Oral Answers to Questions

Greg Smith Excerpts

Wednesday 4th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Dr Jamie Wallis (Bridgend) (Con)]

6. What steps her Department is taking to help increase the ease of doing business throughout the developing world.

[Greg Smith (Buckingham) (Con)]

12. What steps is her Department taking to promote the ease of doing business throughout the developing world.

[The Minister for Asia (Nigel Adams)]

The UK Government work in 35 low and middle-income countries to implement legal, regulatory and policy reforms to make it easy for business, including from the UK, to operate. Business-enabling environment reform was also discussed at the UK-Africa investment summit, which secured commercial deals between UK companies and African partners worth more than £6.5 billion.

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[Nigel Adams]

Indeed. This is a great opportunity for constituencies across all the nations of the UK. Leaving the EU provides an opportunity to explore the best ways to develop our trade and investment relationships across Africa. [Interruption.] Does the hon. Member for Brighton, Kemptown (Lloyd Russell-Moyle) want to intervene? The trade connect programme, announced at the Africa investment summit, will support African businesses to increase their presence in international markets while supporting UK firms to source products. This will benefit UK customers with more choice and quality and lower prices.

[Greg Smith]

I welcome my hon. Friend’s comments on the success of the Africa investment summit. Can he update the House on how we can further strengthen our economic partnerships with African nations?

[Nigel Adams]

I certainly can. My hon. Friend raises an important point. We are working with African countries to promote mutual prosperity. This incorporates a range of initiatives to increase trade and investment, including a new growth gateway, which will enable businesses to access the UK Government’s trade, investment and finance offer for Africa all in one place.

Oral Answers to Questions

Greg Smith Excerpts

Thursday 27th February 2020 Commons Chamber

[Saqib Bhatti (Meriden) (Con)]

13. What plans he has to support small and medium-sized businesses in bidding for Government contracts.

[Greg Smith (Buckingham) (Con)]

17. What plans he has to support small and medium-sized businesses in bidding for Government contracts.

[The Paymaster General (Penny Mordaunt)]

We have introduced measures to tackle barriers faced by SMEs in the procurement process. In the last financial year, we spent almost £2 billion more with SMEs than we did in the preceding year.

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[Penny Mordaunt]

I thank my hon. Friend for the opportunity to pay tribute to those business organisations, and it is great to see him in this place, with all his expertise in this area. Those organisations play a critical role, and we must listen to what they are saying and look at ways to increase the opportunities for all their members. We want to improve our communications and relationships with those organisations.

[Greg Smith]

Small businesses often tell me that late payments are a significant concern when bidding for not just Government contracts, but all contracts with large companies. What steps can my right hon. Friend outline to ensure that there is a level playing field for small businesses applying for Government contracts?

[Penny Mordaunt]

We want SMEs to have confidence that they can bid for work. The prompt payment measure, which was introduced last September, has been a key part of the Government’s work to focus on breaking down those barriers for small and medium-sized enterprises. Suppliers that do not comply with that will be struck off, and we have done that. There is more that we are looking at; my hon. Friend will know that there is debate about channelling some of the fines for those with poor practice into compensation for small enterprises.

European Union: Future Relationship

Greg Smith Excerpts

Thursday 27th February 2020 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

I am very grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his remarks. First, may I use this opportunity to place on the record my thanks to Mike Russell MSP from the Scottish Government for the work he has done, along with leaders from other devolved Administrations, in helping to shape our approach?

Of course, the Scottish Government and the Welsh Assembly Government will in some areas take a different view from the UK Government, but it is undoubtedly the case that our negotiating position is enhanced as a result of the conversations we have with our colleagues in the Scottish National party and the Scottish Government. Indeed, a number of changes have been made to our approach and to this document, following conversations I have had with the Scottish Government over the course of the past week.

It is also the case, however, that Scotland, like every part of the United Kingdom, will benefit hugely not just from our departure from the European Union but from the new trading relationships we will develop with other countries. It is the case, for example, that when we conclude a new free trade agreement with the United States, Scotland will be one of the sectors that benefits most from the new trading opportunities. It will also be the case, as the Scottish Government have themselves pointed out, that tens of thousands of new jobs will be created in north-east Scotland in the fishing sector as a direct result of our departure from the European Union—jobs that would not be created if we followed the SNP approach of staying in the common fisheries policy.

Ultimately, the greatest threat to the prosperity and security of the people of Scotland is the reckless approach the Scottish Government take towards the 2014 referendum and their determination to overturn the settled will of the Scottish people to stay in the United Kingdom. Their approach, I am afraid, would mean that we would have border posts at Berwick and they would not be able to use the pound sterling in Stirling. We must give that madness a miss.

[Greg Smith (Buckingham) (Con)]

I very much welcome my right hon. Friend’s statement. Does he agree that those who continue to peddle the line that we somehow need to tether ourselves to the EU’s rules and standards are in fact making a case to hold Britain back?

[Michael Gove]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right.

Oral Answers to Questions

Greg Smith Excerpts

Wednesday 12th February 2020 Commons Chamber

[James Sunderland (Bracknell) (Con)]

3. What recent economic assessment his Department has made of the value of trade between Scotland and the rest of the UK.

[Greg Smith (Buckingham) (Con)]

12. What recent economic assessment his Department has made of the value of trade between Scotland and the rest of the UK.

[The Secretary of State for Scotland (Mr Alister Jack)]

Busy day—[Hon. Members: “Ah.”] It appears I have woken a few people up.

Scottish exports to the rest of the UK increased in 2018 by £1.2 billion to £51.2 billion. As a result, the rest of the UK continues to be Scotland’s largest market for exports, accounting for three times the value of exports to the European Union.

[Mr Jack]

The Scottish Government’s own figures show that Scotland’s most important trading partner is the rest of the UK and, as my hon. Friend said, that is worth more than three times the trade with the other 27 EU countries combined. In other words, the Scottish Government’s figures show that over 60% of Scotland’s exports go to England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Indeed, I would argue that this is just one of the many benefits that Scotland has from being part of the United Kingdom.

[Greg Smith]

Given the excellent figures my right hon. Friend has just given, does he share my concern that the separatist agenda peddled by the SNP is a direct threat to Scottish jobs and that it would inevitably end up, if its dreams come true, in a hard border?

[Mr Jack]

I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend that Nicola Sturgeon’s separatist agenda is a real threat to Scotland’s jobs, businesses and the economy, and that is why I am against the First Minister’s demand for another independence referendum. We want 2020 to be a year of growth, stability and opportunity for Scotland and for the whole of the United Kingdom, whereas the SNP wants 2020 to be a year of more political wrangling and wasteful debate.

Transport Infrastructure

Greg Smith Excerpts

Tuesday 11th February 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

These will be the cleanest, greenest buses that the country has ever seen, but we will certainly make use of the clean bus fund.

[Greg Smith (Buckingham) (Con)]

May I urge my right hon. Friend and, indeed, anyone who seeks to celebrate the HS2 decision to keep central in their mind the blight that it will bring to communities up and down the route, not just on the landscape but on people’s lives? Throughout the enabling works so far, people have been left in severe financial hardship. Can we have an independent body with real power to scrutinise every decision that HS2 Ltd makes?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is entirely right in what he says. I speak as an MP for a seat on the route. As in his constituency, thousands of people have faced confusion and uncertainty about HS2, and it is vital that they are treated properly, which is why the construction commission will look at making sure that everyone is treated fairly.