency of Earley and Woodley, and our local hospital trust—the Royal Berkshire NHS foundation trust—recently became the first in the country to be awarded for world-class excellence in its clinical research. Will the Minister meet with me, local life science businesses and hospital staff to discuss how to accelerate investment in our life sciences industrial cluster?
Sarah Jones
I thank my hon. Friend for championing such a vital sector—our most recent data shows that UK life sciences employs over 300,000 people, generating a turnover of over £100 billion. With the NHS back on its feet under this new Government, working hand in hand with life sciences, research institutions and others, we can drive the development of new treatments and help grow our industries. Of course, I would love to meet with my hon. Friend.
Robin Swann (South Antrim) (UUP)
The Minister has expressed the importance of life sciences. Can I seek her assurance that Northern Ireland is part of that trade mission as well, especially as it relates to my constituency? Also, regarding the Minister for Trade Policy and Economic Security’s statement about removing barriers to trade, can I ask this Government to ensure that there are no EU barriers to trade when it comes to promoting businesses in Northern Ireland? Those businesses want to thrive, flourish, and be part of this United Kingdom’s outreach in regards to business and investment across the United Kingdom and, indeed, the world.
Sarah Jones
Of course, Northern Ireland is incredibly important to our plans and to us. In opposition, many of us went to Northern Ireland and met with businesses. I certainly did: I met with the Chamber of Commerce and talked about the opportunities for the future in Northern Ireland. I will meet with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland next week to talk about some of these issues, and I hope the hon. Gentleman will be reassured that we will do what we can to grow jobs, skills and investment and make sure there are no barriers to trade.
Adam Jogee (Newcastle-under-Lyme) (Lab)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Justin Madders)
We have already taken a number of steps to improve employment rights in this country. We have written to the Low Pay Commission to ask it to end the discriminatory age bands, so that all adults will be paid the same minimum wage rates. We have also asked it to look at including the cost of living when setting future wage rates, and have announced that we will repeal the unconscionable and unworkable Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023, but there will be more. We will transform workers’ rights in this country, and will introduce the employment rights Bill within 100 days of taking office, as we promised.
Adam Jogee
I thank the Minister for setting out just how much this Government are on the side of workers in our country. Can I ask him to gently remind the Secretary of State that there is a pint waiting for him at the Bridge Street Ale House in Newcastle-under-Lyme from the owner, Grum Newbury? The people of Newcastle-under-Lyme believe in hard work, decency, respect and dignity at work, so can the Minister set out what this new Government are doing to end the exploitative use of zero-hours contracts in north Staffordshire and across our country?
Justin Madders
My hon. Friend is right: the explosion of zero-hours contracts in this country has been shameful. Over 1 million people are now on zero-hours contracts, and one in five of those people report that they would like to be able to get more hours of work, so we are going to end the uncertainty of zero-hours contracts. We are going to make sure that work pays, and we are going to give those people a legal right to a contract that reflects the number of hours they regularly work over a 12-week period.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)
I call the shadow Secretary of State.
Kevin Hollinrake (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)
I welcome the Secretary of State and his Ministers to their places. The Secretary of State seems to imply that businesses are comfortable with his changes to the workplace, but this morning I and my fellow shadow Ministers met business representative organisations that are far from comfortable with the changes he is making, such as day one employment rights, a four-day week, a right to switch off and a higher and broader national living wage, as well as changes to business taxes, including in relation to business property relief, and the fair work agency. Does he not realise—do his Ministers not realise—that until he brings forward the detail on these plans, businesses’ recruitment and investment plans are completely on hold? When will he bring forward those plans?
Justin Madders
I thank the shadow Secretary of State for his question. I just remind him that he has to direct the question to the Minister responding—I am sure we will get there in the end.
I also remind the shadow Secretary of State that during the general election, the front page of The Times had 120 businesses supporting the Labour party in full knowledge of our plans to make work pay. We are consulting regularly and frequently—almost on a daily basis—with businesses about how the plans will work. I am afraid that the shadow Secretary of State has spent the summer putting out scaremongering statements about what this all means. In fact, the only statement he made over the summer on which I agreed with him was that his party deserved to lose the general election.
Kevin Hollinrake
The Minister talks about statements, so I will read him some. The Federation of Small Businesses says its members view these measures with “trepidation”. The Institute of Directors says that confidence is fizzling out, with the biggest one-month drop on record. The Recruitment and Employment Confederation says that these changes
“risked fuelling long, complex litigation”
for businesses defending themselves at employment tribunals. Will he—and the Secretary of State—at least consider exempting small and medium-sized enterprises from these ruinous, French-style regulations?
Justin Madders
Again, I have to point out that I am not the Secretary of State—perhaps one day.
We heard all these arguments 20 years ago with the minimum wage. Conservative Members were wrong about that, and they are wrong about this. I just hope they are a bit quicker to come round to realising that this country is going to prosper with improved workers’ rights, working in partnership with businesses to improve the economy for the benefit of everyone.
Gregory Stafford (Farnham and Bordon) (Con)
The Minister for Industry (Sarah Jones)
China’s role in the automotive industry is growing, and that invites risks and opportunities. We are working closely with other Government Departments, as the hon. Gentleman would expect, to analyse how this impacts the UK. Where we need to act, we will do so, and any action taken on Chinese electric vehicles has to be the right one, including for our UK industry.
Gregory Stafford
I thank the Minister for her response, but could she outline the Department’s wider strategy on challenging China’s global monopoly on critical minerals, including lithium, much of which is extracted by forced labour?
Sarah Jones
I thank the hon. Gentleman for his supplementary question. As I said, we are working closely with our colleagues across Government to make sure we have the right intelligence and can make the right decisions where we need to act. He will be aware that other countries are introducing tariffs and taking a range of measures. Our sectors are very different from those of other countries—we are not the same as the US or the EU—and we need to respond in the right way when it comes to electric vehicles. For example, 80% of the vehicles we manufacture in the UK are exported, so our challenges are different.
However, the hon. Gentleman is right to raise these important issues, including the need to look at critical minerals and supply chains, and at how we can ensure we are getting as many parts as possible from countries with which we want to have a different relationship. That is why we have set up things such as the solar taskforce to ensure that when it comes to solar panels, for example, we are using the supply chains as best we can to make sure there is not a global monopoly and that we are economically secure as a country.
Greg Smith (Mid Buckinghamshire) (Con)
What we have this morning is another chapter in the growing theme of what the Government said before the election and what they are doing after the election being entirely different things. The Chancellor of the Exchequer talked in May about reliance on Chinese EVs undercutting British workers and leaving us exposed, but by July she was talking about the benefits of trade with China. What we have seen in this Chamber this morning is that, while the rest of the world—the United States, Canada, the European Union—is acting on Chinese dominance in the EV market, the United Kingdom Government continue to dither. What is it to be: clear action on behalf of the UK automotive sector, or continued dither and failing to make a decision?
Sarah Jones
I do not know whether the hon. Gentleman is aware that until recently his party was in government, and inward investment from China grew over four times since 2014, so I will take no lessons from him on these issues. The automotive industry, which I work with closely and meet regularly, has not asked for what he suggested—
Sarah Jones
No, it has not. The hon. Gentleman is chuntering again from a sedentary position. It has not asked for that. This is something we are monitoring. We will work closely with the industry and do the right thing, and if we need to intervene we will intervene. As I said, the UK’s economy and industry differ very much from those of other countries, and 80% of UK auto production is exported. It is not that we have the risk of EVs in the other direction. The hon. Member for Mid Buckinghamshire (Greg Smith) needs to recognise the part that his Government played in the development of these matters over many years, and be reassured that we are working closely with our colleagues to make sure we do the right thing.
Patrick Hurley (Southport) (Lab)
The Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Jonathan Reynolds)
My Department’s four priorities are to reset our trade relations, deliver a new deal for working people, support small business and implement a mission-focused industrial strategy. In just a few short weeks, we have begun preparing no fewer than four Bills for the King’s Speech. I have attended the G7 trade summit, and set up the Horizon convictions redress scheme. We have ensured UK Export Finance support for the defence of Ukraine, changed the remit of the Low Pay Commission and organised an international investment summit for 14 October. I have spoken to my international counterparts, to all my colleagues in the devolved Administrations and to several hundred business leaders. That is how we will build the pro-innovation, pro-worker, pro-business economy that the British people voted for.
Patrick Hurley
I thank my right hon. Friend for that reply. This Government were elected on a platform to embed economic growth and break down barriers to opportunity. In the past couple of weeks, I have spoken to colleges and businesses across my Southport constituency, including our rightly famous Silcock’s family entertainment centre, to see how we can develop our skills policy to ensure that for towns such as Southport, the best days lie ahead. How will the Department work to support the next generation of entrepreneurs to ensure that our economic mission is furthered?
Jonathan Reynolds
I hope you will allow me, Madam Deputy Speaker, to pay tribute to my hon. Friend after what his community has been through, and the incredible way that he stepped up to represent that community. That is something we would all like to acknowledge.
