Manufacturing (East Midlands)

Debate between Andy Sawford and Mark Spencer

Tuesday 12th February 2013 Westminster Hall

[Mr Spencer]

I must confess that I have never banged a Premier drum, but I shall endeavour to do so at some point in future.

The east midlands also has energy supply, which is important to businesses—

[Andy Sawford (Corby) (Lab/Co-op)]

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on securing this debate. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Hollobone, particularly as you are my constituency neighbour. On the subject of energy, one of the great industries of Corby in east Northamptonshire, as I am sure the hon. Gentleman knows, is the steel industry. That, along with boot and shoe, made communities in my constituency, but Tata Steel’s particular concern at the moment is energy prices, which are much higher in this country than in France and Germany. Does he not agree that it is important that the manufacturing industry in my constituency and his can compete on a level playing field, including on energy prices?

[Mr Spencer]

I agree, and it is important that we as a Government address those concerns, but the hon. Gentleman will recognise how difficult it is to strike a balance between energy prices to consumers and to industry. It could be argued that logically, the more energy one buys the more cheaply one should get it; that would have a knock-on effect on our consumers and constituents. It is difficult to strike that balance and ensure that energy-consuming industries get a reasonable price, as well as our constituents who are struggling to pay their energy bills.

It comes down to energy security as well as price. Within the east midlands, the Trent valley provides a lot of electricity generation, so at least we are not far away from a power station, but we need to do more. The Government particularly need to consider carbon leakage. Energy-intensive industries are under pressure and looking to relocate elsewhere in the world. We talk about reducing the carbon footprint of industry and manufacturing, but it would be wrong to push out industries to other parts of the world where energy is probably bought from higher-carbon sources than in the UK, and then to import the goods. We should be aware of that.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Spencer]

I recognise that challenge, but I feel that we are 15 years behind the game. We should have addressed these problems a long time ago. The nuclear decision was put off by previous Governments. Had we bitten that bullet much earlier, we would not be as concerned about energy security as we are today. I am glad to see that the current Government are trying to address the issue and get a clear direction. Of course, being a coalition Government brings its own challenges. Sometimes there is disagreement within the coalition about the best way to procure energy security.

I have been open about my view that nuclear is a great option that we should be pursuing. I also think coal has a role to play. Sherwood sits not only on a former coal field but on great reserves of shale gas, which could assist us. We also have a great deal of water, which can be important to manufacturing. Nottinghamshire sits on Bunter sandstone with aquifers. However, at the top of the list must be a willing and ready work force, which we in the east midlands have. We have great skills. As we have a thriving manufacturing sector, we already have a high skills base for any company that wants to relocate to the east midlands.

I hope the message of this debate will be that the east midlands is open for business to manufacturers of any sort looking for somewhere to relocate. The east midlands is the ideal place, and we would welcome manufacturers with open arms. I hope the Minister, as he goes around the country in his many dealings, will recognise how important the east midlands is and what it has to offer. If he is having discussions with any foreign or other companies looking to relocate, I hope he will recommend the east midlands. It would assist us in procuring more companies to come and make use of the area.

There is a lot more that we can do, and I want to emphasise what Government and local authorities can do. Broadband is important. People trying to run businesses in rural locations need access to good-quality broadband, and we must do more to get it out into rural locations so that companies can relocate to those areas as well. Infrastructure and traffic are a constant battle. Every time one improvement is made, it knocks on to another area. We must keep doing more to improve infrastructure to remove bottlenecks, so people can get around the country.

Finally, on training, we need the best-quality engineers and the most highly skilled individuals, which requires the work and support of some of our great training institutions, such as Loughborough university, Nottingham university and the many others that educate people to a high degree. Some colleges in and around our constituencies deliver courses on food and drink manufacturing, welding skills and so on. Such skills will be absolutely vital to our companies as we go forward. We have a little bit further to go.

Many of the businesses I talk to are crying out for good quality, highly skilled staff and they do not want to look to eastern Europe to procure those people; they want UK-based, qualified people and we need to keep pushing that door to ensure that they are coming forward.

[Andy Sawford]

It is my hope, as I am sure it is the hon. Gentleman’s, that the manufacturing industries in our constituencies employ local people. Does he recognise many people’s concern about the role of agencies, particularly those recruiting in eastern European countries for jobs that could be done by local people? Does he agree that we ought to ask the Government and Opposition Front Benchers to consider how we can deal with that?

[Mr Spencer]

I agree; it causes a great deal of frustration. Constituents e-mailing me with a copy of a job advert published in Polish feel excluded from that process, although I have tried to argue that such an advert is probably published in English as well. Our companies need quality staff and if they cannot procure local people, I suppose they will look to the rest of Europe to try to get people with the skills they need. We need to ensure that we train our constituents in those skills, so that they can compete on a level playing field. We are starting to get there—starting to push back and improve things—but there is further to go. There has been a deficit in the past 10 to 15 years and we need to start dealing with that. I hope that we are starting that process.

I am conscious that other hon. Members want to speak, so I do not want to take up too much time. I want to emphasise the fundamental message of this debate: there is a great manufacturing sector in the east midlands and we are open for business. If people want to locate somewhere, the east midlands is a great place to come. I hope the Minister takes the opportunity to visit businesses in Sherwood. I would be delighted to be his host, should he find time in his diary.