Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Chi Onwurah and Greg Hands

Thursday 15th December 2022 Commons Chamber

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

The Secretary of State recently announced signing a memorandum of understanding with the US state of South Carolina focusing on life sciences and automotive—areas that are very important to the north-east. Could she set out exactly how businesses in Newcastle can benefit from that memorandum of understanding and whether it is supposed to compensate for the lack of any trade agreement with the United States?

[The Minister for Trade Policy (Greg Hands)]

It was me who signed the deal with South Carolina last Wednesday, and the hon. Lady can see the deal for herself on gov.uk. We have done deals with Indiana and North Carolina. Offshore wind is important for her area of the country, and North Carolina brought in an offshore wind delegation to see its governor just a couple of months after the signing of the deal, so these deals are leading to tangible opportunities.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Chi Onwurah and Greg Hands

Tuesday 12th July 2022 Commons Chamber

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

Despite being critical to our world-beating research and a Conservative manifesto commitment, Britain’s participation in the world’s biggest science funding programme, Horizon Europe, is in peril. Before resigning, the then science Minister, the hon. Member for Mid Norfolk (George Freeman), took to Twitter to lobby the new Chancellor for funding for his plan B, but the Chancellor was busy trying to get the Prime Minister he had just accepted a job from to leave his job. Now, although the former science Minister has asked for his job back, the still in place, though disgraced, Prime Minister is too busy nobbling those going for his job to fill the science job. It is total chaos. Science deserves better, doesn’t it?

[Greg Hands]

I thought that was a rather convoluted question, if you do not mind my saying so, Mr Speaker.

We in the UK Government are absolutely committed to getting a good deal for UK science, whether through association with Horizon Europe or through our plan B Horizon plan, which is also a fully funded approach to making sure that UK science does not lose out. Perhaps the hon. Lady might welcome the big boost in R&D spending in this country, with the most sustained uplift, from £15 billion today to £20 billion in two years’ time—a 33% increase in just two years.

Storm Arwen: Power Outages

Debate between Chi Onwurah and Greg Hands

Monday 6th December 2021 Commons Chamber

[Greg Hands]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that constructive question. I would say to his constituent Craig Fraser that I think it is unacceptable that it took him more than four days to get an answer from SSEN. After this session, I will give the hon. Gentleman the details of the dedicated contact at SSEN, if he does not already have it, and I will also try to raise the matter with the chief executive, Chris Burchell. A key aim of the review will be to look at why the communications were not as good as they should have been, particularly in those crucial first few days.

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

The Secretary of State can make it to the north-east for a photo-opportunity, but he will not come here to answer our questions. If thousands of homes in the south-east were without power, he would be here.

Last month the Government showed their contempt for the north-east by failing to invest in our transport infrastructure, and now we see the consequences of their failure to invest in and support our energy infrastructure. Why were there not enough generators? Why were no proper plans in place? Does the Minister accept that the energy markets as they stand are not working for the north-east, and will he do something about it?

[Greg Hands]

I am sorry, but I do not accept that. First, it is not right to criticise the Secretary of State for going up to the north-east on a Sunday to see members of the armed forces, and to thank the engineers and the community responders. As you will remember better than anyone, Mr Speaker, he came here last Wednesday to make a statement on the situation. There has not been a delayed response from the Secretary of State.

The hon. Lady also asked about generators. In fact, 755 were provided at the peak of the relief effort, and 500 are still being provided. I thought that she might join me in thanking some of those who are working so hard on the ground—not just the engineers, but those in the call centres. They are making tremendous efforts to ensure that those who have been disconnected are reconnected and that people have the help that they need in the short term, as well as ensuring that we learn the lessons of this unique storm.

Continuity Trade Agreements: Parliamentary Scrutiny

Debate between Chi Onwurah and Greg Hands

Tuesday 17th November 2020 Commons Chamber

[Greg Hands]

I thank my hon. Friend for that question. I think he is asking me to ban things that are already banned and put it in writing. Let me make it clear that we remain absolutely committed to our high food safety, environmental and animal welfare standards, on which he and I fought the last general election. We have ensured that the law offers protections for the existing standards, so that they will remain in place. Under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, the products he mentioned will remain illegal after 1 January.

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

As chair of the all-party group on Africa, I wish to emphasise the importance of trade between the UK and Africa. By offering Ghana levels of market access that differ from those of its neighbours in the regional trading bloc ECOWAS—the Economic Community of West African States—the Government are forcing Ghana to choose between new trade barriers within ECOWAS or tariffs with the UK, which would plunge Ghana’s banana and cocoa producers, many of whom are already in poverty, into even more extreme poverty. So instead of bullying countries such as Ghana, will the Minister work with African countries to agree deals that promote trade and fair, sustainable economic development?