The points that my hon. Friend makes are right: small businesses, entrepreneurs and start-ups are essential to our economic success, in Southport and in every part of the UK, and the support we will give them covers advice, guidance and training. On his point about skills, that is why we have established Skills England. If we want entrepreneurs to take real risks with their own property and income, we must give them stability. We cannot change policy every year; we cannot elect Liz Truss as Prime Minister and expect people to take those risks. The stability and consistency we will bring is as important as the policy environment we will create to do exactly what my hon. Friend says.
Jerome Mayhew (Broadland and Fakenham) (Con)
When dealing with the Post Office Horizon scandal, does the Secretary of State understand that by sitting on the letters informing Horizon victims that their convictions have been quashed, the Department is exacerbating the trauma of this terrible injustice? After two months in office, I understand that fewer than one in six letters have been sent. When does he plan to get a grip on the situation?
Jonathan Reynolds
I welcome the hon. Gentleman to his place. We have been in office for two months, and we have already set up the Horizon convictions redress scheme. Indeed, I was pleased to work with the former Minister, the hon. Member for Thirsk and Malton (Kevin Hollinrake), on creating the legal environment necessary to do that. The letters are an issue for the Ministry of Justice and its database. We have not sat on anything, and we have moved at pace to give people the compensation they deserve. We will continue to do that, and to work with those on the Opposition Front Bench to deliver what we all want to see.
David Pinto-Duschinsky (Hendon) (Lab)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Justin Madders)
The introduction of the minimum wage was one of the proudest achievements of the last Labour Government, but for too long the UK’s labour market enforcement system has been fragmented and ineffective. That is bad for workers and bad for the majority of businesses that want do to the right thing and comply with the law. That is why we will create a fair work agency to bring together employment rights enforcement, including of the minimum wage.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)
I remind Members that these are topical questions, so can we have short questions and short answers?
Sir David Davis (Goole and Pocklington) (Con)
Jonathan Reynolds
I thank the right hon. Member for his role, which I have referred to in the past and has been important in these matters. I am not passing the buck to anyone; I am simply saying that it is the Ministry of Justice, rather than me, that sends those letters out. As of 30 August, 130 letters have been sent out, quashing more than 370 convictions. I think that is real progress since the election. It is not fast enough for me, and we will continue to push that. We are working closely with the Northern Irish and Scottish Administrations, because of the devolved nature of justice, exactly as he would expect. I can assure him that this matter was a priority for me in opposition, and it will continue to be a priority for me in government.
Mike Amesbury (Runcorn and Helsby) (Lab)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Gareth Thomas)
I would be happy to meet my hon. Friend to discuss the question about a banking hub in his constituency. As he will have heard in answers that I gave earlier, reform of the business rates system to tackle some of the egregious disincentives in respect of the need to invest in our high streets and the competition from online giants is something we took seriously in opposition and continue to take seriously in government. Colleagues in the Treasury are working hard to bring forward proposals to reform the business rates system.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)
I remind Members to speak through the Chair.
Helen Morgan (North Shropshire) (LD)
The Minister for Trade Policy and Economic Security (Mr Douglas Alexander)
I assure the hon. Lady that the SPS agreement—the veterinary agreement, as it is called—is one of the priorities we are pursuing. That matter is being led by the Cabinet Office, as is the reset with the European Union. I assure her that dialogue is under way between the Department for Business and Trade, the Cabinet Office and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. It is a priority. It will take time to reset, but I assure her that we are fully aware of the urgency.
Melanie Onn (Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes) (Lab)
Jonathan Reynolds
Good product regulation and public confidence in our system are important across the board for every sector of the economy. My hon. Friend will have seen the Product Regulation and Metrology Bill in the King’s Speech. It will give powers to the UK Government to regulate in a range of fields. What she raises is exactly the kind of area we will be able to consider and debate in more detail.
Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst (Solihull West and Shirley) (Con)
Jonathan Reynolds
I thank the hon. Member for his interest in this incredibly important issue and the work, which he will be aware of, that ensured that we got to this point. I think this is the biggest miscarriage of justice in British history, and the moves to provide some form of redress are extremely important.
We have moved at pace to put the scheme in place. We were able to do so because of the legislation we got through in the wash-up at the end of the last Parliament. The hon. Member will have heard what I said about the letters that we got out to get that information to people. [Interruption.] What was that? We will take that up offline. I welcome his interest and will continue to work with him on it.
Joe Powell (Kensington and Bayswater) (Lab)
Mr Douglas Alexander
The reset, of which we have spoken today, is fundamentally about turning the page and reinvigorating our alliance with our friends, neighbours and partners in the European Union. As well as securing a broad-based security pact and tackling barriers to trade, we aim to build stronger and wider co-operation in a whole range of areas including foreign and defence policy, irregular migration, law enforcement and judicial co-operation, while promoting climate, energy and economic security.
Sir Iain Duncan Smith (Chingford and Woodford Green) (Con)
I ask this question on the basis that I am sanctioned by the Chinese Government for having raised the evidence of genocide and slave labour in Xinjiang. We know that the vast majority of polysilicon is now produced in Xinjiang using slave labour. Will the Secretary of State give the undertaking that, as required under section 54(11) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, there will be no use of any solar arrays that have polysilicon in them made under slave labour in Xinjiang?
Jonathan Reynolds
I give the right hon. Gentleman an absolute assurance that I would expect and demand there to be no modern slavery in any part of a supply chain that affects products or goods sold in the UK. He is right to say that under the Modern Slavery Act, which was put in place by a previous Conservative Government, any business with a turnover above £36 million needs to have a reporting regime around that. I promise him that, where there are specific allegations, I will look at those to ensure that. It is an area where we have existing legislation, and indeed we would go further if that was required.
Paul Waugh (Rochdale) (Lab/Co-op)
Jonathan Reynolds
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that question. I meet businesses every day, and my most recent engagement was the breakfast we did on our plans to make work pay, where businesses themselves were pointing out the things they are doing because they value and care for their workforce and will invest in them. The issue in Rochdale he refers to is close to my heart as a Member of Parliament from just down the road in Tameside. I will of course have that meeting with him and continue to work closely with him to deliver on his objectives.
Sammy Wilson (East Antrim) (DUP)
As part of the Government’s net zero strategy, car manufacturers are expected to produce 22% of their cars as electric vehicles and face a £15,000 penalty for every car by which they fall short of that. The target is expected to be missed by 100,000 cars this year because of consumer resistance. The effect on the car industry is that producers are restricting supplies of petrol cars to retailers, and some are threatening to pull out of the UK market altogether. In the light of consumer resistance, will the Secretary of State look again at the target set, since consumers are clearly not going to be forced to purchase cars they do not want, and producers will be forced to try to get rid of cars they cannot sell?
Jonathan Reynolds
I am grateful to the right hon. Member for that question. The policy to which he refers—the zero emission vehicle mandate—and its penalties as we ramp up to the phasing out of petrol and diesel vehicles is actually a Department for Transport policy of the previous Government. We supported it, because there is no point in having an objective to phase out petrol and diesel vehicles without a corresponding ramping up of regulation to do that.
There is an issue with consumer demand, which affects all of Europe. We are working closely on that. Under the policies of the last Government, there are flexibilities—things that can be transferred from one financial year to the next. We keep everything under close review, but we are committed to the transition. That is essential to industry and consumer confidence and making sure that that happens. Every country in the world has similar policies. This is an ongoing transition, and we are absolutely going to make it work for British industry.
Dan Carden (Liverpool Walton) (Lab)
Jonathan Reynolds
I thank my hon. Friend for his question and for hosting me when I visited after the riots. I extend all my sympathies to the businesses affected. There is no excuse under any circumstances for looting shops, or in this case burning down a library. I was very much affected by my visit. He knows that we work very much in collaboration with the Association of British Insurers to ensure that claims are processed quickly. By now, I hope that businesses are aware that if they are underinsured or uninsured, help is still available to them under the Riot Compensation Act 2016, the details of which are on the gov.uk website.
Munira Wilson (Twickenham) (LD)
One Air is a small and growing cargo airline based in my constituency, which is having to deal with huge amounts of additional red tape and costs as a result of the Brexit deal and the end of reciprocal arrangements with the EU. Can the Secretary of State give an assurance that, when Ministers negotiate mutual recognition of professional qualifications, the aviation sector will be included?
Jonathan Reynolds
I can give the hon. Lady that reassurance. The aviation sector often complains about the lack of recognition, particularly relating to pilots. There is mutual interest in this area, and it could be a solid basis for negotiation. We can never promise the outcome of negotiations, but I can promise her that it is a priority for us.
Chris Vince (Harlow) (Lab/Co-op)
I welcome my right hon. Friend to his place. Before the election I met fruit growers in Nazeing and more recently farmers in Hatfield Broad Oak, both in my constituency, who raised concerns about hiring seasonal workers caused by Britain’s exit from the EU. What can his Department do to address that issue?
