Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Chris McDonald and Lindsay Hoyle

Thursday 11th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Chris McDonald]

The Government are, of course, very concerned about cost pressures on hospitality businesses. The Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade, my hon. Friend the Member for East Renfrewshire (Blair McDougall) met with hospitality businesses just this week to discuss exactly that. The hon. Member raises the question of a reduction in value added tax, which would affect the whole industry, so it would be something of a blunt instrument. Instead, the Government are providing transitional support for those businesses, particularly on business rates. We continue to listen to and work with the sector.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Speaker]

Order. One of us is going to have to sit down. Please, it is topicals and I have some Members who did not get in before you. You’ve got to help them, please.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Chris McDonald)]

I thank my hon. Friend for her question, and for so kindly hosting me on a trip to Falmouth port, where I saw for myself the great potential in her constituency for critical minerals and floating offshore wind. I recognise the skills issue, and the Government are supporting the sector through the Government’s clean energy jobs plan and another £180 million for demonstration projects. She should be assured that I have raised the potential of Falmouth, particularly the extensive anchorage there, with both the National Wealth Fund and the Crown Estate.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Secretary of State, Andrew Griffith.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Chris McDonald and Lindsay Hoyle

Tuesday 18th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Chris McDonald]

Many companies want to invest in the UK because of our clean energy mission. Any decision that the Government take will never compromise our national security. If the hon. Gentleman wants to talk about China, let us compare this Government’s record with that of the previous Conservative Government. The Conservatives built a nuclear power station that relied on the Chinese Government. We are building new nuclear at Sizewell, and it will be financed by the British Government.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Andrew Bowie (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (Con)]

Thank you, Mr Speaker.

“The skills, infrastructure and experience built by Scotland’s oil and gas sector are vital assets that must be safeguarded and redeployed as we accelerate the transition to clean energy.”

These are not my words, but the words of Scottish Renewables. Why are the Government pursuing a strategy that is decimating that very industry and costing jobs across the country?

--- Later in debate ---

[Chris McDonald]

I was pleased to meet my hon. Friend recently to discuss Armitage Shanks. I am concerned about the ceramics businesses in his constituency and across the region. We want those businesses to be competitive, and while much of our earlier discussion was about electricity prices, for ceramics and many other energy-intensive industries, the issue is gas. After policy costs, the UK is competitive with many European countries on gas, but I understand that there are competitive pressures from outside the EU, and I will continue to engage with him and the ceramics sector to look at these issues.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

[Tim Farron (Westmorland and Lonsdale) (LD)]

The recent Cumbria Tourism business survey showed that 56% of businesses are struggling to pay their energy bills, with an astonishing 14% actively considering selling up or closing down. Once a community loses its pub, it loses its heart, and it very rarely gets it back. Ahead of the Budget, will the Minister speak with the Chancellor and others in the Treasury to back the Liberal Democrats’ call for a 5% cut in VAT to support this vital industry, which is, after all, at the forefront of sustainable business practices and at the heart of so many of our communities?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Chris McDonald and Lindsay Hoyle

Thursday 30th October 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Chris McDonald)]

I was pleased to address a meeting of Hydrogen UK just last week, where I reaffirmed Government support for the sector, which we have recognised through our industrial strategy and the clean energy industries sector plan. I would be happy to meet my hon. Friend to discuss in particular Luxfer’s ambitions to invest more in the UK.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Secretary of State.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Chris McDonald and Lindsay Hoyle

Tuesday 14th October 2025 Commons Chamber

[Chris McDonald]

The hon. Member said that thousands and thousands of jobs are at risk in this country; they are at risk from the climate-denying policies of Reform. The Institution of Chemical Engineers reported last week that there are 800,000 jobs in the green economy in this country—thousands and thousands in the constituencies of every single Member in this House—and the hon. Member’s party is putting that investment at risk.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Andrew Bowie (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (Con)]

How many jobs have to be sacrificed on the altar of this Secretary of State’s vainglorious eco-zealotry before the Government acknowledge the utter destruction of the UK’s industrial base that is being wreaked by policies driven by an out-of-touch green lobby that has captured what is laughably still called the Department for Energy Security?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Chris McDonald and Lindsay Hoyle

Monday 9th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I remind Members to look at the question on the Order Paper and make sure that their supplementary question is related to it.

[Chris McDonald (Stockton North) (Lab)]

2. What steps she plans to take to reform the leasehold system.