Oral Answers to Questions

Iain Wright Excerpts

Thursday 8th December 2011 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and the point is very well made. There is now a remarkable consensus. We have had evidence to the inquiry that I initiated into executive pay from, among others, the CBI, showing a high level of social responsibility and an acknowledgment that much executive pay has been disproportionate and unrelated to performance in the past. We intend to reform that.

[Mr Iain Wright (Hartlepool) (Lab)]

Mr Speaker,

“Germany has had an industrial strategy as well as an economic strategy. Applied with huge consistency of purpose. This has greatly helped German industry plan for the future. Let us compare this with the position in the UK…In terms of industrial policy there are serious deficiencies.”

Those are not my words, but those of Lord Heseltine in a speech only a couple of weeks ago. Given yesterday’s dire figures from the Office for National Statistics, which showed the biggest output drop in manufacturing since April, and three times the fall forecast by analysts, is it not time the Secretary of State listened to Lord Heseltine and provided a comprehensive well-planned industrial strategy for the long term that supports British manufacturing and helps it become more competitive?

[Vince Cable]

I often wonder which Opposition Front Bencher will be courageous enough to talk about manufacturing, reminding the House that we lost 1.7 million jobs in manufacturing in 13 years of a Labour Government, and manufacturing’s share of the economy shrank from 18% to 10%. We are addressing that, and I certainly listen to Lord Heseltine, who has an office in my Department. We frequently interact, and he has some very good suggestions.

We are pursuing support for innovation through the advanced technology innovation centre, pursuing support for advanced apprenticeships, on which we are doing a great deal, and co-financing private investment through the regional growth fund and the Green investment bank, which is due to start. As I announced yesterday, we are also considerably increasing support for supply chains using a new £125 million fund.