The Growth Plan
Debate between Kwasi Kwarteng and Jeremy Wright(2 years, 2 months ago)
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Kwasi Kwarteng
We are discussing support for off-grid properties where people rely on heating oil and other forms of energy. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy will be discussing it as well, and will set out the position in more detail very soon.
Sir Jeremy Wright (Kenilworth and Southam) (Con)
I welcome the short-term support for energy costs that the Government are pursuing. I also welcome their focus on longer-term growth, but does my right hon. Friend agree that growth is dependent on the confidence not only of businesses, but of the households that spend on the products and services those businesses create? Does he also agree that that confidence will evaporate if people’s mortgage costs increase further than the benefits they gain from tax reductions? Will he do all he can to make sure that does not happen?
Kwasi Kwarteng
My right hon. and learned Friend is right. The two interventions I announced today—the energy intervention and reducing the tax burden—will have a positive impact on inflation. He is quite right that there is a risk in respect of interest rates. I regularly speak to the Governor of the Bank of England to seek his views on that. We work closely together and are focused on alleviating the burden on our constituents.
Vauxhall at Ellesmere Port and Battery Manufacturing Strategy
Debate between Kwasi Kwarteng and Jeremy Wright(3 years, 9 months ago)
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Kwasi Kwarteng
As the hon. Lady will have seen from these questions, we are looking at a number of sites. We are absolutely committed to having at least one gigafactory site, if not more—I think we need more than one—before the next election. I could not be clearer about our commitment to the transition and ultimately to reaching net zero by 2050.
Jeremy Wright (Kenilworth and Southam) (Con) [V]
I am sure my right hon. Friend will agree that the best sites for gigafactories are those where the automotive sector is strong, transport connections are good and battery technology development is already a feature of the local economy. In that regard, I am entirely with my hon. Friend the Member for Rugby (Mark Pawsey) in saying that the Coventry airport site is an excellent one—coincidentally, it is, despite its name, in my constituency. My right hon. Friend would be very welcome to visit at any point, and I am grateful for his encouraging words about it. May I ask him also to accept that sites, however good, are no good without occupants? Will he use the resources he has talked about, and his time and that of his officials, to identify the right sites early and work with those promoting them to secure occupants—companies that manufacture batteries on site—as soon as we can?
Kwasi Kwarteng
I am happy to give my right hon. and learned Friend that assurance—that is exactly what we are trying to do. We are talking to local communities and local leaders about various sites up and down the country where we can site gigafactories. I am very conscious of the fact that Coventry, given its history and that of the midlands, would be an excellent place in which such a factory could be located.