Trade, Exports, Innovation and Productivity

Debate between Huw Merriman and Rebecca Pow

Wednesday 13th January 2016 Commons Chamber

[Huw Merriman (Bexhill and Battle) (Con)]

This being a debate on productivity, may I be innovative by delivering my output in less than the 10 minutes you, Madam Deputy Speaker, have given me?

I congratulate the SNP on the choice of debate. I have learned much—for example, from the hon. Member for Livingston (Hannah Bardell), that the overdraft was created in Scotland. That could be the death knell of a thousand jokes referring to the frugal habits of the Scottish people.

I am disappointed, however, by the motion’s negativity about the UK’s trade and export performance. Between 2009 and 2012, the UK’s exports increased by 23%, despite the global recession making it a horrible time for world trade. These results have been delivered through the Government targeting exports to new growth markets such as China, Brazil, Russia and India, where the British kitemark for quality is recognised and revered. The Prime Minister and other Ministers have made export trips across the globe with businesses from UK plc. That shows the commitment of this Government to trade and exports across the globe. I welcome the ambitious target from my Government of doubling the UK’s exports to £1 trillion by 2020. This will require an extra 100,000 companies to be exporting by 2020.

This having been a five-hour debate, I will avoid repetition by referring to what we have done in my constituency to advance a new product that we hope will be the poster child of exciting new export growth. Within these shores, we produce one of the great liquor exports—a drink that puts colour in the cheeks and rings on fingers, and is toasted across the world. I refer of course to English sparkling wine. The English sparkling wine industry is growing rapidly, making £78 million in 2014 and £100 million in 2015. There are now 470 registered vineyards in England and Wales. In 2014, we produced 6.3 million bottles of sparkling wine—an increase of 42% on the previous year.

Plans are currently in place to register the name “Sussex” as a kitemark brand to compete with champagne across the world. In blind tastings we are beating the great champagne houses at their own game. We would not find the French Government hosting an export reception in Spain and pouring cava, but that is what the UK has previously done in its embassies across the world. I am pleased that under this Government that attitude has changed. Our Government and our embassies are now promoting English sparkling wine as well as other food and drink produce from across the UK.

By reducing corporation tax, setting a permanent investment allowance and providing a research and development tax credit scheme, this Government are allowing businesses such as the wine sector to invest, innovate, export, and grow.

[Rebecca Pow]

Might my hon. Friend make reference to the Great British food unit that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is setting up and our long-term plan for promoting British food abroad? That has already made great strides, with chicken legs going to China and pigs’ trotters following, and I have to mention cider from Taunton Deane. There is so much scope to what he is discussing, and perhaps he could include a bit more of it.

[Huw Merriman]

I thank my hon. Friend for placing that point on the record. I am very happy to be the market trader for every single constituency food and drink product, but perhaps I should move on because time does not allow.

I welcome any debate that allows the House to consider how we can make UK plc more productive. I also welcome the Minister’s recognition that UK productivity needs to be enhanced. I take the firm view that a Government who recognise that more has to be done will be a Government who deliver on that front. The UK’s productivity is—to coin an unfortunate phrase, currently, in my vocabulary—our Achilles heel. I welcome the Business Secretary’s launch of a productivity plan to correct this. While the UK’s productivity rate means that it takes a UK worker five hours to produce what a German worker could deliver in four hours, it is also fair to reflect that the UK’s growing employment numbers could be seen to distort productivity rates. As productivity is the measure of production output over input of employees, it is no surprise that the creation of 2 million additional jobs in the UK in the past five years has rendered our productivity lower than that of France, which has produced a lower number of new jobs in the same period than the region of Yorkshire. The key is to upskill these new jobs to become more high skilled and more productive, and this will occur over time.

As a member of the Transport Committee, I would like to focus on the role that capital investment in transport can play in increasing the UK’s productivity. The £60 billion of capital investment dedicated this term to road and rail investment has the ability to improve productivity by enhancing connectivity and bringing workers and businesses closer to their workplace and marketplace. In this respect, it is essential that we look to these projects not just for their transport benefits but for the regeneration that they can bring. In my community, my right hon. Friend the Member for Hastings and Rye (Amber Rudd) and I have been campaigning to deliver high-speed rail from London to Hastings and Bexhill. On that route, it takes two hours to travel from London, while the similar distance to Milton Keynes from the capital can be covered in just over 30 minutes.