Oral Answers to Questions

Julia Lopez Excerpts

Thursday 15th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

I call the acting shadow Secretary of State.

[Julia Lopez (Hornchurch and Upminster) (Con)]

It is British Beauty Week—I can see you have been celebrating, Madam Deputy Speaker, and I am sure the Secretary of State has been, too—but it is tough out there for our salons. The industry lost one in five employees last year, which is the largest loss of any job type in the UK. Many will have been young people starting their careers in the industry, and few salons can afford to employ and train them because they are getting hammered by the jobs tax, soaring business rates and higher utility bills. What hope is the Prime Minister offering them?

[Jonathan Reynolds]

I notice the hon. Lady did not go first on British Beauty Week to me, but to you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and that is fair. British Beauty Week is an important moment, not least to celebrate the contribution of the sector and the, I believe, over 5,000 new apprentices starting in the sector in every corner of the UK this year.

The hon. Lady in effect asks what the big economic story in the UK is, and I would say that the hope comes from the fact that, despite the challenges that exist in the global economy around the world, the economy under this Government is clearly performing more strongly than it did for 14 years under the Tories. My proof points for that are that wages are rising faster than prices and, crucially, that GDP is rising not just overall, but per head, as opposed to the modest increases under the Conservatives, which were really from population increases and large-scale immigration. An economy performing more strongly is in the interests of every business. On the opportunities for young people, there are the tax and fiscal incentives I have mentioned, with the further agenda coming through the Milburn review.

--- Later in debate ---

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

I call the shadow Secretary of State.

[Julia Lopez (Hornchurch and Upminster) (Con)]

The Secretary of State confessed last month that business leaders have urged him not to return to the political uncertainty around our relationship with the EU. The Prime Minister has now completely ignored him, and them, and says that the UK could pursue a customs union or a single market, or go all the way back in. He clearly was not in the 2017 to 2019 Parliament; he has barely been in this one. Will the Secretary of State tell businesses what the Prime Minister’s preferred option is?

[Jonathan Reynolds]

I am grateful for that question. I am proud of the trade deals that this Government have done with the rest of the world—we have talked about India, the Gulf, South Korea and Switzerland—and we have retained membership of the comprehensive and progressive agreement for trans-Pacific partnership. However, there is uncertainty from action taken on the European side; that is the Prime Minister’s point. The “Made in Europe” agenda is one of great uncertainty for UK businesses. It is primarily about automative and aerospace at this stage, but it runs through some 50 different bits of EU legislation. The Prime Minister is right to have the aspiration for a closer trading relationship with the EU—I support that entirely—that is consistent with our work with the rest of the world. We must get to a point where we remove uncertainty by getting clarity on what this will mean for the long-term future of our relationship with the European Union.

[Julia Lopez]

The Secretary of State could not say what the Prime Minister’s preferred relationship is, and I think that is because the Prime Minister himself does not actually have a clue. Today, the Business Secretary trumpeted the free trade agreement struck with India; he took northern mayors, and a rep from Man City, on his trip this week to expand that. Sir Keir Starmer spoke about his pride and relief at telling Jaguar Land Rover workers that he had struck a trade deal on cars with America that would save their jobs. Those deals are possible because we are not in the EU. Can the Secretary of State guarantee that in the UK-EU trade talks that are under way, the Prime Minister will offer no concessions that could jeopardise our non-EU trade deals?

[Jonathan Reynolds]

First, we took 200 businesses to India; the mayors took their own delegation. The Manchester City representative came with the Mayor of Greater Manchester, rather than with me. I wish to put that on the record to avoid any lack of clarity. A lot of what the Conservative Government promised on trade but were not able to deliver has been delivered by this Government, and of course I am proud of that. The fact is that the Prime Minister is right to have that aspiration for a closer trading relationship—seven of our top-10 trading partners are other EU member states—and to seek clarity for the future. That is what he is doing, and I support him in that.