Britain’s Industrial Future
Marie Rimmer Excerpts(2 years, 1 month ago)
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Ms Marie Rimmer (St Helens South and Whiston) (Lab)
Britain must have an industrial future. At the moment we see other G7 economies having a better recovery while our industries struggle and some of them unfortunately have to close. Once our industries are gone, they are gone, and the Government need to stop taking them for granted.
Our economy is too dependent on the London property market bubble. If we want to be a successful economic powerhouse, the Government must diversify our economy. Right now it feels as though all our eggs are in two baskets: services and property. Any future economic plan must have industry at the heart of it.
Britain should be at the forefront of manufacturing new technologies in batteries, electric cars, wind and other forms of energy. Our economy as it is set up is too vulnerable to shocks in particular sectors. Too much Government money is spent procuring ships, steel and trains from abroad. Why? We have the skills and experience to make them here at home.
Money that is spent on UK goods is reinvested here in our economy. Even if it costs slightly more, due to our higher standards and working conditions, taxpayer money spent here remains at home and helps to support jobs and our economy. British people will get more satisfaction travelling in trains, buses and ferries built here. Only last week, it was revealed that the new Mersey ferry is going to be predominantly built in the Netherlands. I ask the Government—why? Why would they not want to invest in jobs and manufacturing here at home?
Britain should be leading the world in shipbuilding and other sectors, but it is difficult to do that if the Government do not believe in our workers and our industries. It is a lot easier to set up a new service company than it is to bring back a steel plant or glass factory. Yet in order to be a major economy as we go further into the 21st century, we must maintain our industrial sector—and of course that requires good working relationships between management and workers.
Across the industrial sector, there needs to be much better collaboration between the public and private sectors to boost our economy. That is at the heart of the Labour plan to future-proof our economy. There are many important industries that need a bit of help and support in difficult times, and many have been mentioned in this debate. Steel, automotive, shipbuilding and glassmaking are hugely significant. Of course it is no surprise that I would plug glass, having worked in the industry for 39 years.
Glass will be the low-carbon global material of choice. Many modern buildings are made primarily of glass due to the fact that it is recyclable and does not have a huge impact on the environment. In St Helens, the Glass Futures project will provide research, development and innovation to the glass sector worldwide. The centre will find ways in which glass can be used in the future economy. Glass Futures will keep Britain at the top of the global glass industry. As the home of Pilkington’s glass, St Helens will be at the forefront of new, innovative techniques. The glass industry is one that we can all be proud of, and it will only go from strength to strength as new technologies are developed.
The best way for Britain to boost our industry is to make sure we are leading the way on new technologies and providing high-quality, sustainable jobs. We have heard successive Prime Ministers talk about the UK industrial strategy, but far too often, the answers they reach are short-term solutions to long-term problems. We must look forward to the future of industry and to a fairer and greener future. I am afraid that after 12 years, the Government seem to be out of ideas, but Labour has a plan to get our industrial sector back on track and, more than that, to keep it on track.
There have been three BEIS Secretaries this year alone and 11 since 2010. The industrial sector wants to work with a Government who will listen to it and provide stability. The Government need to listen to our plan, or get back—yet again—to the drawing board.
Energy-intensive Industries
Marie Rimmer Excerpts(2 years, 5 months ago)
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Judith Cummins (Bradford South) (Lab)
I beg to move,
That this House has considered support for energy intensive industries.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stringer. I am grateful that we have the opportunity to address the mounting problems currently facing energy-intensive industries. Over the past few months there has been increasing concern—turning to panic—about the energy crisis and the huge rises in gas and electricity bills. Households and families are struggling, as are many of our businesses.
