Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill

Ben Spencer Excerpts

2nd reading
Monday 16th January 2023 Commons Chamber

[Dr Ben Spencer (Runnymede and Weybridge) (Con)]

We have had so much disruption to our critical services in recent years, and I pay tribute to all those working in those sectors.

I support minimum service levels for our critical services. Who could oppose them? Well, the Labour party does. It says it is protecting workers’ rights, but does that not ignore the rights of all of those who rely on these key services for their health, their education and their livelihood?

We have seen the sad impact on pupils of disruption to education, the extra burden it places on families and schools, and the anxiety that causes parents and students. The Children’s Commissioner highlighted this weekend that it is the most disadvantaged who face the greatest impact if education is disrupted. I support the right of children to a great education, but the Labour party opposes minimum service levels. It says it is protecting workers’ rights, but that ignores the rights of working families and students if schools close.

Minimum service levels should also apply to our ambulance service. We all know the challenges our NHS is facing, yet at a time when we need to focus on addressing them, Labour opposes minimum service levels for our ambulance and fire services. Does anyone really believe it should be up to intransigent unions to decide whether help arrives? Emergency services should not be a bargaining chip in employment disputes. Our country cannot be held to ransom by intransigent unions. I believe the NHS should be there when we need it, but the Labour party opposes minimum service levels. It says it is protecting workers’ rights, but what about the right to receive care in an emergency?

The rail strikes are yet another example. I have been contacted by constituents whose children are unable to get to school, commuters unable to get to work, and patients unable to see their loved ones in hospital or go to appointments. I support everyone’s right to travel, but the Labour party opposes minimum service levels. It says it is protecting workers’ rights, but what about the rights of the self-employed? Are they not workers? What about the rights of small business employees? Are they not workers? What about the rights of drivers? Are they not workers? What about cleaners, administrators or carers—or any worker in a sector not supported by unions?

I was elected to this House to represent all my constituents, and that means protecting health services, education and livelihoods. In the light of union intransience to negotiate and modernise, minimum service levels are now needed, so I wholeheartedly support the Bill. I am genuinely appalled that the Labour party opposes minimum service levels. It says it is protecting workers’ rights. I think we all know who it is really protecting.

Energy Prices: Support for Business

Ben Spencer Excerpts

Thursday 22nd September 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

This proposal will help all non-domestic users, with the only exception being the gas-powered electricity generation operators, which will not get the subsidy for their electricity generation. All other non-domestic outlets will benefit.

[Dr Ben Spencer (Runnymede and Weybridge) (Con)]

I welcome this package, which will provide support to businesses and safeguard jobs in my constituency. The current situation is exacerbated by an energy market that does not work and the need for further investment in nuclear and renewables—I am glad that the Government are consulting on the former and investing in the latter. Does my right hon. Friend agree that public and private investment is needed, along with a functioning energy market, to ensure that we never have to face this situation again?

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

Yes, my hon. Friend is absolutely right; we need a better functioning energy market. There are real difficulties with the liquidity in the futures market at the moment. He is also right to say that we need a further and faster roll-out of nuclear energy, which is being worked on, and that offshore wind, which is going at a rapid pace, continues to be a major and growing source of energy within this country.

Oral Answers to Questions

Ben Spencer Excerpts

Tuesday 7th June 2022 Commons Chamber

[Lee Rowley]

I am not going to refight Brexit and revisit the positions we all went through in the last Parliament. Horizon is important. The UK Government have been very clear about our desire to continue with Horizon. The Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Norfolk (George Freeman), who is the Minister for science, continues extensive work to ensure that that happens. The EU has a choice to make, and my hon. Friend will be in Brussels tomorrow to continue that conversation.

[Dr Ben Spencer (Runnymede and Weybridge) (Con)]

7. What recent progress his Department has made on securing business investment in the UK.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Lee Rowley)]

In recent months, the UK has had a strong track record of attracting inward investment, including in cars—in Nissan, Stellantis and Ford —and in batteries, through Envision AESC; and Airbus announced a further ramping up of its A320 line in Broughton a few weeks ago. In April, the Department launched the new global Britain investment fund, which will build on our track record and encourage internationally mobile companies to invest in the UK.