[Greg Hands]

I know, from previous meetings that the hon. Lady and I have had, her passion and commitment to the UK’s trade with Africa. On Ghana, I look at the situation closely, as does the Under-Secretary of State for International Trade, my hon. Friend the Member for North East Hampshire (Mr Jayawardena). We are clear that there is a deal on the table. It replicates the EU stepping stone agreement. There is no evidence to suggest that the EU stepping stone agreement in any way discriminates in respect of Ghana’s trade with the rest of its ECOWAS partners. We have also to be clear that the UK will follow World Trade Organisation rules on discrimination between economies of similar levels of development when it comes to trade agreements. That is very important, for example, for the generalised system of preferences. The best thing for us to do is for the UK and Ghana to sign that deal that is on the table.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Chi Onwurah and Greg Hands

Thursday 5th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Greg Hands]

May I start by congratulating my hon. Friend yet again on being a brilliant new representative for the Buckingham constituency? The Silverstone technology cluster includes excellent tech and start-up companies such as Advanced Automotive Technologies, Altair Engineering, room44 e-bikes and many more. Those are exactly the kind of companies that we want to see exporting more to the USA and to benefit from fewer hurdles to trade. That is why both sides want an SME chapter in the trade deal.

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

The Government’s own figures show that a US trade deal could raise the north-east’s economy by a maximum of 0.4% a year and that a no-deal Brexit will cut the north-east’s economy by up to 10%. Is this the Government’s idea of levelling up—to destroy thousands of jobs in the north-east?

[Greg Hands]

The hon. Member does not do this question justice. Our objective, of course, is to have both a very good free trade deal with the European Union and a new trade deal with the United States of America, which would have the potential to raise the gross value added of the north-eastern region by some £170 million. She should join us, work with us and ensure that the benefits of these deals can be heard by all her constituents across the region.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Chi Onwurah and Greg Hands

Tuesday 27th October 2015 Commons Chamber

[Greg Hands]

I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend, particularly when it comes to innovation. The Global Innovation Index ranked the United Kingdom second in the world in 2013. We have been ranked first for the reach, impact and well-roundedness of our research and first for our research productivity, which is 3.87 times the world average.

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

10. What plans he has to provide local authorities within the northern powerhouse with additional funding and powers to raise funds to support those authorities in carrying out newly devolved responsibilities.

[The Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Greg Hands)]

By the end of this Parliament, local authorities will be able to retain 100% of local taxes to spend on local services, and areas with city-wide elected mayors will be given even greater flexibilities in relation to business rates. Each devolution deal will be bespoke, but the deal agreed last Friday with the North East combined authority includes a new £30 million-a-year funding allocation which will bring together funds to deliver a 15-year programme of transformational investment in the region.

[Chi Onwurah]

The north-east is keen, indeed determined, to slip Whitehall’s leash, but some fear that hard-pressed civil servants will seek to devolve cuts while retaining control of spending. To avoid that, will the Chancellor commit himself to complete transparency in respect of the budgets of the devolved functions, and to publishing the full funding figures for the years before and after the spending review?

[Greg Hands]

Of course we will publish information, but I remind the hon. Lady that the deal that was signed last Friday commits us to £30 million a year of additional funding. If she does not think that that is a good deal, perhaps she should listen to Simon Henig, the chairman of the new North East combined authority. He is a member of her own party, but it seems that she does not want to listen to what has been said by a member of her own party. He said:

“The agreement being signed today will bring significant economic benefits and opportunities for businesses and residents.”

The hon. Lady should be welcoming that.

Productivity

Debate between Chi Onwurah and Greg Hands

Wednesday 17th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Greg Hands]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on his amazing election result. It was a fantastic achievement. Indeed, I think that he unseated one of my predecessors as Chief Secretary.

Of course we are still committed to delivering the A358. I believe that the Labour party produced only two proposals for reducing the deficit during the election campaign, both of which were highly misguided, including the proposal for cuts in the A358 programme.

It is, in many ways, a vindication of what we have achieved since 2010 that we are debating the issue of productivity today. Over the last five years—[Interruption.] The hon. Member for Nottingham East says that he has been raising the issue. I have gone through all the speeches—well, not all of then, because I could not find them all, but most of them—that he made when he was leading the “Gordon Brown for leader” campaign in 2007. I have also gone through the speeches that he made when he was backing Ed Balls in 2010. I must say that I found scant reference to the word “productivity”.

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

Will the Minister give way?

[Greg Hands]

No. I am going to finish now.

As I was saying, it is, in so many ways, a vindication of our record of the last five years that we are debating the issue of productivity. Many of us will remember our debates—led by the hon. Member for Nottingham East—on mass unemployment, the cost of living crisis, and “too far, too fast”. In all those respects, the hon. Gentleman’s approach turned out to be absolutely wrong. We now have financial stability, unemployment is down to historic lows, and living standards this year are predicted to grow at their fastest rate since 2001. All that is thanks to the tough decisions that we have made.

We now have a great opportunity to step things up a gear, and to solve a challenge that has been a drag on the United Kingdom’s economy for decades. The wind is blowing in the right direction. We have a falling deficit, a growing economy, an historic mandate, and a firm resolve to tackle this issue, along with the right team to do it. That is how we deliver for the people of the United Kingdom, and that is what this Government will do.