Industrial Strategy

Chi Onwurah Excerpts

Thursday 20th October 2016 Commons Chamber

[Chi Onwurah (Newcastle upon Tyne Central) (Lab)]

I declare an interest in that I have worked for a competition regulator, Ofcom. The hon. Gentleman is suggesting that a lack of competition is always the fault of the Government, either by doing or not doing something. Does he not recognise that it is possible—indeed, it is what the literature shows—that companies acting in monopolistic ways or capturing markets are themselves responsible for a lack of competition?

[George Kerevan]

He’s read his Adam Smith.

--- Later in debate ---

[Chi Onwurah (Newcastle upon Tyne Central) (Lab)]

It is a real pleasure to speak for the Opposition in this debate and to follow so many interesting, provocative and informative contributions. I have not agreed with all of them—or at least all of all of them—but I have been pleased to listen to them. I congratulate the Backbench Business Committee on bringing forward the debate.

I want to single out some contributions, however difficult that is among so many. The opening contribution was from the hon. Member for Warwick and Leamington (Chris White), who spoke eloquently and compellingly about the importance of having an industrial strategy. I mention, too, the contributions of my hon. Friend the Member for Hove (Peter Kyle), the hon. Member for Havant (Mr Mak), who sponsored the recent debate on the fourth industrial revolution, and my hon. Friend the Member for Hartlepool (Mr Wright), who chairs the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee.

It crucial for this House to show the nation and the world that industry is what we are about. I am grateful for the contribution of the Minister for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation in setting out the beginnings of a timetable for an industrial strategy, but it would have been nice to hear something concrete on the subject from the Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the hon. Member for Hereford and South Herefordshire (Jesse Norman), and I look forward to doing so.

As the contributions from Members of all parties have shown, industrial strategy is an issue that this House takes very seriously. Labour Members have made it absolutely clear that we recognise the hugely positive contribution that industry makes. Industry—and the businesses and workers that form it—drives our nation’s economic success and positive outcomes for our constituents. We can build an economy and society that we want—one that reflects our values as a nation and what we want for the next generation. That, I would say, is the purpose of an industrial strategy. Labour calls for an industrial strategy that is based on our values. That means the principles we hold dear—equality, democracy, empowerment, the value of labour, and economic liberation guiding the direction of a growing economy.

We need an industrial strategy that is geared towards stable jobs, tackling the great challenges of our time such as climate change and narrowing the gap between the haves and the have-nots. Working from first principles, we can put together mission goals for a new economy and develop the industrial strategy that delivers them. From building a green future to closing the gender pay gap; from balancing the economy beyond the financial services to tackling youth unemployment, industrial strategy can contribute to addressing those great challenges.

A strategy is necessary. The market alone has not provided the answers. We have not let it. Without an industrial strategy, the market has not been allowed to deliver the economy that we want. It has given no respite for those who have seen their communities starved through austerity, for young people who will never have well-paid jobs or own their own houses—or at least fear that they will not—or for those subject to draconian conditions in warehouses such as in Sports Direct.

We have seen an increase in precarious work, bogus self-employment, lower wages and higher costs of living. The market has failed all but a privileged few at the top of our society, which the Minister did not seem to recognise. But then the Tories have not had an industrial strategy since the 1950s. Their time in government over the past six years would be to be pitied if they had not actually ruined the lives of so many people.

Let me give just one example. Many of my constituents live in fear of the rise of the robots, which could result in fewer jobs. OECD research shows that 25% of workers could see the majority of their work automated in the next 10 years. I want this Government to be proactive and to use technology to help create more jobs for people across the country. Sadly, however, the Science and Technology Committee has condemned the Government for the complete absence of a strategy on digital.

In 2010, the Conservatives claimed that they would restore the balance between sectors of our economy, but manufacturing is still at the same level as in every year since 2007, accounting for 10% of economic output. In fact, the Conservatives have starved our communities with their austerity agenda. That agenda is now apparently forgotten, but my constituents merit an apology for what they have had to suffer in the name of austerity—and, unfortunately, that will be as nothing by comparison with the impact of the hard Brexit that we see the three Brexiteers attempting to implement.

We have seen the Conservatives’ lack of strategy for our industries in the disintegrating and fragmenting of our industrial support infrastructure. Innovation, for example, is now promoted by at least three separate bodies—Innovate UK, the research councils and NESTA—as well as the Catapult centres. The Government have starved regions outside London by abolishing regional development agencies and providing no replacement for them.

Each industrial age needs leadership from the Government. Harold Wilson said in his famous 1960s “white heat of technology” speech that innovation was driving us in a new direction, but we need leadership to embrace the changes and—this is very important—to ensure that that direction is for the benefit of us all, because growth has a direction. We have seen the third industrial revolution, but now we need leadership more than ever as the next waves of technological change break over us.

We would welcome the Government’s late coming to an understanding of the importance of industrial strategy, but unfortunately—as was pointed out earlier by my hon. Friend the Member for Norwich South (Clive Lewis)—the Tories have shown time and again that, although they can talk the talk, they cannot walk the walk. Since the Prime Minister took office, she has ignored the need for a digital industrial strategy. The Digital Economy Bill, which is currently in Committee, ignores the opportunities that the digital revolution could provide for businesses in Britain, and that has resulted in very real neglect. As we heard earlier, one of our tech success stories, ARM Holdings in Cambridge, was sold to Japanese investors with no reassurances about job security for the 3,000 people who worked there.

[The Minister for Digital and Culture (Matt Hancock)]

Just on a point of fact, assurances were given that the number of jobs would increase.

[Chi Onwurah]

I am glad that the Minister has attempted to make a contribution to supporting our industrial strategy, but we remember the assurances that were given in the case of, for example, Cadbury and Kraft. Assurances need to be concrete if we are to see the benefits, and we need to have the necessary powers.

[Matt Hancock]

Those assurances are legally binding.

[Chi Onwurah]

I am glad that the Minister has seen fit to intervene again. I look forward to those assurances being proven, and I look forward to his apology should that not be the case.

The Tories’ legacy for Britain’s industrial future will be one of apathy and incompetence. There is no vision for business, or how it could bring about a more just society. On energy, on automotive, on materials, on manufacturing, on food and drink, on agribusiness, on process industries, on biotech, on steel, on tech and on the creative industries, it is for us in the Labour party to provide the leadership on industrial strategy that the country needs so much.