UK Exports

Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb Excerpts

Tuesday 24th January 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord De Mauley (Con)]

My Lords—

[Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (GP)]

My Lords—

[The Minister of State, Ministry of Defence (Earl Howe) (Con)]

My Lords, there is time enough for two more questions. We can go first to my noble friend and then to the noble Baroness, Lady Jones.

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Mobarik]

I agree with my noble friend that services are an important part of our economy. However, we work in a whole range of different sectors and we have market sector priorities; for example, every year we consider which country sector combinations the Government can add most value to. Services are of course a huge part of that. We have to keep it in mind that the UK is the fifth-largest economy in the world. We have leading universities, low tax, low regulation, an economy fuelled by some of the most skilled workers, and the World Bank continues to rank the UK as the highest major economy for ease of doing business, which is one of the reasons so many firms, such as Snapchat, Rolls-Royce, and Nissan, are choosing to invest in the UK.

[Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb]

My Lords, according to the Office for National Statistics, the exports for low-carbon businesses fell by £1 billion between 2014 and 2015. Can we assume that the Government have no interest in promoting such low-carbon businesses?

[Baroness Mobarik]

I can reassure the noble Baroness that we are promoting all parts of our economy.