Jonathan Reynolds
I recognise the point that my hon. Friend raises. Our reforms to zero-hours contracts will not affect seasonal labour—we recognise that it is an important part of the labour market. Additional burdens have been placed on businesses because of Brexit, as he outlined. We do not want to relitigate the arguments of the past, but we believe that we can make tangible improvements for businesses in his area and for everyone.
Antonia Bance (Tipton and Wednesbury) (Lab)
My right hon. Friend will be aware of the disgraceful union-busting tactics and intimidation employed by Amazon against GMB members seeking union recognition at the Amazon warehouse in Coventry. Despite more than 1,000 votes in favour, union recognition was lost by just 28 votes. What steps is he taking to ensure that workers, such as the brave and determined GMB activists at Amazon, can more easily win union recognition?
Justin Madders
I draw the House’s attention to my proud membership of the GMB trade union. We believe that businesses work best when they give workers a voice through a recognised trade union. I would be very interested to hear more about what has happened at the Amazon warehouse in Coventry. The Government will look closely at that as part of our plan to make work pay. We will simplify the process and laws around statutory recognition.
Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)
Last weekend, hundreds of thousands of Oasis fans were left angered by the notion of dynamic pricing—a concern that we are seeing across the wider economy. Does the Minister agree that we need an urgent review of such price gouging systems?
Justin Madders
That certainly took the nation’s interest in more than one way. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has already announced a review into it, and we will look at secondary pricing. The whole system needs urgent reconsideration, and we understand that the Competition and Markets Authority is looking into the matter, too.
Liam Byrne (Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North) (Lab)
What thought has the Secretary of State given to attending the Williams inquiry? The Post Office scandal is unfinished business. It is now vital that we not only learn the lessons, but accelerate redress for the innocent and, crucially, punish the guilty fast.
Jonathan Reynolds
I am very grateful to my right hon. Friend for that question. As a new Secretary of State, the inquiry and the whole issue has affected deeply how I believe accountability and power should be considered in the roles we have as Ministers. It comes on the back of what we heard about Grenfell yesterday, and what we have heard about Bloody Sunday and Hillsborough. I believe that, although this is essentially a legacy issue, it is exactly the agenda that we have on coming into these jobs. The future of the Post Office must be linked to the inquiry not just in terms of redress, but in how the business model works better for sub-postmasters. I do not believe that this has been put into the public domain yet, but I have received a request to attend the inquiry. I will, of course, do so, and believe it is an essential way to put across what we will take from that inquiry and our plans for long-term reform in the future.
UK Steel Manufacturing
(3 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.
Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
Martin Vickers (Brigg and Immingham) (Con)
(Urgent Question): To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade to make a statement on the future of steel manufacturing in the UK.
The Minister for Industry (Sarah Jones)
The inheritance the Government received from the Conservative party was nothing short of a disgrace on steel: over a decade of lurching from crisis to crisis, with no clear plan to safeguard the future of a competitive domestic steel industry. This Government are determined to change that. We have been working hard over the summer to set a clear forward direction on steel and resolve a number of complex issues that were only made worse by the indifference of the last Government.
Steel has been one of my Department’s priorities since our first day in office. We are standing by our commitment to spend £2.5 billion to rebuild the steel industry. That is in addition to the £500 million for Tata Steel. The funding will harness public and private investment to secure jobs and boost growth. We will take action to improve the wider business environment for the sector, including reducing energy bills and enabling more green UK-made steel to be used in our infrastructure projects. The Government are clear, as the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, my right hon. Friend the Member for Stalybridge and Hyde (Jonathan Reynolds) has made very clear, that decarbonisation must not mean de-industrialisation.
Discussions regarding the transformation of Port Talbot have continued at pace over recent weeks, involving the company, the workforce and the Welsh Government. We are also in ongoing talks with British Steel in a similar vein.
More widely, in our first days in office we hosted steel union leaders to join us around the table and discuss our shared commitment to achieving a sustainable, profitable UK steel industry. The Secretary of State and I also met regularly with key industry stakeholders.
We know that this is not easy, but we are determined to create a brighter future for steel than the one we inherited.
Martin Vickers
I thank Mr Speaker for granting the urgent question. I will ignore the Minister’s political comments and focus on what is more important: the future of thousands of workers, in particular at the Scunthorpe works, part of which falls within my Brigg and Immingham constituency and where many hundreds of my constituents work.
There have been widespread media reports suggesting that coke will stop being imported from October, which would mean production would stop in Scunthorpe by Christmas. There are rumours concerning the fact that employees will be given notice very soon. That is obviously creating great anxiety among those directly employed by British Steel and those in the supply chain, which in northern Lincolnshire extends to many thousands of people and many businesses.
I accept that much of this is media speculation, but if you and your family are reliant on an income from British Steel or a business that supports the sector, it is a very worrying time. Many people who have worked in the steel industry all their lives, and people who know about the market for steel, have a genuine concern that turning off the blast furnaces would see the end, or at least the beginning of the end, of steel manufacturing, certainly in Scunthorpe and possibly more widely. If we allow Scunthorpe’s furnaces to close, we will become more dependent on world markets, and effectively the best outcome that can be delivered from that is Scunthorpe ending up rolling steel produced in countries across the world, which would leave this nation vulnerable to price and supply volatility. Unions have said that that would be devastating. Charlotte Brumpton-Childs, a GMB national officer, has been quoted as saying:
“Early closure of the blast furnaces at Scunthorpe would be devastating for the community and workforce”
—and so it would.
“Unions have been assured throughout the process that the blast furnace operations would continue throughout the construction of an electric arc furnace. There has been no consultation over an early closure.”
Indeed, when the Minister visited Scunthorpe earlier this year, she said—according to the Scunthorpe Telegraph, so it must be true—that the UK needs to maintain capacity to produce primary steel. Is that the Government’s policy?
Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)
Order. I am sorry, but the hon. Gentleman has exceeded the two minutes allotted to him. I do not know whether he wants to give us one final sentence.
Martin Vickers
I will bring my remarks to a conclusion, if I may, Madam Deputy Speaker, by saying that if the UK is to maintain a domestic steel manufacturing capacity, the Government must accept that there will always be a burden on the taxpayer.
Sarah Jones
I thank the hon. Gentleman for his questions. Let me say a couple of things in response.
First, the hon. Gentleman talked about being political. It is not being political to say that the last Government allowed the steel industry to decline; it is a statement of fact. It is also a statement of fact to say that they left a £22 billion black hole in our finances, and a statement of fact to say that the money they committed to Port Talbot came from the reserves that they had spent three times over. I am ashamed to tell the House that the £500 million was not real money: it was in the reserves that the last Government had spent three times over in the first three months of the year. In contrast, there will be real money for our investment in steel, drawn from the national wealth fund.
Secondly, the hon. Gentleman is, of course, right in his analysis of the concern and unease that people are feeling given the importance of these jobs, and about the worry they must be experiencing as a result of what they are reading. All I can say to him is that we are talking regularly to the trade unions, as he would expect us to, and to British Steel and the local community. I am sure he will understand that I cannot comment on those commercially confidential conversations. He also made a point about virgin steel that we made regularly in opposition. We are looking into how we can secure primary steelmaking in this country through our £2.5 billion investment in UK steel.
Greg Smith (Mid Buckinghamshire) (Con)
Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker.
“British steel is integral to growth and prosperity”.
Those are not my words, but the words of the now Prime Minister less than a year ago.
“The drive for green steel must mean more jobs, not fewer.”
Again, those are not my words, but those of the now Secretary of State less than a year ago. During the election campaign, he said:
“We cannot…lose the ability to make primary steel.”
But now we see, quite clearly, that Labour’s plans for decarbonisation do in fact mean de-industrialisation, and that the drive for green steel will mean fewer jobs, not more. Under the last Labour Government output fell by 47%, and, similarly, the promises that this Government made just weeks ago to steelworkers in Scunthorpe, Port Talbot and Teesside, and across the country, have been broken.
For weeks the Government have allowed rumour and speculation about the future of British Steel to run rife, while thousands of workers question whether they will have jobs by Christmas. Contrary to what the Minister has said, when we were in government we worked to deliver a more sustainable, long-term future for the steel industry across the United Kingdom, including Wales, through our £500 million commitment to building an electric arc furnace in Port Talbot. Now we risk being the only G7 economy without the ability to produce virgin steel.
I ask the Minister the following questions. Has British Steel indicated to the Government that it will halt its import of coking coal later this year? If so, when did the Government become aware of that? Are they committed to seeing electric arc furnaces in Scunthorpe? What discussions has she had with the owners of British Steel about the possibility that it will switch to foreign imports from China to fulfil its supply chain obligations here in the United Kingdom? What meetings has she had with stakeholders, including Ben Houchen and the Welsh Government, regarding the impact of future announcements on other steelworks across the United Kingdom, including on primary steel production? Communities and supply chains across the United Kingdom need certainty from this Government.
Sarah Jones
It is hard to know where to begin in responding to that. The previous Government allowed steel to run down. The previous Government did not believe in an industrial strategy. The previous Government did not believe in boosting our supply chains. The previous Government did not understand the importance of the steel industry to our national security and the communities we serve across the country. This Government do understand the importance of steel: that is why we are committing £2.5 billion from the national wealth fund, on top of the £500 million set aside for Port Talbot, and we will develop a strategy that enables the steel industry to grow.
