"My Lords, would the Government’s steel strategy not have a better chance at success if government, as a customer, was buying British steel for rail, bridges, ships, buses and cars? Should we not be prioritising that to support the British steel industry and British steel-workers?..." Lord Spellar - View Speech
"My Lords, speaking of the supply chain, I want to reference the role of Sheffield Forgemasters, which was taken over by the Government with considerable extra investment, and yet when it comes to the small modular reactors we seem to be outsourcing a lot of the forging work to the …..." Lord Spellar - View Speech
"My Lords, is not the fundamental point that China was allowed into the WTO and then was allowed to relentlessly break its rules, trading unfairly with huge damage to our industrial manufacturing right the way across the West, with great social and political consequences? What assurances can the Minister give …..." Lord Spellar - View Speech
"My Lords, as we have just heard, there are a million youngsters who are not able to get into work. Many are university graduates, who then face the questions: “Have you got a degree? Have you got two years’ experience?”. How are they going to get two years’ experience if …..." Lord Spellar - View Speech
"My Lords, I welcome the comments from the Minister on challenging the bureaucracy. It is a shame that her predecessors in the Conservative Government and the Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition did not challenge it to ensure a much greater British content in renewable energy, and that we have become …..." Lord Spellar - View Speech
"I thank the Minister for that reply, but can she reflect on the fact that we are still getting replies from Ministers that their ability to preference British manufacturers, for example of buses, is constrained by the World Trade Organization and our agreements with the EU? Yet the United States …..." Lord Spellar - View Speech
"To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of WTO rules and EU regulations on their ability to prioritise British suppliers for public procurement...." Lord Spellar - View Speech
"My Lords, I ask the Minister to reflect on the irony of the Liberal Democrats raising the issue of water shortages in the south-east and south-west, when their party was at the forefront of campaigning against new reservoirs—..." Lord Spellar - View Speech
"My Lords, we are concentrating a lot on the impact of AI on outside industry. To what extent is the Civil Service looking at using AI in its own internal operations? In particular, what impact will it have on the increased headcount that we have post Covid?..." Lord Spellar - View Speech