[Dr Spencer]

I thank the Minister for his response. I draw the House’s attention to my entry in the register of interests, my chairmanship of the all-party parliamentary group on Finland, and my vice-chairmanship of the all-party parliamentary group on Sweden. Our relationship with Finland and Sweden has never been stronger; there is the mutual defence treaty, our support for their application for NATO, and the recent Sweden-UK life science agreement. Does my hon. Friend agree that Runnymede and Weybridge, with its connectivity, academic institutions and strong tech and life science sector, is a fantastic place to build on that investment and that relationship, and to bring in further investment from northern Europe?

Russian Oil Import Ban

Ben Spencer Excerpts

Wednesday 9th March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

My right hon. Friend the Chancellor and I, and our Departments, speak all the time about these issues. The hon. Member will appreciate that there is a spring statement, but at the beginning of February my right hon. Friend announced an extensive £9 billion of projects. We will be looking across the year at how this market develops, but fiscal interventions, as she will appreciate, are a matter for my right hon. Friend.

[Dr Ben Spencer (Runnymede and Weybridge) (Con)]

I very much welcome my right hon. Friend’s announcement today. It cannot be right that we are bankrolling the Russian state and war machine through buying Russian oil and gas, and I am glad that we are moving to fix this at pace. He will know that we import quite a lot of aviation fuel from Russia, and his Department has done fantastic work in developing sustainable aviation fuel and its manufacture in the UK. Will he use this as an opportunity to drive that forward at even greater pace to set up SAF manufacture in the UK?

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

My hon. Friend raises a really important point. With the dismal prospect of the ferocious aggression and violence that we are seeing, one of the things we are thinking about is a more sustainable future. A very thin silver lining on a very dark cloud is the fact that we are talking about resilience and sustainability, and I am absolutely delighted to be working with my hon. Friend and with right hon. and hon. Friends in the Department for Transport to make sure that we accelerate the adoption of sustainable aviation fuel.

Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation

Ben Spencer Excerpts

Tuesday 9th March 2021 Commons Chamber

[Dr Ben Spencer (Runnymede and Weybridge) (Con)]

I welcome this Budget, as it will protect the jobs and livelihoods of the people living in Runnymede and Weybridge, but it does so much more. In particular, I want to talk today about some of the core provisions that will benefit my constituents over the short, medium and long term. This is a Budget that meets our short-term and emergency needs while we still face the pandemic and restrictions remain in place, providing vital support for businesses and families to enable them to weather the covid storm.

Over the course of the past year, I have had many discussions with residents and I know what a lifeline the self-employment income support scheme and furlough have been, along with direct business support. My local businesses often tell me that they need certainty, and this Budget, and the extension of provisions alongside the road map for the lifting of restrictions, will give them the certainty they need to plan for the months ahead.

For the medium term, I welcome the support for investment and innovation, the incredible super deduction, Help to Grow and further support for enterprise management incentives. Those will all help companies in my constituency, particularly the many small and medium-sized enterprises that, I am sure all Members will agree, set up in Runnymede and Weybridge because of the excellent logistics benefits it offers. Those businesses are champing at the bit to get moving as restrictions lift and to grow and flourish, providing jobs and investment locally.

Finally, but most importantly, this is a Budget that tackles the long-term challenges we face. First, on sustainability and climate change, I particularly want to draw attention to energy innovation and support for the UK biomass feedstocks programme. That will be essential for the development of domestic biofuel supplies to support the sustainability of our aviation sector and jet zero, benefiting my constituents by securing the future of the aviation sector and those employed in it and reducing aircraft pollution and the harms that it causes.

Secondly, on national finances, we are in a hugely challenging economic situation as a result of the pandemic. While it is right to spend now, invest in infrastructure and projects that will drive growth and tackle the perennial regional inequalities that have plagued our country, we need to tackle the deficit. The tax policies set out in the Budget begin to address that without undermining the plan for economic growth. The Budget protects jobs and livelihoods now and lays the foundation for both the economic recovery ahead and a return to strong public finances. It is not us here who will be paying off our debt but our children, and we owe it to them to balance the books today, so that they inherit a flourishing economy unburdened by the debts of their parents.

