Greg Smith
Main Page: Greg Smith (Conservative - Mid Buckinghamshire)Department Debates - View all Greg Smith's debates with the HM Treasury
(1 month, 1 week ago)
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Rachel Reeves
I thank my hon. Friend, and other MPs who speak for constituencies with automotive businesses, for their representations. As she said, we are bringing forward the review of the zero emission vehicle mandate, so it will now take place this year—a year earlier than planned. In that, we will look at a slower phase-in of those targets to bring us closer, for example, to where the EU is. Automotive is the crown jewel of British manufacturing. We must not let targets damage our sector; that would lead to money being paid out to foreign companies, such as those in China, that produce more electric vehicles. That is why we have made the changes, and why we are having the review.
Greg Smith (Mid Buckinghamshire) (Con)
Mid Buckinghamshire is home to a number of businesses that are part of the supply chain for the aerospace and defence industries. Those businesses rely on steel that is categorically not made here in the United Kingdom. If the Department for Business and Trade fails to rectify the cliff edge that is coming on steel tariffs, what will the Treasury do to backfill that and ensure that many businesses, such as those in my constituency, do not become completely unviable?
Rachel Reeves
The hon. Gentleman makes an important point about making sure that we get the balance right. We are supporting steel made in Britain, which the previous Government neglected; we are backing it through the nationalisation of the steelworks in Scunthorpe and more support for Port Talbot and Sheffield, but I also recognise the challenge that some British companies will face. This is why, for example, as is shown by the work that we are doing with the EU on the upcoming EU-UK summit, we want a steel alliance, to reduce tariffs on steel.