The shadow Minister knows that I cannot comment on commercial and confidential conversations that we are having. I can reassure him, however, that we are talking regularly with British Steel, that we are talking regularly with Tata, that we are in deep negotiations with them, that we are talking with the local community, that we are involved with the trade unions—something that the previous Government did not believe in but suddenly seem to think important—and that we will get the best deal for workers and for the steel industry.
It is a shame that we were not in government five years ago, because we are where we are with some of these conversations. The way the previous Government approached industry was to wait for things to get so dire that they had to spend millions of pounds of public money trying to booster something, whereas our approach is to build the industry up and put the right levers in place, and we will see success that way.
Liam Byrne (Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North) (Lab)
President Biden has just vetoed the foreign acquisition of US Steel, because he understands that it is vital to have sovereign capability in ensuring the manufacture of virgin steel. The reality is that at the end of the last Parliament we were unable to establish clarity around that objective from the last Government. Can the Minister tell the House today whether it is the policy of this Government to seek to ensure that this country carries on with its ability to make virgin steel?
Sarah Jones
I thank my right hon. Friend for his important question. We believe very firmly that a successful steel industry is critical to a vibrant and secure future. Crude steel production in the UK has declined by over 40% since 2010; that is a great shame, and we will be trying to reverse it. Virgin steel is incredibly important, which is why we have the £2.5 billion fund. We are looking at direct reduced iron production and other possibilities for the UK. We are working on it at pace, and I am happy to talk further about our thoughts.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)
I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.
Sarah Olney (Richmond Park) (LD)
The steel industry has been left in a mess after years of mismanagement. The abandonment of the industrial strategy by the previous Government has been a disaster right across our economy, but nowhere more so than in strategic heavy industries such as steel, which face many complex and interconnected challenges. We can all agree on the vital importance of steel production, whether that is in terms of national security or of providing the materials that we need for a green economy. It is equally clear that the steel industry needs to be supported to move towards greener methods of production and a more sustainable footing, while ensuring that jobs are protected.
The sector desperately needs the certainty of a new industrial strategy. Can the Minister give a clear timeline for exactly when we will see that industrial strategy? Can she confirm that when the Industrial Strategy Council is rebooted, it will be placed on a statutory footing through legislation so that it is properly empowered to support our industries in the long term?
Sarah Jones
I thank the hon. Lady for a very sensible and thoughtful list of questions. We will be putting the Industrial Strategy Council on a statutory footing, which is important. The points she makes about decarbonisation and support for the industry are really important. The previous Government supported the aims of dealing with the climate crisis and the need for decarbonisation, but they did not put in place any strategy to help anybody do anything on that front. We need a proper industrial strategy and, alongside that, a proper industrial decarbonisation strategy. How will our heavy industries decarbonise in a way that does not de-industrialise and does not mean that they shut up shop and go elsewhere? How will we make sure that we enable all these industries to thrive? The hon. Lady is right to say that it is not just about the steel industry. We are looking at a much broader range of industries by sector and by geography, to work out the best way to get this done in a way that protects jobs and protects our industry.
Bill Esterson (Sefton Central) (Lab)
Steel is a strategically important industry for this country, as my hon. Friend has made very clear, and I welcome her commitment that decarbonisation must not mean de-industrialisation. We must avoid the mistakes of the past. One of the mistakes made by the previous Government was the delay in developing grid capacity and grid connections. How are this Government working with British Steel and Port Talbot to make sure that the grid capacity and connections are in place to enable electric arc furnace production to be started as soon as possible?
Sarah Jones
My hon. Friend has hit the nail on the head, as I would expect him to. We face many challenges, but the grid is at the heart and soul of so many of them. When we met industry representatives in opposition, it was top of the list for everybody, and my hon. Friend knows that many companies are saying to us, “We’ve been told we can’t get a grid connection until the late 2030s.” This issue is a priority for us, and we are tackling it and working at pace. We have a whole range of policies to speed up the grid connections, to prioritise what we deal with first, and to work with the companies involved to make sure that we are going at pace. Steel is incredibly crucial, particularly in Scunthorpe, and we have to get it right.
Sir Gavin Williamson (Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge) (Con)
In order for most plants in the United Kingdom to make virgin steel, they need to be able to bring in coking coal. The Labour Government’s policy is to ban bringing in coking coal, which means that thousands of jobs will be lost. What is the Minister going to do to reverse that decision so that jobs can be saved?
Sarah Jones
I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his question. As I said, we are looking at DRI and other ways of making virgin steel that mean we can both—[Interruption.] I am happy to have further conversations with the shadow Minister, rather than shout across the House at each other. I am happy to have conversations about how we can make sure that we both retain virgin steel production and adhere to our climate commitments.
Torsten Bell (Swansea West) (Lab)
The steel industry is a cornerstone of the south Wales economy as a whole, and the Minister will know that there is concern right across the Swansea bay communities about these developments, and I am visiting the plant in Port Talbot tomorrow to hear more about them. Will the Minister give us reassurance that the hard work she is doing will continue to be hand in glove with the Welsh Government and local councils? They are working day in, day out to make sure that there is a future for the steel industry and all these communities.
Sarah Jones
I thank my hon. Friend and welcome him to his place. I can absolutely reassure him that we are working hand in glove with the Welsh Government and local leaders. I have talked to the Welsh Secretary, as has the Secretary of State, who is not able to stay for the whole of this UQ, because he has a meeting about steel. That is how important this issue is to us, and we will make sure that we keep those working relationships. I welcome conversations with my hon. Friend and will meet any other local people whom he thinks we should be meeting.
Sammy Wilson (East Antrim) (DUP)
I have some sympathy with the Minister’s comments about the last Government’s record. Of course, under previous Conservative Governments, tens of thousands of jobs were lost in aluminium, oil refining and steel as a result of the obsession with decarbonisation and net zero. Unfortunately, I do not think we will see a different approach from this Government.
The Minister promises an industrial strategy, but can she assure us that there will be provision for steel to have a supply of coking coal produced in this country and that damaging and expensive decarbonisation requirements will not further detriment the steel industry?
Sarah Jones
I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his question. Of course, if we do not take measures to decarbonise and tackle the climate crisis, the costs to this country will be infinitely higher. This is not a choice. [Interruption.] The hon. Member for Orpington (Gareth Bacon) disagrees, but we need to make sure we can decarbonise in a way that supports our industry to make that transition, which is exactly what we are doing.
The point of an industrial strategy is to lay out a plan so that the industry gets the support it needs, so that investors understand the plan and so that, by working together, we can make sure we decarbonise. The Government are supporting that where we can and pulling the levers we can. We are supporting the industry to do the opposite of what happened under the previous Government, which is grow.
Sarah Champion (Rotherham) (Lab)
It is a real pleasure to see you in the Chair, Madam Deputy Speaker. I thank the hon. Member for Brigg and Immingham (Martin Vickers) for securing this important urgent question.
Rotherham has a proud history of steelmaking, but I have been fighting against Governments for the last 12 years for it to have a proud future. Will the Minister commit to addressing the underlying issues, to making sure all Government procurement goes to British steel- makers, and to addressing the punitive business rates and high energy costs that are hampering our development?
Sarah Jones
I thank my hon. Friend for making those important points. Our energy-intensive industries are hammered by energy costs, which are at the heart of this. Although the previous Government provided relief, we need a longer-term solution. We need to bring down those energy costs. That is why we are pushing for clean energy by 2030, which will be cheaper, and why we want to produce more energy in this country so that we are not reliant on Putin or affected by international events.
I have talked about business rates, and my hon. Friend is absolutely right that we need to look at that. Government procurement is very important, so we are looking at our supply chains and all the levers of Government to see what we can do proactively to make sure that, where we can, we are making, building and using in the UK.
Nick Timothy (West Suffolk) (Con)
I do not think the Minister answered the question asked by the right hon. Member for Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North (Liam Byrne), so let me repeat it. Do the Government consider the manufacture of primary steel to be a strategic domestic industry that must be protected, yes or no?
Sarah Jones
Well, the previous Government did not. We have a £2.5 billion fund and, as I said, we are looking at DRI to make virgin iron. To be clear, we are having to deal with a mess that we inherited. Virgin steel is important, and that is what we are looking at. I am not going to say to the hon. Gentleman right now that this is what we are spending our £2.5 billion investment on, because this is being worked on at pace. We will come back to the House as soon as we have something to announce.
Derek Twigg (Widnes and Halewood) (Lab)
The defence industry manufacturing base is, of course, vital to this country, not least in the engineering jobs it provides. We know that steel is crucial to building armoured vehicles and ships, for instance. It is very important that we have a regular and guaranteed supply of steel, and we want to see more UK steel used in defence manufacturing.