Energy White Paper

Ben Spencer Excerpts

Monday 14th December 2020 Commons Chamber

[Alok Sharma]

If the right hon. Gentleman looks at our manifesto, he will understand that, yes, people voted blue but they voted blue for green policies as well, and that is what we are implementing. On the issue of cost, he will know that over the last 30 years, successive Governments have managed to grow this country’s economy by 75% and cut emissions by 43% at the same time, so green growth is possible. He talks about the car sector, but I can tell him that the auto manufacturing sector was incredibly pleased with what we set out in the 10-point plan. The real issue is to ensure that we have revenue models in place so that private sector investors can come in on projects with confidence.

[Dr Ben Spencer (Runnymede and Weybridge) (Con)]

I welcome the energy White Paper, which charts an ambitious and, importantly, sustainable path to sustainability. I would like to raise a point about Jet Zero and the aviation sector, which is very important to my constituents. Does my right hon. Friend agree that, looking beyond the pandemic, sustainability will be a huge challenge to the aviation sector and that the world-leading work being done on Jet Zero by this Government will help to secure the future of aviation and support jobs and businesses in Runnymede and Weybridge?

[Alok Sharma]

My hon. Friend is so right. We have established the Jet Zero Council, whose aim is to accelerate the development and adoption of new technologies so that we can develop our strategy to reach net zero in aviation. Ultimately, we want to ensure that we are doing our bit to ensure that we have low-carbon flight, because there is huge potential in that as well.

Oral Answers to Questions

Ben Spencer Excerpts

Tuesday 10th November 2020 Commons Chamber

[Julian Sturdy (York Outer) (Con)]

What steps his Department is taking to support businesses during the covid-19 outbreak.

[Dr Ben Spencer (Runnymede and Weybridge) (Con)]

What steps his Department is taking to support businesses during the covid-19 outbreak.

[Tom Hunt (Ipswich) (Con)]

What steps his Department is taking to support businesses during the covid-19 outbreak.

--- Later in debate ---

[Nadhim Zahawi]

My hon. Friend makes a very powerful point, and I absolutely agree with him. This is not the long-term answer, and I fully appreciate that retailers across England will be desperate to reopen in time for the important Christmas trading period. The regulations, as the Prime Minister said, will expire on 2 December, and we will return to the local restrictions thereafter—the tiered system. Of course, Ministers and officials are regularly engaging across Government, including my colleagues in BEIS, to ensure the sector can reopen safely on 2 December.

[Dr Spencer]

I thank the Minister for his answer: financial support for businesses is such a lifeline at this time. Speaking to businesses across the spectrum in Runnymede and Weybridge—from those in the wedding sector to logistics and corporate events—they tell me that one of the biggest challenges they face is uncertainty around planning for the next six months to a year. Does my hon. Friend agree with me that one of the best supports for business we can give is a long-term plan for how we deal with and get out of the covid pandemic?

[Nadhim Zahawi]

I am grateful for my hon. Friend’s question. The current restrictions will expire on 2 December. After those restrictions have expired, we intend to return to the tiered system, as I just mentioned on an earlier question. Of course, we have to make sure that businesses have that clarity, hence why the Chancellor extended the furlough scheme all the way to the end of March for businesses. The British Chambers of Commerce made it very clear to me a few days ago in a phone call that that was incredibly important help at the right time.

UK Internal Market: White Paper

Ben Spencer Excerpts

Thursday 16th July 2020 Commons Chamber

[Alok Sharma]

I can confirm to the hon. Lady that the new domestic subsidy control regime will be a modern system that will be there to support British businesses in a way that benefits all within the United Kingdom. I know that she is interested in further details on this, and we will share those in due course.

[Dr Ben Spencer (Runnymede and Weybridge) (Con)]

Businesses in Runnymede and Weybridge benefit from access to across the UK by plane, road and rail. Does my right hon. Friend agree that while much focus is given to international trade, seamless internal trade is crucial for our ongoing prosperity across all four nations of the UK?

[Alok Sharma]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. When companies are looking to invest in the United Kingdom, the fact that we will continue with a seamless UK internal market will give them significant confidence.