Lord Spellar
Main Page: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Mr Davey
My hon. Friend will be delighted to know that in the Chancellor’s Budget we announced a three-year moratorium on regulations for micros. We have also set up the red tape challenge. We are dealing not just with future regulation but with the stock of regulation, an exercise that was long overdue.
Mr John Spellar (Warley) (Lab)
5. What steps he has taken to support the engineering industry; and if he will make a statement.
The Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Mr Mark Prisk)
The Government are actively supporting engineering and manufacturing by boosting innovation, increasing business investment, improving skills and encouraging exports.
Mr Spellar
I thank the Minister for the departmental mission statement, but the reality is that the Thameslink contract is being given to Siemens without even getting the company to build in the UK. The Minister cannot hide behind EU rules, because the French buy only from France and the Germans buy only from Germany—and the last time I looked they were in the EU. Will he stand up for British industry at last, meet the Transport Secretary before the contract is signed and ensure that we keep train building in the UK at its historic home in Derby?
Mr Prisk
We are concerned for those workers in Derby and that is why we have already taken prompt action. I welcome the support of local Members, but I say to the right hon. Gentleman that the contract’s tendering rules were set in 2008 and you were responsible as a party for the first two years of the contract. I also remind the right hon. Gentleman that 1.7 million jobs were lost in manufacturing under the previous Labour Government.