Trade, Exports, Innovation and Productivity

Debate between Lord Johnson of Marylebone and Mike Weir

Wednesday 13th January 2016 Commons Chamber

[Joseph Johnson]

The Government are working hard with our European partners to give the support that is possible to the steel industry, and are working hard with all the companies involved to assure good outcomes in line with our competition regime.

I shall return to the subject of the trade agreements. TTIP holds tremendous potential for the British economy; it is potentially worth up to £10 billion a year to the UK economy. Let me be clear in response to Members’ concerns on this point that there is no threat whatever from the TTIP deal, or any other trade and investment agreement, to the NHS and our other vital public services. The Government, the European Commission and the United States—in fact all of those involved—have been 100% clear on that point. We have over 90 bilateral investment treaties and there has never been a successful claim against the UK. There is no evidence of the kind of regulatory chill that some fear will materialise in the event that we successfully conclude TTIP. TTIP is of course just one of a number of such deals, and we are also supporting ambitious deals with Japan and China.

Members have mentioned support for science and innovation. It is precisely because we are taking the difficult decisions to fix Britain’s finances that we can now afford to prioritise science and other areas that support growth. As the Chancellor announced in the spending review, the Government will protect the science budget in real terms to the end of the decade. That means £4.7 billion in resource funding, rising with inflation, and it also means we are able to deliver on our manifesto commitment of record investment in our country’s scientific infrastructure at £6.9 billion all the way out to 2021.

I hope the hon. Member for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath (Roger Mullin) will welcome the fact that researchers and universities across the UK will benefit from a decade of protection for science under this Government. With respect to his specific concerns for the biomedical catalyst, which is jointly funded by the Medical Research Council and Innovate UK, I am unable to comment on individual budget allocations while we are still in the middle of this process, but the MRC will of course be a big beneficiary of the fact that we have had a massively successful science settlement during the spending review.

Let me also point out to SNP Members that Scotland is punching well above its weight in getting access to this science money, securing 10% of Innovate UK funding and 11% of research council funding, much more than its 8% share of the UK population and 6% share of UK businesses. A few months ago I was pleased to open a world-class medical imaging centre in Glasgow, which has benefited from £16 million of UK Government funding through the MRC, illustrating precisely this point.

On innovation support, different businesses need different forms of financial support to innovate and grow. The lack of available financing at acceptable terms is an obstacle we want to address, learning from countries such as France, Finland and the Netherlands that use a variety of financial instruments. The hon. Member for Sefton Central (Bill Esterson) wrongly painted a gloomy picture of Innovate UK funding, which I must correct. Overall, core funding for Innovate UK has increased from £253 million in 2009 to £453 million in 2016-17, and will reach £471 million in 2019-20. It is this positive settlement that is enabling us to deliver on our manifesto commitments to protect and expand our catapult network.

Raising productivity and balancing the economy are the key economic challenges for this Parliament and are central to our long-term economic plan. Thanks to the hard work of the British people, this long-term economic plan is working: the deficit is down by more than a half, 2.7 million more people are in private sector jobs and over 900,000 more businesses are trading today than in 2010. But there can be no complacency. The Chancellor has already pointed to the dangerous cocktail of risks—

[Mike Weir (Angus) (SNP)]

claimed to move the closure (Standing Order No. 36).

Question put forthwith, That the Question be now put.

Question agreed to.

Main Question accordingly put.