Electric Vehicle Battery Production

Lindsay Hoyle Excerpts

Wednesday 18th January 2023 Commons Chamber

[Graham Stuart]

I thank my right hon. Friend, whose economic insights I always value and appreciate. However, we are committed to electric and zero-emission vehicles and we will not stimulate investment in those sectors by removing the mandates that drive consumer choice and have led to such a significant change in our road transport emissions. We are going to have even more ambitious steps.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the SNP spokesperson.

[Alan Brown (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (SNP)]

I express sympathy with all those affected by the job losses, but this is an abject failure of the mythical levelling-up agenda. Unfortunately, that should not come as a surprise. It has always irritated me that the Tories claim that they are the ones to level up communities—the very communities that they devastated in the first place.

Just over a year ago, the former, former Prime Minister was boasting about the construction of Britishvolt’s gigafactory. He said that it would create 3,000 direct jobs and 5,000 supply-chain jobs, and support the production of 300,000 batteries for car production. That meant putting our faith in a company with no pedigree, no assets except a field and no products to deliver a £4 billion factory—and that with one owner with a conviction for fraud. We know that the Government do not care about paying taxes, but that is akin to awarding a ferry contract to a company with no ferries. When did the Government do due diligence? When did they realise that there was a problem and what actions did they take? When will we see a coherent strategy for battery production, EV manufacturing, the roll-out of charging points across the UK and, importantly, hydrogen vehicle manufacturing and green hydrogen production?

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[Graham Stuart]

I thank my right hon. Friend, before whom I appeared this morning on the subject of delivering nuclear power, for which I noticed there were no Scottish nationalists present. He is absolutely right about the need to have those batteries in place and, as I have said, that is what the automotive transformation fund, among others, is designed to do. The automotive sector generated £58.7 billion in turnover and £14 billion in GVA in 2021 and we are committed to ensuring that it goes forward successfully. I look forward to working with the former Secretary of State to make sure that we do have those factories in this country, which is absolutely vital to make sure that, on British roads, there are zero-emission vehicles that are produced here and that jobs are created here as a result of that.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Chair of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee.

[Darren Jones (Bristol North West) (Lab)]

The Americans have announced significant subsidies for industry under the Inflation Reduction Act, and the European Union is responding by streamlining state aid rules and announcing its own subsidies for industry in the European Union. Surely the Minister must recognise that businesses are being attracted to the US and the EU, away from the UK. What is he going to do about it?

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[Graham Stuart]

My hon. Friend is a shining example of how the trade envoy programme can allow Members of this House to gain a deep understanding of other countries, engage with their Governments, and see in context how engagement with another country and its industries can contribute to the success of our own, to the mutual benefit of both countries concerned.

[Mr Speaker]

That completes it—apart from Jim Shannon.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I thank the Minister very much for his answers to all those questions and for the industrious method that he is using to try to find a way forward. Will he outline how he intends to secure production of batteries for the industry and secure access for the future, as we are paying an excess because of our reliance on foreign entities? British battery production must be supported at all times. In my constituency of Strangford there is much interest in battery storage, and indeed in production, if possible. Northern Ireland wants to be a part of that. Will the Minister outline how all regions of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland can play their part in electric battery production?