Ian C. Lucas
Main Page: Ian C. Lucas (Labour - Wrexham)Department Debates - View all Ian C. Lucas's debates with the Department for Education
(8 years, 10 months ago)
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Sajid Javid
The hon. Gentleman will know that the universal credit plans are essential to make sure that work pays, and I would have thought he would support that. On the issues that it might raise for small businesses and the self-employed, it is important that we look at the net burden of regulation on businesses and keep reducing it.
Ian C. Lucas (Wrexham) (Lab)
3. If he will implement an active and interventionist industrial strategy to assist economic growth in the UK.
The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and President of the Board of Trade (Sajid Javid)
The biggest challenge facing the economy is improving productivity, and that challenge varies by sector. Dialogue with business, including through the sector councils, as part of our industrial approach, is key to addressing this issue.
Ian C. Lucas
As a member of the last Labour Government, I am very proud that the Labour party, in government, established the Automotive Council, which has provided the framework for the most successful decade in UK car production for a very long time. Will the Secretary of State confirm that he will not, on the altar of ideology, endanger that success?
Sajid Javid
I look forward to working with the Automotive Council. In fact, I have already had a meeting with it and I told it something the hon. Gentleman would agree with, which is that the automotive industry is one of the brightest stars in the constellation of British business.