Manufacturing
Debate between Lord Pearson of Rannoch and Lord Popat
Lord Popat
My Lords, it is true that the Government’s target is to achieve the £1 trillion export level by 2020. That is quite a challenging and ambitious target, and we will continue to work towards it. We are developing an economic road map to the £1 trillion target and we will draw on this to inform our priorities for the future. We are also investing huge sums of money in UKTI, which is actively pursuing measures to make sure that British companies are able to export abroad. Most importantly, the recent initiative of onshoring—bringing production back from other countries to the UK—will help our export ambition.
Lord Pearson of Rannoch (UKIP)
My Lords, does the noble Lord agree that, in view of his earlier answer, we should therefore concentrate our efforts on the Commonwealth, the Anglosphere and the markets of the future, and stop wasting so much of our energy on that “Titanic” which is the European Union?
Lord Popat
My Lords, the Commonwealth is our family, and we are very keen to see more business done in Commonwealth countries—hence the Government have appointed ambassadors to some of them to see how we can increase trade with them.
EU: Membership
Debate between Lord Pearson of Rannoch and Lord Popat
Lord Popat
My Lords, the House of Commons has given the Bill a smooth passage towards becoming law, and it is important that this House, too, gives a clear passage for the Bill to go through in the new year.
Lord Pearson of Rannoch (UKIP)
My Lords, has the Minister seen the Opinium poll today, which goes somewhat wider than the CBI? It finds that 38% of British businesses want to stay in the EU and only 31% want to leave. But as for the CBI, did it not tell us that we were finished if we did not join the euro? Did not the CBI get the gold standard wrong in the 1920s? Was it not in favour of appeasement, nationalisation and state planning, price controls, tripartite industrial relations and the exchange rate mechanism? Why on earth should we listen to this absurd organisation?
Lord Popat
My Lords, the CBI, the IoD and the Federation of Small Businesses represent a large number of businesses in the UK, and they are all in favour of being in the EU. In fact, 55 business leaders wrote to the Times to show their support for the Prime Minister’s position, saying:
“As business leaders we are passionate about Britain’s prosperity. We agree with the Prime Minister that Britain’s best chance of success is as part of a reformed Europe. We need a new relationship with the EU, backed by democratic mandate”.