Oral Answers to Questions

Julian Knight Excerpts

Tuesday 12th June 2018 Commons Chamber

The Secretary of State was asked—

[Julian Knight (Solihull) (Con)]

1. What steps he is taking to support economic growth while decreasing emissions.

[Colin Clark (Gordon) (Con)]

8. What steps he is taking to support economic growth while decreasing emissions.

[The Minister for Energy and Clean Growth (Claire Perry)]

My hon Friends and the House will agree that we should be proud of the UK’s progress in cutting emissions while driving economic growth. Since 1990, we have reduced our greenhouse gas emissions by over 40% while growing the economy by over two thirds—the best performance per capita in the G7. And we will, as part of our modern industrial strategy, continue to exploit the opportunities for future growth across the UK through our clean growth grand challenge.

[Julian Knight]

As we rightly move towards eliminating the internal combustion engine in all new cars from 2040, does the Minister agree that, in the short to medium term, it is important to jobs and growth that we recognise the role of clean diesel engines such as those in the cars that roll off the production in my local car plant?

[Claire Perry]

My hon. Friend rightly champions the incredible employer in his constituency. He knows that we are right to move towards eliminating internal combustion engines from our roads, but we must do it in a managed way and ensure that we preserve those jobs and particularly the investment in clean diesel during the transition to zero-emission vehicles. I know that there have been announcements today of job losses in his constituency, which will be concerning. However, they are part of the manufacturing plan that has been announced.