Sarah Jones
I completely agree with my hon. Friend, who has much expertise in this area. The Department is working closely with the Ministry of Defence and the Secretary of State for Defence to make sure we are maintaining our defence. We are building as much as we can in the UK, with as many contracts in the UK as we can. We are using the power of Government to deliver that.
Richard Tice (Boston and Skegness) (Reform)
The hypocrisy of this debate is utterly extraordinary. Everybody agrees that steel is of strategic national importance, yet the obsession with net zero of both main parties, led by the Conservatives, is leading to the removal of our blast furnaces by both British Steel and Tata. That obsession is killing our steel industry and steel jobs, and leading to our inability to produce primary steel. Over 75% of all new steel generating capacity in the world is in Asia, and over 90% of that is produced in blast furnaces. Our obsession with net zero—
Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)
Order. I am sure that the hon. Member is coming to his question.
Richard Tice
Given the obsession with net zero, will the Minister guarantee that if Tata is subsidised with more than £500 million to produce new electric arc furnaces, the money will be linked to the construction as opposed to Tata taking the money early and then not building the furnaces?
Sarah Jones
The hon. Gentleman talks about our obsession with decarbonisation and producing green steel, but we also have to go with the market. The market and big companies are now saying to us, “We want to buy green steel”. That is what they are demanding and what we will produce. If we do not, we will not be selling it on the same basis. We will use the money we are investing through the national wealth fund to develop a steel strategy that will enable us to bring new entrants into the UK, which the previous Government did not try to do, so that we can have a vibrant, competitive steel economy in the UK and create good, highly paid jobs in the green industries of the future. If we fall behind, others will come before us and take our jobs.
Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)
Everyone agrees that steel is a crucial strategic foundational industry for this country, but it suffers from very narrow margins. It is one of the least profitable sectors of all. In this country, we suffer from a real cost disadvantage because of energy prices. Other countries, such as France and Germany, have much lower energy costs. They have a lot of nuclear, which meets net zero requirements. Does the Minister agree that underlines the importance of why this country urgently needs an energy strategy?
Sarah Jones
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We need to ensure we are producing cheap, clean energy in this country. As he rightly says, that means nuclear, as well as solar, wind, offshore wind and everything else in our armoury. This Government have been unbelievably proactive, with the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero ending the ban on onshore wind and agreeing to some of the solar panel installations we need. We had an enormously successful contracts for difference round that will allow floating offshore wind and other types of energy, and we are talking in detail about where we will take nuclear. Together, all those things mean that the country will have lower energy costs, that we can be more competitive and that our industry can thrive.
Mr Richard Holden (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)
The Minister was asked a question by the right hon. Member for Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North (Liam Byrne), which was repeated by my hon. Friend the Member for West Suffolk (Nick Timothy), about whether this Government will commit to virgin steel making in the UK. At the third time of asking, will she commit to what the Secretary of State committed to before the general election?
Sarah Jones
I welcome the right hon. Member for Croydon South (Chris Philp) to his place.
As I have made clear, we have been landed with an inheritance in which steel has declined by 40% and we are in very late-stage negotiations in Scunthorpe and Port Talbot. We are dealing with the consequences of that, which the previous Government failed to do. We will be putting a £2.5 billion investment into steel, and we are working at pace looking at DRI, which produces virgin steel, and at other options. We are looking at how we can introduce competition and new entrants into the market. We will work a lot faster and harder than the previous Government, and we will ensure that the steel industry thrives.
Chris McDonald (Stockton North) (Lab)
The global steel industry is investing many billions of pounds in new green technology that is more productive than current steel technology. Does my hon. Friend agree that our plan for steel will allow us to attract that private sector investment here, in great contrast to the previous Government’s policy that saw our steel industry decline to a size smaller than that of Belgium?
Sarah Jones
My hon. Friend, who is an expert in this area and with whom I have talked many times, will know that I agree with him. We need to introduce new entrants into the market, to stimulate the market and to encourage competition. The previous Government had a hands-off approach until an industry was about to collapse, and then they suddenly had to intervene with hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money. That was completely the wrong approach. As it turns out, the hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money that the Government put aside for Port Talbot came out of their reserves, which they spent three times over and was not real money. This will be real money. We will develop a proper steel strategy, and I very much look forward to working with my hon. Friend on devising it.
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)
I thank the Minister for her answers. Whether we like it or not, we have to deal with the reality before us. She may be aware that KME Steelworks in Lisburn has reduced costs and its carbon footprint by introducing a new, on-site nitrogen generation system. What financial aid is available to other companies to help to meet their environmental goals when they are facing costs like never before and there is pressure on the industry?
Sarah Jones
I thank the hon. Member for that question. We need to be technology agnostic and look at what the new industries, the new developments and the new research are telling us. We are doing that, which means some companies taking risks, with the Government needing to intervene when we see a new market in need of support. We will have that approach in Government. We are technology agnostic—we need to look at what will work, what will make our country thrive, and also what other countries are doing.
Joe Morris (Hexham) (Lab)
The previous Government’s plan for steel was to pay half a billion pounds to Tata Steel to not make any steel for years, while placing thousands of highly paid and highly skilled workers at risk of redundancy with no guarantee of jobs in the future. Can the Minister reassure me that she is taking steps to secure the future of our strategic industries?
Sarah Jones
I thank my hon. Friend for that question. Steel is an incredibly important strategic industry for the UK and it will be saved under this Government from the decline that we saw under the previous Government. The £2.5 billion that we are investing alongside the £500 million for Port Talbot will ensure that our industry thrives. We are working closely with industry, the unions and local communities, and we will work with our regional metro mayors and others, to make sure that we have the right industries in the right places and that we see success where previously we have seen decline.
Business of the House
(3 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Chris Philp (Croydon South) (Con)
May I take this opportunity, Madam Deputy Speaker, to congratulate you on your elevation to the Chair and to welcome you to your place?
Will the Leader of the House give us the business for next week?
The Leader of the House of Commons (Lucy Powell)
The business for the week commencing 9 September is as follows:
Monday 9 September—Consideration of a motion to approve the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations 2024, followed by consideration of a motion to approve the Syria (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2024, followed by consideration of a motion to approve the draft Renewable Transport Fuel Obligations (Sustainable Aviation Fuel) Order 2024, followed by consideration of a motion to approve the draft Human Medicines (Amendments Relating to Naloxone and Transfers of Functions) Regulations 2024.
Tuesday 10 September—Debate on a motion relating to the Social Fund Winter Fuel Payment Regulations 2024, followed by Opposition day (1st allotted day, first half). Debate on a motion in the name of the official Opposition—subject to be announced.
Wednesday 11 September—General debate on building safety and resilience.
Thursday 12 September—General debate on matters to be raised before the forthcoming Adjournment.
The House will rise for the conference recess at the conclusion of business on Thursday 12 September and return on Monday 7 October.
Members may also wish to know that, subject to the progress of business, the House will rise for the short November recess at the close of business on Wednesday 6 November and return on Monday 11 November; rise for the Christmas recess at the close of business on Thursday 19 December and return on Monday 6 January 2025; rise for the February recess at the close of business on Thursday 13 February and return on Monday 24 February; rise for the Easter recess at the close of business on Tuesday 8 April and return on Tuesday 22 April; rise for the early May bank holiday at the close of business on Thursday 1 May and return on Tuesday 6 May; rise for the Whitsun recess at the close of business on Thursday 22 May and return on Monday 2 June; and rise for the summer recess at the close of business on Tuesday 22 July.
Chris Philp
A warm welcome back to everyone following the summer recess. I thank the Leader of the House for setting out those recess dates. That will make her popular with everybody across the House. She has just saved me from booking a flight that I would have had to cancel, so I am personally very grateful to her.
I also thank the Leader of the House for confirming a debate on building safety. I know that the whole House sends our heartfelt sympathy to the victims of the Grenfell disaster and their families. I have personally heard harrowing testimony directly from survivors who lost loved ones. What they experienced was truly horrific. We must ensure that it never happens again, and that those responsible, including the cladding manufacturers who lied and covered up evidence, suffer the consequences, including criminal sanctions. Governments must never again ignore safety warnings, as happened over a period of decades.
Like many MPs, I have been contacted by constituents —[Interruption.] The hon. Member for Blyth and Ashington (Ian Lavery) is clearly being contacted by constituents as we speak. My constituents are desperate with worry about Labour’s planned removal of the winter fuel payment from almost all pensioners. I am glad that there will a debate and a vote on that next Tuesday. Labour Back Benchers may be less glad at the prospect of being whipped to vote to remove winter fuel payments from pensioners on less than half the minimum wage. Under the proposals, 84% of pensioners in poverty will lose the winter fuel payment. Is that Labour Members’ idea of a Government of service—leaving pensioners in poverty shivering at wintertime?
Yesterday, the Prime Minister refused to explain why he is choosing to fund huge pay rises for train drivers and other state sector workers while slashing benefits for impoverished pensioners. That is not the kind of change that Labour voters thought they would get from a Labour Government, is it? The Prime Minister also refused to say yesterday how much less energy support an 80-year-old on just £13,000 a year would receive this winter, compared with last. Perhaps he does not know the answer. Perhaps he does not care. Will the Leader of the House confirm that the answer is that an 80-year-old on £13,000 a year will receive £600 less energy support this year?
