British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme

Julie Minns Excerpts

Thursday 16th April 2026 Commons Chamber

[Peter Kyle]

I thank the hon. Gentleman, who is a friend, for his kind words. We have designed a scheme that is for Great Britain, but we have not forgotten Northern Ireland—I do not think he would expect me to forget Northern Ireland in any aspect of my work. We are working with the Northern Ireland Assembly to ensure that we have a scheme that is appropriate and matches the scale of the opportunities that BICS presents to Great Britain, so that all parts of the United Kingdom can benefit in one way or another and the benefits are felt by those fantastic manufacturers he mentioned.

[Ms Julie Minns (Carlisle) (Lab)]

The Carlisle of my childhood was a thriving industrial hub of textiles, engineering and food manufacturing sectors, which were all sadly decimated by successive Conservative Governments. We do, however, remain home to the world’s oldest biscuit factory and the UK’s last tyre manufacturing facility in Pirelli. Can the Secretary of State set out how the scheme announced today will ensure that those businesses that remain in Carlisle and across the UK will continue to be able to export their products abroad?

[Peter Kyle]

My hon. Friend speaks eloquently about the challenges that industry has faced in the de-industrialising period of a previous Conservative Government but also the opportunities that are there for the re-industrialising purpose of this Labour Government. Some of the companies she mentioned are, I imagine, in sectors that BICS will be very meaningfully able to support. I hope those companies will work with my Department to ensure that implementation is as effective as possible, and the eligibility checker, which will go live before too long, will mean that those companies can check their eligibility directly.

In general terms, we are investing in industry in our country. We are working tirelessly with aerospace, automotive and other key parts of the industrial landscape. The fact that Ensus was mothballed and not allowed to go bust shows that we are thinking very deeply and carefully about resilience and economic growth, and not just for today but for the long term.