Greg Clark
Main Page: Greg Clark (Conservative - Tunbridge Wells)(1 year, 11 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
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Graham Stuart
I share the hon. Gentleman’s enthusiasm for the opportunities that come from net zero. That is why we are moving so hard on nuclear, which of course anybody who is not a prisoner of some ideological opposition and is genuinely committed to green energy would support. We are supporting that across the piece. I do not think that Conservative Members will take lessons on industrial intervention from Scottish nationalists after their shipbuilding enterprises in the north.
Greg Clark (Tunbridge Wells) (Con)
As my right hon. Friend pointed out, no cars with internal combustion engines can be sold after 2030, so, if we do not have battery manufacturing in this country, we risk not having car manufacturing in it. Do the Government have a strategy, as they did until 2019, to ensure that we manufacture batteries and cars? In the case of Britishvolt, will they work with the administrators, as they did when British Steel went into administration, to find a buyer who can take it out of administration and into production?
Graham Stuart
I thank my right hon. Friend, before whom I appeared this morning on the subject of delivering nuclear power, for which I noticed there were no Scottish nationalists present. He is absolutely right about the need to have those batteries in place and, as I have said, that is what the automotive transformation fund, among others, is designed to do. The automotive sector generated £58.7 billion in turnover and £14 billion in GVA in 2021 and we are committed to ensuring that it goes forward successfully. I look forward to working with the former Secretary of State to make sure that we do have those factories in this country, which is absolutely vital to make sure that, on British roads, there are zero-emission vehicles that are produced here and that jobs are created here as a result of that.