Trade Balance

Lord Stoneham of Droxford Excerpts

Thursday 11th December 2014 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top (Lab)]

My Lords—

[Lord Stoneham of Droxford (LD)]

My Lords—

[The Lord Privy Seal (Baroness Stowell of Beeston) (Con)]

My Lords, it is the turn of the Labour Benches and then it will be right if we come back over to the Liberal Democrats.

[Lord Livingston of Parkhead]

The north-east, indeed, is one of our manufacturing powerhouses and is part of the UK that actually has a trade surplus with the rest of the world. The Nissan factory is producing more cars than the whole of Italy. I recognise that a number of exporters wish to remain in the EU but I also recognise that they wish to remain in a reformed EU—and that is what we on this side of the House are fighting for.

[Lord Stoneham of Droxford]

At the start of this Government, only 30% of components in our successful car manufacturing sector were sourced in the UK. Can the Minister tell us how the Government’s industrial strategy has been seeking to improve this performance?

[Lord Livingston of Parkhead]

The Government’s industrial strategy brings together academia, the Government and also businesses in producing a long-term commitment to the next generation of technologies and industries. I know that the motor vehicle industry in particular welcomes this. I mentioned earlier the Reshore UK proposal. These things together are helping significantly, both with companies coming back to the UK and, for instance, companies such as Gestamp, a Spanish company that recently announced a significant investment in the UK.