Lord Moylan
Main Page: Lord Moylan (Conservative - Life peer)(5 days, 10 hours ago)
Lords ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)
The noble Lord hits on a very important point, but I emphasise to the House just how seriously the Government are taking this point. We have 88,000 public charge points in the UK and 920,000 domestic charge points, and all motorway service stations have them—I take the noble Lord’s point about rapid charging. That is why the Government are investing £400 million in the local electric vehicle infrastructure fund and are working with local authorities, which are in a position to look at the coverage in their areas, to co-ordinate with providers and make sure that we get the coverage that is required.
Lord Moylan (Con)
My Lords, I come back to the question asked by my noble friend Lord Mackinlay. It is not just that the volume of motor manufacturing in this country is starting to collapse, but profits are as well. Meanwhile, we see our fine British motor manufacturing industry being substituted by Chinese imports. How does this fit with the Government’s growth strategy, which the Prime Minister says is his top priority?
Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)
The Government have the £4 billion DRIVE35 programme supporting investment in zero-emission vehicle manufacturing R&D and the supply chain in the UK. We are working across the whole system looking at where gigafactories are located and, most importantly, working closely with the sector. I point out that we have an industrial strategy; I think that is a big advantage on where we were when we came into government.