Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Glyn Davies and Vince Cable

Thursday 21st March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Glyn Davies (Montgomeryshire) (Con)]

1. What progress his Department has made on developing trade links with non-European Union countries.

[The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Vince Cable)]

We have increased UK Trade & Investment’s focus on growth markets and we are championing ambitious EU trade agreements to help stimulate an export-led recovery. Over three years, our goods exports to Brazil are up by half; to India, by over half; to China, they have almost doubled; and to Russia, they are up by 130%.

[Glyn Davies]

We learned yesterday from Office for Budget Responsibility figures that the eurozone economy shrank by 0.6% in the last quarter, and the economies of the United States and Japan are flat. Does my right hon. Friend agree that if we are to return to sustained growth in the United Kingdom, we have to increase the business we do with high-growth economies such as Brazil, Russia, China and India?

[Vince Cable]

Yes, I absolutely agree. The Prime Minister and I, and other Ministers, spend a lot of our time trying to develop exports in these growth markets and to attract inward investment from them; that is clearly where the growth is. That does not mean that the EU market is not important; it clearly is, and that is why we are pressing for improvements to the single market.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Glyn Davies and Vince Cable

Thursday 8th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Glyn Davies (Montgomeryshire) (Con)]

8. What assessment he has made of the effect on jobs of the extra costs of energy arising from subsidising wind farm development.

[The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Vince Cable)]

There are 94,000 people employed in the development and construction of wind farms. We are seeking to develop the supply chain to create more jobs. We are separately preparing a compensation scheme for energy intensive industries to offset the higher electricity costs in order to maintain their competitiveness.

[Glyn Davies]

Some businesses in Montgomeryshire tell me that the greatest impediment to their growth and job creation is the rapidly rising cost of energy. Does my right hon. Friend agree that controlling energy costs, including by dealing with the unsustainably high subsidies to the onshore wind farm industry, must be the aim of the coalition Government if they are to achieve their ambitions of job creation and economic recovery?

[Vince Cable]

We do accept that proposition. That is why we have introduced the £250 million programme to provide compensation for energy intensive industries. I may have to disappoint the hon. Gentleman on the wider issue because the coalition Government are absolutely committed to the 30% target for the generation of electricity from renewable sources by 2020. Onshore wind is one of the cheaper renewables and its costs are falling. I notice that a few days ago, the hon. Gentleman tweeted that there is a big lesson here:

“If my party loses in 2015 they’ll say ‘It was wind farms wot done it’”.

All parties in the House, particularly mine, may have to brace themselves for the return of Lembit Öpik.