Catherine West
Main Page: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Friern Barnet)Electric Vehicle Battery Production
Catherine West Excerpts(1 year, 10 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.
Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
Graham Stuart
My hon. Friend takes a close interest in these issues. He is right that we need to do more and critical minerals are a part of that. A whole series of elements need to come together, as another hon. Friend said, to form that battery and to be the vital component in a successful British automotive manufacturing industry for the future.
Catherine West (Hornsey and Wood Green) (Lab)
Is it not the case that, in this crucial industry, this is just yet another example of the lack of confidence in the UK economy? Part of the reason for that is because there is no strategy. When will the Government come forward with a strategy for industry, so that external partners can have trust and build business confidence in these sorts of proposals?
Graham Stuart
Opposition Members lose no opportunity to talk down the UK. It is quite extraordinary, especially in the week when we have just seen evidence come out that the UK is seen by—[Interruption.] If the hon. Lady, instead of chuntering from a sedentary position, were to stop her rant against the UK and its position in the world and hear the answer, she would hear that global CEOs have identified the UK as the third most attractive place in the world in which to invest. If she was as committed to helping workers as her party claims to be, then instead of talking this country down she would be highlighting those issues, celebrating the fact that we have nearly full employment and celebrating the fact that we are not in the position we were in, with so many young people on the dole, in 2010.