Gas Prices and Energy Suppliers
Debate between Jack Dromey and Kwasi Kwarteng(3 years, 3 months ago)
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Kwasi Kwarteng
Absolutely. My hon. Friend will know that we have some really exciting floating offshore wind projects in the Celtic sea that I am very pleased to see being developed. She is also right to observe that during the last Labour Government, we did absolutely nothing whatsoever to ensure security of energy supply or its diversity.
Jack Dromey (Birmingham, Erdington) (Lab)
An Erdington care worker with two children was close to tears when she said to me:
“I worked so hard throughout the covid crisis. Now I am facing my universal credit being cut, a tax increase and soaring energy bills. Jack, why are they going ahead with the cut to universal credit? Do they even begin to understand how difficult life is for people like me?”
Is she wrong?
Kwasi Kwarteng
The massive increase in energy prices is a global effect. I completely understand that people are facing issues this winter that were not foreseen maybe six months ago, but this Government have rigorously focused on protecting the most vulnerable customers in the energy market and we are absolutely focused on getting Britain back to work. That is why our unemployment rate is one of the lowest in the G7 at 4.7%. In France, it is 8%. We are creating jobs and we are keeping the economy going.
Vauxhall at Ellesmere Port and Battery Manufacturing Strategy
Debate between Jack Dromey and Kwasi Kwarteng(3 years, 9 months ago)
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Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.
Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
Kwasi Kwarteng
I am happy to give my right hon. and learned Friend that assurance—that is exactly what we are trying to do. We are talking to local communities and local leaders about various sites up and down the country where we can site gigafactories. I am very conscious of the fact that Coventry, given its history and that of the midlands, would be an excellent place in which such a factory could be located.
Jack Dromey (Birmingham, Erdington) (Lab) [V]
For half a century, the GKN plant in Erdington has manufactured world-class components—the drive shafts and the prop shafts—for our 800,000-strong automotive industry. Melrose, which took over GKN three years ago, has now announced its intention to close the Erdington plant and to export the 519 highly skilled jobs in the plant to continental Europe, in breach of assurances given at the time of takeover. Will the Secretary of State, who has agreed to meet us on Thursday of this week, work with us—the workforce, their union, Unite, and myself—on alternatives to closure? Any strategy for the transformation of the industry to an electric future will vitally require high-value components, and those high-value components should be built here in Britain.
Kwasi Kwarteng
I recall that I gave that pledge during questions on the Floor of the House, and I am delighted that I will be seeing the hon. Gentleman, and others, on Thursday, to see what can be done on this critical issue.