(7 years, 3 months ago)
Commons ChamberLast week, we published the midlands engine strategy. It is further demonstration that this Government are committed to investing in the midlands, a region that has seen over 180,000 more people in employment since 2010.
I will indeed. My hon. Friend’s constituency, which includes Coalbrookdale, has a good claim to be the cradle of the first industrial revolution—[Interruption.] It is perhaps a disputed claim, but I think Abraham Darby, in 1709, was fairly early. However, now, Telford is at the heart of the fourth industrial revolution, as my hon. Friend says. The T54 site is proving to be a very important location for automotive sector supply chain.
Does the Secretary of State agree that one pivotal thing that needs to be in an industrial strategy for the west midlands is closing the skills gap that has held back the west midlands for too long, so that areas such as the black country can continue to work to become leading specialists in things such as aerospace, automotive and advanced manufacturing, which are critical to the agenda of the Conservative candidate for west midlands Mayor, Andy Street?
(7 years, 6 months ago)
Commons ChamberOf course steel is incredibly important, and it is important that it should have a bright future—we all want to see that. One thing I have been doing with the Minister for Climate Change and Industry, working closely with the steel industry on both the employer and trade union side, is to fund and bring together a strategic review, and the whole industry is coming together to work on it. That is expressly designed to inform our industrial strategy, so that we can look forward with confidence to a very successful steel industry.