One pensioner wrote to me saying:
“the allowance meant I could turn the heating on. Now I fear hypothermia during the coming winter months”.
No wonder the public oppose this policy by a margin of two to one. Several Labour Members agree, and have already signed a motion condemning it and will, presumably, vote against it. I hope that all decent Labour MPs do the same, but will the Leader of the House confirm whether, if they do, they will lose the Whip, like their rebellious colleagues last July? At this rate, it will not just be pensioners’ heating gone by Christmas; it will be Labour’s majority as well.
I call on the Leader of the House to arrange a debate on ethics and integrity in the Government. The independent civil service commissioner—a former Labour MP—has had to initiate an inquiry into improper appointments by this Government. A “Government of service”? It turns out they mean service to their cronies and donors. It is just wrong to stuff party donors and cronies into what are supposed to be impartial civil service positions. Can Members imagine the howls of protest if the previous Government had done that? [Laughter.] To the civil service? No. The Times reports that the Chancellor did not disclose to her permanent secretary the fact that she had appointed a Labour party donor to a senior civil service position, which would be a breach of the ministerial code. Will the Leader of the House tell us whether The Times report is true?
We have even seen a Labour party donor, Lord Alli, receive a Downing Street pass for no apparent reason—other than being a donor, of course. Who gave him that pass? Was it the Prime Minister, whose clothes Lord Alli apparently pays for? That is extraordinary. Has anyone else here had a donor pay for their clothes? I certainly have not. Or maybe Sue Gray issued the pass, perhaps forgetting to declare that Lord Alli also contributed to her son’s election campaign.
Will the Government now come clean and disclose all the politically affiliated appointments that they have made to the civil service? Will they confirm whether the conflicts were disclosed, as required by the ministerial code? Will they provide a list of all passes to Government buildings issued to anyone other than Ministers, civil servants and special advisers? I strongly suspect that this self-proclaimed Government of service will not admit to any of those things, so later today I will write to the adviser on ministerial interests and the civil service commissioner, asking that they investigate independently these important questions.
A lot has happened this summer—a lot has gone down, as they say—but the main thing that has gone down is the Government’s approval ratings. Just last week, More in Common found that the Prime Minister’s approval ratings have plummeted by 27 percentage points in a matter of a few weeks, plumbing a new low of minus 16%. It turns out that parading around in £16,000-worth of expensive suits paid for by Lord Alli, subverting civil service independence by stuffing the service with cronies and donors, and stripping impoverished pensioners of their benefits is not that popular. Even the Leader of the House will now have to admit the truth: this has been an exceptionally poor start to government.
Lucy Powell
I, too, welcome everybody back for the new term. I knew that my announcing the recess dates would be the big news of this morning. I am pleased to be able to help everybody with their family and holiday arrangements.
I thank the House staff who have worked away to ensure that many new colleagues now have their own office in this place; I congratulate our Olympic and Paralympic athletes, who have done our country proud in this golden summer of sport; and I thank the police and the criminal justice system for how quickly they curtailed the thuggery and needless rioting in some of our towns and cities over the summer.
I welcome the publication of the second report of the Grenfell inquiry. The findings are devastating—particularly the statement that the deaths of the 72 victims were completely preventable. Now, justice and accountability will follow. The report raises some profound challenges for building safety regulations and recourse for residents and lease- holders—something with which I am very familiar in my constituency. We have made time for a first debate on building safety next week, and further time will be made available. The Government will come to Parliament with their full response and action plan in due course.
We have had a big first week back, delivering on our packed legislative agenda for change. We have taken our first steps to bring our railways into public ownership and enhance fiscal responsibility—the bedrock of economic stability—to ensure that the Truss mini-Budget can never happen again; the Second Reading of the Great British Energy Bill begins the drive to lower bills and increase energy independence; and today we introduce the Water (Special Measures) Bill to clean up our waterways and make water companies accountable, and the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill will begin to honour our commitment to constitutional reform. This is a Government of service, delivering on our manifesto.
As part of the change that people voted for, we have had to clean up the mess left to us by the Conservatives and take the difficult decisions that they ducked. We have a £22 billion black hole that was covered up from the British people and from the spending watchdog. We have full prisons, and that clogs up the criminal justice system. Thankfully, we had already begun to act before we had to take swift action to lock up rioters and thugs over the summer. On the previous Government’s watch, there was an asylum overspend of nearly £7 billion, shoplifting was effectively decriminalised, crippling strikes cost the country dear, and unresolved pay awards sat on Ministers’ desks.
The right hon. Gentleman might want to give us a lecture, but only two years ago, we saw what happens when massive, unfunded spending commitments are made against the advice of Treasury experts and in the face of what is best for our financial institutions: the markets lose all confidence, the price of Government borrowing soars, interest rates hike and inflation gets out of control. That was two years ago under Liz Truss, whom the right hon. Gentleman backed for leader. Nothing damages the real incomes of ordinary people, including pensioners, more than an economy crashing—a crash caused by his Government’s recklessness. Has he learned nothing? That was his party’s approach, but this Government will fix the foundations and restore economic stability.
The legacy that the Conservatives have left us means that we have had to make some really difficult decisions—decisions that we did not want to make, like means-testing the winter fuel payment—but we are doing all we can to support pensioners this winter. We are protecting the triple lock, which means that the state pension will go up by £900 this year—it is likely to rise by several hundred pounds next year—and the warm home discount, which is worth £150. We are also extending the household support fund and have a huge campaign to get eligible pensioners on to pension credit. Yes, we have scheduled a vote on the winter fuel payment next week, because we are not afraid to have the debate about how we got to where we are. That vote would not have happened under the Conservative party, but we respect Parliament and doing things properly.
The right hon. Gentleman talks about the pay awards for our hard-working public servants. Those pay awards were sat on the desks of Conservative Ministers, who knew that they would be honoured, but did not allocate the funds for that. Frankly, we will take no lessons on cleaning up politics from the Conservative party—the party that partied in Downing Street while the rest of the country was locked down. He knows that we all strive to get the best talent into Government, which is why there is a policy of “exception” appointments. Of the 80,000 appointments to the civil service under the previous Government, does he know how many were made under that regime? It was 9,000. We had a series of by-elections in the last Parliament because of members of his party. I refer him to Hansard to read a speech I gave that included a list of all the reasons for those by-elections; it makes for pretty horrifying reading.
The Conservatives have gone from being the party of government to being the party that gave up on governing. They would have done better to spend the summer reflecting on why they lost so badly, instead of trying to tell us that we have never had it so good. The one poll rating that the right hon. Gentleman should be focusing on is the one that says that the public really do not care who the next leader of the Conservative party is.
Karl Turner (Kingston upon Hull East) (Lab)
I welcome my right hon. Friend to the Dispatch Box and congratulate her on the wonderful job she is doing in government. I am very concerned that Post Office Ltd plans to close the post office counter in Morrisons on Holderness Road in east Hull. Many constituents have contacted me, and a petition on the subject has gathered, I think, 350 signatures in the last two days. Is the Leader of the House prepared to allow a debate on the subject in Government time? This issue affects Members from across the House and across the parties, and most Members would accept that it is about time that Post Office Ltd started to put people before profit.
Lucy Powell
I thank my hon. Friend for that excellent question. I am very familiar with that issue, as Post Office Ltd has also closed the historic Spring Gardens post office in Manchester city centre. I think it would get wide support if he were to apply for an Adjournment debate and, hopefully, get a petitions debate because the future of our Crown post offices is an important matter to the House.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)
I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.
Wera Hobhouse (Bath) (LD)
Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker; it is very good to see you in your place. I thank the Leader of the House for announcing the forthcoming business, and I welcome everybody back to this place following summer recess. May I also associate myself and the Liberal Democrats with everything that has been said this morning about the Grenfell tragedy?
Energy bills are set to rise again this winter. Following the Government’s announcement that they will means-test winter fuel payments, Age UK has estimated that 2 million pensioners will struggle to pay their bills. Many pensioners in Bath are worried sick that they will not be able to heat their homes this winter. Many of them are included in the 1 million pensioners who will just miss out. We Liberal Democrats acknowledge and recognise that the last Conservative Government left the country’s finances in a mess, but pensioners should not be paying the price for the Conservatives’ incompetence. Politics is about choices. Pushing those cuts through when measures to mitigate their impact will come in only in April 2025 is just not the right way to go about it.
I have heard from two constituents who live in a housing association flat in a listed Georgian building with poor insulation. They get no support with their bills and have no means of insulating their home. Insulating homes and pension rises must come before we cut the winter fuel allowance. I hope that the Government will listen to our side of the argument. In the light of the Government’s plans to take the support away, will the Minister of State make a statement about the pace of home insulation measures, which would make a long-term difference in reducing bills? As I say, the winter fuel allowance should not be put away before we have measures to mitigate the impact.
