Company Transparency (Carbon in Supply Chains) Bill

James Cartlidge Excerpts

2nd reading & 2nd reading: House of Commons
Friday 16th October 2020 Commons Chamber

[Karen Bradley]

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. I can tell my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch with absolute conviction that companies and boards are taking this matter seriously. Would anybody wish to be a board director signing off a report saying that they had taken no steps to eradicate modern slavery in their supply chain? I do not think any of us would want that.

I was thinking about what I could do usefully to assist the Government in dealing with carbon, because it is very easy for businesses to offshore carbon. I am not suggesting that UK businesses do that or choose to have products manufactured in high carbon-emitting countries to avoid carbon emission restrictions in the UK. It is absolutely right that this country was the first to legislate for net zero by 2050. That is fantastic, and this country should be incredibly proud of it. We are also hosting COP26, which again gives the UK an opportunity to show global leadership. The Prime Minister, in his recent address to the United Nations, said:

“we have a responsibility to our planet to lead in this way and to do this.”

I say to my right hon. Friend the Minister that this is a simple measure that companies understand. It would allow us to shine a light through supply chains and see what carbon emissions companies are offshoring and what they are doing to bring products for sale in the UK without giving proper regard to carbon emissions.

Now, I am a realist as well as a former Whip—

[James Cartlidge (South Suffolk) (Con)]

Same thing.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Minister for Business, Energy and Clean Growth (Kwasi Kwarteng)]

I thank my right hon. Friend the Member for Staffordshire Moorlands (Karen Bradley) for giving the House an opportunity to debate this extremely important issue. I am extremely happy to respond on behalf of the Government.

I wholeheartedly agree with my right hon. Friend on the importance of transparency in supply chains. I know the great work she did when she was an Under-Secretary in the Home Office, under the guidance of my right hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May) who was, at the time, the Home Secretary. That work was signal legislation. It had a huge impact and I think it is having a huge impact. It was a remarkable piece of legislation and I commend them for that.

The importance of highlighting the transparency of carbon emissions in supply chains is also extremely important. My right hon. Friend the Member for Staffordshire Moorlands will know that I always had an open-door policy. She saw me a number of times before the lockdown—before the new normal, as she put it—and, as far as I was concerned, we had a very constructive discussion on this issue. I will just say to her that whatever happens in the next five minutes she should continue to engage with the Department and me on this extremely important issue. There may be a number of differences between her policies and ours, but I think there is a strong common strategic objective which we should pursue together. I am therefore very open to having more conversations with her.

More broadly, the House will recognise that the UK has long been a leader in the fight against climate change. We have managed to do that while achieving impressive rates of economic growth. Between 1990 and 2018, the UK managed to reduce carbon emissions by 43% while growing the economy by 75%. As that has happened, the UK has decarbonised its economy at the fastest rate of all G20 countries since 2000. Our carbon emissions today are at their lowest level since the 19th century. Once again, I pay tribute to my right hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead. It was under her Administration that we passed the net zero carbon legislation last year which essentially made us world leaders, as my right hon. Friend the Member for Staffordshire Moorlands suggested.

[James Cartlidge]

I pay tribute to the work the Government are doing. Does the Minister not agree that the key is the development of offshore wind, particularly, of course, in East Anglia? Does he agree that a key issue is the ability to grow that sustainably by having a more joined-up infrastructure in wind farms?

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

After a number of years in the House, my hon. Friend shows himself very adept at crowbarring somewhat irrelevant issues, which are extremely pertinent to his constituency, into this narrow debate.