The Growth Plan

Debate between James Cartlidge and Kwasi Kwarteng

Friday 23rd September 2022 Commons Chamber

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

My statement announced measures to help people across the income scale. We are very focused on growth. What I said is that we should not indulge in a fight on redistributing something small that we should be trying to grow—that is where our focus is.

[James Cartlidge (South Suffolk) (Con)]

I congratulate my right hon. Friend on his statement and his new position. He knows that to increase output he needs capacity in the labour market, which is extremely tight, so he will come under huge pressure to loosen immigration rules. May I urge him instead to focus on the economically inactive to ensure they get support? Is it not the case that if those who have been written off, because of mild mental ill health, anxiety and all the rest of it, get the right support, it is in their interest and in the interest of their self-esteem to get back to work?

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. There is a huge pool of talent that needs to be brought into the labour market. Every Government, and our Government in particular, should be focused on trying to bring more people into the labour market.

Offshore Wind Transmission Connections

Debate between James Cartlidge and Kwasi Kwarteng

Thursday 5th November 2020 Commons Chamber

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

I fully appreciate my hon. Friend’s point. We want to expedite this process, but we are talking about very expensive infrastructure and about redesigning or tweaking the regulatory framework in order to accommodate that investment. These things take time, but it is absolutely right for him and other MPs to hold the Government’s feet to the fire. That is entirely legitimate, and he has done a great job on that.

[James Cartlidge]

It is brilliant how the Minister is engaging with us on this subject. On timing, we feel that there is an issue about legislation, and if we are to reform the regulatory framework as quickly as we are pushing ahead with output targets, we may need legislation in the forthcoming Queen’s Speech. We are ready to help in any way we can to ensure that we get something ready quickly.

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

Perhaps regrettably, the subjects of the Queen’s Speech are beyond my pay grade, as people say, and I cannot possibly divulge what will be in the speech in that context, because frankly I do not know. However, my hon. Friend makes a serious point, and any subsequent legislation from BEIS, or that I try to introduce to the House, must consider the question of the regulatory regime and the environment through which we can develop the offshore network system. We are looking at that issue and taking it seriously.

Company Transparency (Carbon in Supply Chains) Bill

Debate between James Cartlidge and Kwasi Kwarteng

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

[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.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between James Cartlidge and Kwasi Kwarteng

Tuesday 22nd October 2019 Commons Chamber

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

As a result of the Government’s support, the UK is a world leader in offshore wind and a leader in tackling climate change. The third contracts for difference auction in 2019 delivered 5.5 GW of new offshore wind capacity, and the price was £39 per megawatt-hour, which was two thirds less than just four years ago. Our sector deal also paves the way to increase exports fivefold to £2.6 billion a year by 2030.

[James Cartlidge]

In East Anglia, we want to be champions of clean growth and are very proud that off our coast we are generating 52% of this country’s offshore wind output, but we want to go much further. Can my right hon. Friend assure me that the national grid will be able to keep pace and that we will support technology such as battery storage that will enable us to make the most of our natural asset?

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

My hon. Friend can rest assured that the Government continue to upgrade and invest in the electricity system to ensure that it can deliver additional generation. Of course, battery storage technology and other forms of storage are at the centre of any strategy to reach the net zero carbon target.

Education Funding

Debate between James Cartlidge and Kwasi Kwarteng

Tuesday 13th November 2018 Commons Chamber

[Kwasi Kwarteng (Spelthorne) (Con)]

I am pleased to follow the hon. Member for Bethnal Green and Bow (Rushanara Ali). There is a sense of déjà vu in these debates about public services. We have rehearsed these arguments over many years, but I still find it extraordinary that when we try to bring a degree of order and sanity to public finances, the Labour party—which wrecked the economy and completely destroyed the public finances—makes the specious argument that we have somehow wrecked public services. In fact, we have preserved the ability of this country to meet the level of public service requirement that our constituents and the country expect, by having a sound footing on the economy. It is ridiculous that the Labour party should constantly harp on about devastating cuts when we had to save the economy.

[James Cartlidge]

My hon, Friend is making a typically robust speech. This debate is about the next generation. Surely the moral point is that it is precisely the people in education today—in our schools and colleges—who will have to repay the national debt that will be accumulated if we are not prudent and careful with public expenditure. Does my hon. Friend agree?

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

I am delighted that my hon. Friend is talking about public finance, because we also have to talk about education and look at the record of the previous Labour Administration. In the course of effectively destroying the public finances and leaving us with the biggest deficit in our peacetime history, Labour presided over an absolute fall in standards in our schools. This has been well documented by the programme for international student assessment tables and other international records. It was the case—[Interruption.]

--- Later in debate ---

[James Cartlidge]

I was referring to what I have heard in my constituency. That was obviously not specific to the hon. Lady’s case, about which I cannot possibly comment. I am simply saying, given the feedback I have had, that although there are issues of deprivation, there are also parents who are not taking seriously enough their responsibility to read to their children, which is leaving them with lower standards. We have to say that, because it has truth in it, I am afraid.

I do agree with the hon. Lady about social mobility. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State is absolutely right about the importance of education spending. It is the one form of public expenditure that can ultimately enable people to better themselves, rise up in life, and go on and make the most of their natural talents. Obviously we all support school funding, and we want to see our schools adequately funded.

It is shocking when we hear a speech from an Opposition Front Bencher that does not mention the way in which the cake is divided. There are schools in counties across England facing this problem and many different political representations have been made, but overwhelmingly the shire counties receive a very poor share of the cake. We can increase the whole thing, but if we want to see more spending in Suffolk, we have to change the formula. That is why I am incredibly grateful to the Government for going through the pain and the difficult calculations to come to a formula, which, when it comes in, will see my schools in South Suffolk receive an average of 5.1% more funding. That is generous, and it will enable us to give more support to the children we have been talking about.

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

Will my hon. Friend enlighten the House about the fact that all these plans would make no sense if the economy was wrecked once again, as the Labour party is too often wont to do?

[Mike Kane]

One hit wonder!