Lucy Powell
I welcome the hon. Lady back to this place and thank her for her thoughtful comments. She is aware, I am sure, of the woeful inheritance that we have been trying to deal with. This is not a situation that we wanted to find ourselves in. It means that we have had to take some difficult decisions, including on means-testing the winter fuel payment this winter. I hear what she says, but the protection of the triple lock, to which the Government are committed, means that this year the state pension is worth £900 more than last year, and it is set to rise further in subsequent years. That will raise the value of the state pension over the course of this Parliament, not just in cash terms but in real terms.
We are bringing in the warm homes discount for the 3 million most vulnerable properties, and extending the household support fund. We have had a huge campaign this week to get all eligible pensioners on to pension credit—that is something that we want to do. The hon. Lady is right to say that, in the end, we must reduce the demand on people of their bills. That is why we have ambitious home insulation plans, and I am sure that the Secretary of State will come to the House to talk about them. We are roaring ahead with our plans for energy independence in order to make us a clean-energy super- power free from the global markets in gas and fossil fuels, which will keep people’s bills lower for longer. That is all part of our plans.
Madam Deputy Speaker
Before I call anyone else, Members will be aware that over 50 people want to ask a question, so please keep questions short. I call Jo White.
Jo White (Bassetlaw) (Lab)
Like my right hon. Friend, my constituent spent hours on Saturday queuing to purchase Oasis tickets. He got two at the hyper-inflated price of £800, tickets that were originally on sale for £150 each. Lengthy queuing puts people under significant pressure to purchase tickets and potentially make rash financial decisions that they may later regret. The insurance industry is required to provide a 14-day cool-off period to give people space for reflection. Will the Minister consider widening the forthcoming consumer protection Bill to include such a clause dealing with dynamic pricing ticket sales?
Lucy Powell
I know that my hon. Friend speaks for many millions, myself included, who over the weekend shared the experience of spending hours in a queue—a very British thing that we like to do—only to find that the tickets we were able to get came at a hugely inflated price. I am pleased that Oasis have now announced further dates, and that there will be a non-queuing system and a fixed price for those tickets, but she is absolutely right. This Government are committed to putting fans back at the heart of music, which is why we will have a consultation on secondary ticket pricing and ticket touts this autumn. The Culture Secretary has made it clear that, as part of that consultation, we will look at the issue of technology as it relates to queuing systems and the dynamic ticket pricing that my hon. Friend has talked about.
Dame Caroline Dinenage (Gosport) (Con)
The Leader of the House understands more than most the value of the British film and high-end TV industry to our economy and to jobs. She will know that, in this year’s spring Budget, the previous Government introduced tax credits for UK independent film and tax relief for visual effects costs. I am a bit worried, as is the sector, because the Leader of the House’s party did not support the finance Bill that introduced those measures. Could we have a debate about the new Government’s commitment to our world-leading creative industries, during which they would be able to restate their commitment to those much-needed tax incentives for growth and the timescales for their implementation?
Lucy Powell
I thank the hon. Lady for that excellent question. She has long pursued these issues as the former Chair of the Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport; I know she is standing again for that position, and I wish her good luck in that election, which I think takes place next week. She is absolutely right: the tax credit system, which was introduced by the last Labour Government, has been vital to securing the film industry and other creative industries, the huge talent that we now have, and the support this brings to our economy and the wider creative economy. We have long been committed to those measures, but obviously, any future announcements will be for the Chancellor in the forthcoming Budget.
Jon Trickett (Normanton and Hemsworth) (Lab)
Thank you very much, Madam Deputy Speaker—I did not quite catch you calling me. May I say how delighted I am to see you? You helped me to establish my parliamentary office 20 years ago, and I am so proud to see you in the Chair. I also welcome my great right hon. Friend to her position as Leader of the House.
I am one of many Members who represents mining communities. Miners provided power, light and heat to our country and helped to create our wealth, but they did something else: they created a massive pension fund, which the Conservative party sat on for 14 years. That party allowed it to accumulate and ripped off hundreds of millions of pounds, leaving miners and their widows in poverty on low pensions. As the Leader of the House knows, our manifesto promised justice for the mineworkers’ pension scheme, especially the £1 billion that is in a reserve fund. Can I encourage her to ensure there is an early statement or a debate on this matter? That money would be very well received in miners’ pockets, and those of their widows too.
Lucy Powell
My hon. Friend is a long-standing and powerful advocate for mining communities in his constituency and beyond, and is absolutely right to say that we have a clear manifesto commitment to put this injustice right. I will ensure that the relevant Minister has heard his question and that he gets an appropriate response, and I am sure we will have further announcements in due course.
Sir John Hayes (South Holland and The Deepings) (Con)
It is a delight, Madam Deputy Speaker, to serve under your benevolent stewardship.
The House may know that I am not an advocate of unbridled, anarchic freedom. I know the harm men can do with unfettered free will. Nevertheless, the ability to speak freely is the mark of a civilised, open society, which is why the last Government introduced a higher education Bill in the light of woke tyranny. I am disappointed that the right hon. Lady, who I know is a diligent servant of this House, would allow such legislation to be rescinded, yet the Government have said that that is exactly what they will do. They are going to reverse the advance we made, so will she allow a debate on free speech? For George Orwell, as she may know, said:
“If liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.”
Lucy Powell
I thank the right hon. Gentleman for that question. This Government have been clear that, in support of our world-leading global university sector, we want to end the culture wars that have ensued against our fantastic universities. As the MP for two globally leading universities, I know that that message and change of tone have been widely welcomed in the sector. I am sure that, at Education questions next week, he may want to raise the issue of the Bill.
Tonia Antoniazzi (Gower) (Lab)
My constituent’s daughter Lily Lucas died two years ago on Monday on Milton ward at Kewstoke hospital. Lily’s death was avoidable. Following the inquest, which ruled that Cygnet breached eight out of nine of the regulations, Kewstoke is not safe and, as evidenced, there was a lack of basic care. I welcome very much that the Secretary of State has made a clear commitment to address the issues regarding mental health provision in England, but can I ask the Leader of the House for a debate in Government time on how private healthcare providers such as Cygnet are held to account in order for our vulnerable young people like Lily to be safe in their care?
Lucy Powell
I thank my hon. Friend for that question. I am really sorry to hear of Lily’s death. She will know that mental health and suicide is one of the biggest challenges facing our young people, and that is why this Government are absolutely committed to supporting mental health provision and to getting it on parity of esteem with physical health provision, with all the extra support that is going into our schools. She raises a really good question about private healthcare providers in this space, and she may want to raise it at Health questions after the conference recess.
Sarah Dyke (Glastonbury and Somerton) (LD)
Tomorrow marks the start of the big river watch, when people are encouraged to take part in a UK and Ireland-wide survey of their local rivers. River pollution and high phosphate levels in rivers such as the Brue and the Parrett, which flow through my constituency of Glastonbury and Somerton on to the Somerset levels and moors sites of special scientific interest, have stopped much-needed house building. So can I ask the Leader of the House if we can have a debate in Government time on the health of our rivers, nutrient neutrality and the impact of river pollution?
Lucy Powell
I thank the hon. Member for that question. I am absolutely delighted to point her to the fact that, with the Water (Special Measures) Bill in the other place, we are introducing today our first step in cleaning up our rivers. It is a groundbreaking Bill that will include criminal sanctions as well as stopping the bonuses we have seen in many of our water companies. I know that a debate on the general topic that she talks about is one the whole House will want to take part in should she apply for such a debate.
Paulette Hamilton (Birmingham Erdington) (Lab)
Hospices provide a crucial role across the UK in supporting people at the end of their lives and alleviating the pressure on our NHS. However, because of the cost of living crisis, costs are rising and fundraising is falling. It is simply not fair that access to hospice care is a postcode lottery in our country and it is high time that the funding model was changed. So will the Leader of the House please grant time to debate this crucial issue?
Lucy Powell
I thank my hon. Friend, who I know has been a doughty campaigner on health issues, issues around hospice funding and other issues over many years, and I thank her for bringing those to this House. The Minister of State for Care has recently met NHS England, and discussions have begun about how to reduce inequalities and variation in access to and quality of palliative care and end-of-life care across England. Funding issues, which I know are very important, will be considered as well and I am sure she would get a great deal of support for a general debate on hospice funding.
Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)
On Monday the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government refused to rule out changes to council tax, and refused to rule out the abolition of the 25% discount for single person occupancy. I understand that this morning she has made announcements on what may happen with the right to buy. Given that that is a major change of policy, and Mr Speaker has always requested that major changes of policy should be announced in this place rather than in the media, will the Leader of the House arrange for the Secretary of State to make a statement on her proposals, so that we can hold her to account on them? While I am on my feet, may I gently remind the Leader of the House that the pre-recess Adjournment debate should be entitled the Sir David Amess pre-recess Adjournment debate, as was agreed cross-party?
