Industrial Strategy

Lord Kinnock Excerpts

Wednesday 19th July 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

I agree with my noble friend that competition is essential to drive improvement and progress. It is also important that government, industry and academia/universities work together very closely.

[Lord Kinnock (Lab)]

My Lords, does the Minister recall that at the time of the publication of the Green Paper on industrial strategy there was considerable disappointment, which was entirely justified, at the scant mention of steel—indeed, it appeared once, on page 96? Can he give us an undertaking now that in the forthcoming White Paper there will be a cogent and effective strategy for steel to uphold the interests and competitiveness of this crucial foundation industry?

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

Steel is clearly a very important part of any industrial strategy, but I should make it absolutely clear to the noble Lord that this strategy is about the future and not just about incumbents. While there is an important future for steel, there is also the whole new world of digital technologies, which are also very important.

Brexit: Aerospace Industry

Lord Kinnock Excerpts

Monday 6th February 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

My Lords, I do not agree with the last part of the noble Lord’s question. The capacity to manufacture helicopters in the UK is extremely important and the MoD is very much committed to doing that. As the noble Lord says, we will publish a refresh strategy later in the year, which I am sure will make that clear.

[Lord Kinnock (Lab)]

My Lords, will the Minister confirm that the European Aviation Safety Agency plays a crucial role in excluding from European airspace and European airports any aircraft that originates from countries or companies that have poor safety records? By that means it safeguards the security and well-being of people right across this continent. Because of the importance of that, will the Minister give me an undertaking now that, whatever the other outcomes of Brexit, we will retain full participation in the European Aviation Safety Agency?

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

My Lords, I can confirm that safety is absolutely paramount. How that is achieved between the workings of the CAA and the EASA will have to be resolved over the next two years.

Industrial Strategy Consultation

Lord Kinnock Excerpts

Monday 23rd January 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

I completely agree with that. It is made very clear in the Green Paper that we must have a low carbon energy policy, but an affordable energy policy. Affordability is critical. It is no good going to Port Talbot or Scunthorpe and telling steel workers there that they must bear the cost of a green energy policy with their jobs. We have to be able to put high energy industries into a competitive position, particularly within Europe.

[Lord Kinnock (Lab)]

My Lords, I commend the relatively short, three-month consultation on the Green Paper. Do Government intend to take responsive rapid action to that consultation, not so much in the form of a White Paper, but with effective implemented action? That is a matter of the greatest possible urgency, given the seriousness of the situation in our manufacturing industries particularly. For instance, will the Government heed today’s all-party report on forging a future for the British steel industry, emulate the examples shown by other European Governments, and act effectively on energy costs, business rates, and procurement, to ensure a real, new vitality for the steel industry, avoiding the possibility of a lingering death for this crucial British foundation industry and its 575 companies? Without effective steel, a strategy is much more a hope than the prospect of a reality. I would greatly regret that, but I hope that is a point of urgency in the mind of the whole Government.

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

I am pleased that the noble Lord thinks that three months is a good short time for the consultation to take place. We are not standing still over that time; we are going ahead, as he knows, at Hinkley, with the new runway at Heathrow, and with the £170 million committed to institutes of technology.

I entirely agree with the noble Lord. I have a long- standing and emotional commitment to the British steel industry. When I joined British Steel in 1980, I think we were producing 17 million tonnes of steel per year, so times have changed over the past 20 or 30 years. We are not in the business of propping up failing industries, but we are certainly in the business of supporting competitive industries like the steel business.