UK Automotive and Components Sector

Lord Beamish Excerpts

Wednesday 9th September 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Leong (Lab)]

My Lords, the United Kingdom is a trading nation—we trade with every country across the world. We are doing free trade deals right across the globe, the recent one, obviously, being with India and with the Gulf countries. We are a trading nation, and we have to support our manufacturers and companies to trade seamlessly and easily throughout the world.

[Lord Beamish (Lab)]

My Lords, I begin by declaring an interest in that, like the Minister, I own a Jaguar Land Rover car. The Minister said that government procurement should be competitive, but in France or Germany, for example, no government Minister would get in a foreign-made car. What more can the Government do centrally on procurement, but also in insisting, for example, that local authorities and police forces buy British?

[Lord Leong (Lab)]

I assure my noble friend that in the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, all our ministerial cars are manufactured in the United Kingdom. I am sure that I speak for other departments as well.