Lucy Powell
I thank the hon. Gentleman. I am happy to put on record that we are granting the Sir David Amess debate next week, and I will ensure that business is amended to reflect that. As he will know, all Budget matters relating to tax and other issues are announced first to this House in a Budget, and we will be having a Budget on 30 October. I work hard across Government to ensure that big announcements are made first to this House, and that is why we have seen a record number of Government statements since we took office.
Dame Meg Hillier (Hackney South and Shoreditch) (Lab/Co-op)
E-bikes and e-scooters are popular with many people, but in London Fields in my constituency I am working with residents and councillors because some are going very fast, and there are issues of safety and regulation. Will my right hon. Friend grant a debate in Government time on the regulation, safety and enforcement of e-bikes across the country?
Lucy Powell
My hon. Friend raises another important question, which I know has been raised in these sessions and elsewhere on a number of occasions. E-bikes are fast moving—excuse the pun; they are not that fast moving, but these are fast moving issues in the sense that they are new technologies and new vehicles. I am sure that a debate on that issue would be widely supported should she apply for one.
Dr Caroline Johnson (Sleaford and North Hykeham) (Con)
In his 2023 report, the chief medical officer said that cold homes and fuel poverty are directly linked to excess winter deaths. My constituents are worried, and I am concerned that Labour’s policy to restrict the winter fuel allowance will lead to the unnecessary ill health and death of elderly people. Will the Leader of the House arrange for a debate on the specific subject of the effect of Labour’s removal of the winter fuel allowance from elderly people on their health and wellbeing?
Lucy Powell
As the hon. Lady will have heard, we will be having such a debate next Tuesday, and the Government have brought that forward to allow for a debate and a vote on those issues. I gently say that perhaps she might want to talk to colleagues in her party about the woeful inheritance that we found, and the £22 billion black hole not for future years but in this year, which the Office for Budget Responsibility was appalled that it did not know about. That has seen higher borrowing and excess spending, particularly on asylum, and we had to do something to fix those broken foundations in-year to stabilise the economy.
Andrew Pakes (Peterborough) (Lab)
Good public transport, especially buses, is important for so many things in my constituency and the country, from accessing a GP to visiting friends, getting to college and going to work. The Labour and Co-operative Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough has just launched a consultation on taking back control of our buses. Despite public support for better buses, the franchising model and enhanced partnership model is still bureaucratic and difficult for communities to engage with. Will the Leader of the House join me in welcoming our local consultation, and make time in the House for Members to debate further improvements so that communities can take control of our bus services?
Lucy Powell
I thank my hon. Friend for that excellent question. He is right to make the point that the current bus franchising system is incredibly bureaucratic and lengthy. That is why in the King’s Speech we announced a better buses Bill, which will come before the House and will significantly reduce the time and bureaucracy that such things take. I hope that the Peterborough mayor will take time and ensure that that legislation is in place before he embarks on the necessary taking back control of buses in his area.
Mr Lee Dillon (Newbury) (LD)
Since November 2021, the custody suite at Newbury police station has been closed, leading to greater travel times and more time when police are not on the beat. Can the Leader of the House allow Government time for a debate on the provision of custody suites across the UK and the impact of the closures under the last Conservative Government?
Lucy Powell
I thank the hon. Member for raising that important matter. Over the summer, with the acts of thuggery and the disorder that we saw in the riots, we found real problems in our criminal justice system. We have good people doing good work, but a system creaking at the seams. Police custody suites are very much part of that challenge. We will have to do a lot of difficult work to get our criminal justice system fit for purpose so that we can quickly bring people to justice and ensure that those convicted of crimes are kept away from the public.
Jessica Toale (Bournemouth West) (Lab)
May I join my right hon. Friend in congratulating our Team GB Paralympians and Olympians on their success over the summer in Paris? In particular, I congratulate Bryony Page, who trains at Poole gymnastics and trampolining club in my constituency, on her gold medal in the women’s trampolining. All these athletes rely on local clubs, coaches and volunteers along their journey. In the light of Team GB’s success, may I ask for a debate on how we support grassroots sports to develop the next generation of champions?
Lucy Powell
I join my hon. Friend in congratulating Bryony Page. I am sure the whole country remembers that moment, watching the fantastic display she put on for the trampolining gold medal. It is, I think, the first we have ever won. Supporting grassroots sport is a total priority for this Government, and we will continue to do all we can. My hon. Friend might be aware that there was a debate this week in Westminster Hall on some of these issues, but Department for Culture, Media and Sport questions are coming up straight after the conference recess, too.
Ellie Chowns (North Herefordshire) (Green)
Five peaceful climate protesters are serving clearly excessive jail sentences made under the last Government’s profoundly undemocratic Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, with one given five years in jail. That is two years longer than a man who pleaded guilty to violent disorder and assaulting an emergency services worker during the riots in Southport. The United Nations special rapporteur on environmental defenders, Michel Forst, has made clear statements to the effect that the sentences violate the UK’s legal obligations under the Aarhus convention. Will the Leader of the House please make time for Members to discuss the urgent need to repeal this repressive anti-protest law that fundamentally undermines the UK’s obligations under international law?
Lucy Powell
What the hon. Member describes is that in recent years we have seen some actions that go way beyond acceptable protest and that are highly disruptive to local people, to those trying to get hospital, to those in need and to our wider economy. On the technical legal matter that she raises, she might want to know that Justice questions will be next week, and I am sure that the Secretary of State for Justice will be happy to answer her question.
Ian Lavery (Blyth and Ashington) (Lab)
Today, it is two years since the right hon. Liz Truss became the leader of the Conservative party. She became the Prime Minister the following day. What happened over the following 49 days crashed—destroyed—the economy and created misery for many millions of families and businesses in the UK. Can we have a debate in Government time to scrutinise those chaotic, disastrous decisions that caused so much misery to people in our communities, so that no Government in the future will ever make the same mistakes?
Lucy Powell
I could not have put it better. I am sure that many others will want to make such points as the anniversary comes about in the coming couple of weeks, because it is really important that we learn the lessons from that disaster and do not allow history to repeat itself. What happens when the Government of the day make a huge amount of unfunded spending and tax-cutting commitments with no idea of where the money will come from, and ignore the advice of Treasury and other experts, completely flying in the face of our much-valued financial institutions? As my hon. Friend recalled, we see soaring rates of Government borrowing costs and interest rates having to be raised very quickly. It is mortgage payers, ordinary families and those on fixed incomes who pay the heaviest price when the Government of the day make such a reckless choice with the economy.
Dr Luke Evans (Hinckley and Bosworth) (Con)
In Leicestershire, we have fantastic optometrists and opticians. Will the Leader of the House ask the Prime Minister whether it is just glasses that they need to give to get a full-access pass to No. 10, or do they need to give suits as well?
Lucy Powell
This is a Government of service, and we are working hard to turn the page on an era of scandal and sleaze under the previous Government. We expect the very highest standards of all those in government, which is why we quickly brought in measures such as raising standards and expectations for MPs, raising standards and expectations for Ministers, being completely transparent about declarations, and ensuring that all the proper processes for appointments are followed at all times. We will continue to do that.
Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)
The Government have stated and rightly continue to state that prevention will protect our NHS and protect lives. Being cold at home can lead to stroke, heart attack, hypothermia, pneumonia and other such illnesses. Will the Leader of the House encourage the Government to read the work of Professor Sir Michael Marmot and Sir Chris Whitty in this area so that we can take a public health approach to people being warm at home to mitigate the cost that could come without the right mitigations on winter fuel payments?
Lucy Powell
I thank my hon. Friend for that question and for continually raising these important matters. The decision to means-test winter fuel payments was not one that any of us wanted to take. It was a decision that we had to take to balance the books. As we have just discussed, it is those on the lowest incomes who pay the heaviest price when the economy crashes and the real cost of living goes through the roof. That is why delivering on living standards, getting growth in our economy, delivering lower energy bills and getting energy independence are core to the Government’s agenda. That is what we will see over the Parliament.
Ben Maguire (North Cornwall) (LD)
Local communities in and around Port Isaac in my constituency have been left angered and frustrated at the lack of consultation by the Marine Management Organisation relating to applications for huge seaweed farms in their area. Will the Leader of the House give us a debate in Government time about making sure that the Marine Management Organisation properly informs, involves and consults communities when processing applications for marine licences for seaweed farms?
Lucy Powell
The hon. Member raises a really important issue about seaweed farms, which I did not know a lot about until recently. He will know that the Marine Management Organisation is required to consult local people. I know that he has been active in that consultation. I hope that the organisation listens to what he has said—it has a statutory obligation to do so—and that he can deal with the issues that his local community are worried about with the proliferation of seaweed farms in his area. If he continues not to make progress in that regard, I will ensure that the appropriate Minister gets him a response.
Dr Lauren Sullivan (Gravesham) (Lab)
The Leader of the House will know that on the Government Benches we value adult education and community learning, and we know that there are many paths in education and skills, not just schools. In Gravesham, the Tory-controlled Kent county council is proposing to close a long-standing adult education centre, the Victoria centre, which has been at the heart of the community for years. Could we please have a debate on the support that local councils give to such community provision and how they should enhance it, not close it?