As we all do in this place, I spend a significant amount of time in conversation with businesses and workers in my constituency and across the country, hearing about their concerns, anxieties and plans for the next few months and years. Those industries are the lifeblood of our economy, and those workers are the beating heart of this country’s wealth, growth, production and potential. Energy-intensive industries, such as steel, food manufacturing, chemicals and building materials, are fundamental to our economy. Those industries tell me, time and again, about rising energy prices. I am aware of case after case of businesses, having survived a very difficult few years during the pandemic, being brought to their knees by eyewatering energy prices.
Ms Marie Rimmer (St Helens South and Whiston) (Lab)
I thank my hon. Friend for securing the debate. Once energy-intensive industries are gone, it is very hard to get them back. Does she agree that the Government need to support our energy-intensive businesses, as other countries are doing, before it is too late?
Judith Cummins
I absolutely agree; these industries are fundamental to the future of our economy. The Minister can imagine my dismay when I raised one of the cases from my constituency with the Minister for Energy, Clean Growth and Climate Change, the right hon. Member for Chelsea and Fulham (Greg Hands), at Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy questions on 7 June, and I was told that my example was just an “extreme” case. Therefore, presumably, it was not worth his time addressing. The case in question is an energy-intensive business in my constituency, whose energy bills have risen from £7 million to £35 million. However, that is not an extreme case. In fact, industry after industry have been warning for months about the impending problems, and raising the alarm on the dire situation they now find themselves in.
Reducing Costs for Businesses
Marie Rimmer Excerpts(2 years, 11 months ago)
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Ms Marie Rimmer (St Helens South and Whiston) (Lab)
St Helens has been at the heart of the global glass industry for over 200 years and is, in fact, known as the world leader in glass. Glass is part of the past, present and future of our town. In fact, that security glass up there in the Chamber was produced in St Helens and erected by men—as it was at the time—from St Helens.
Pilkington glass, or Pilks to us locals, is a business that is part of our furniture. Pilks is a business that is close to my heart, as I spent a lot of years working there. Energy bills for Pilks and other energy-intensive businesses have skyrocketed. There are numbers and variances that the business can cope with—the Minister referred to that as a hedging strategy.
In April 2020, during the first lockdown, Pilks’ energy bills were £540,000 a month—just over half a million pounds. The average before the energy surge was around £1 million a month. These are acceptable business variances—a hedging strategy—yet in autumn last year, the price surged to £3.6 million a month. At that point, the industry asked for help from the Government and met the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. No support was given and there was no response. In December, the price surged to £5.4 million. The industry again asked for support. Once again, there was no support and no response. This is about not just Pilkington, but heavy industry.
As if the prices were not bad enough, Pilkington’s energy bills have now hit £8.2 million a month from an average of £600,000 a month. That is more than eight times higher than what they are used to paying. That is an unsustainable situation for Pilkington and its supply chain and for other heavy industry, not just gas production.
The Government need to support British glass and heavy industry. Glass customers are now looking to Europe for their glass—one of Pilkington’s largest customers is looking to Europe. It cannot compete. Why? Yes, energy prices are surging there, but the Governments there are working in partnership to share the burden with glass and other heavy industries. They are helping them when they need it—it is called partnership working. That is what partnership is about—not just gloating when things are going right but being there to help at times of heavy demand like this. Last year St Helens Council in the Liverpool city region awarded funding to pursue the Glass Futures project, which would provide research and development to revolutionise the global glass industry. Yes, this Government were involved in that. Glass is one of the most—
Ms Rimmer
I am sorry, Madam Deputy Speaker. We need help and we need help now.
Rating (Coronavirus) and Directors Disqualification (Dissolved Companies) Bill (First sitting)
Marie Rimmer Excerpts(3 years, 5 months ago)
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Jeff Smith
Q I am trying to get a picture of the scale of the issue. You mentioned that the Insolvency Service was involved in about 1,0000 cases in the last year. I appreciate that you said that that is a low number for the year. Then you said that there may be around 2,000 cases where the powers to investigate currently do not exist. That sounds like a significant increase in work for the Insolvency Service, and I wonder whether you think that it will be able to cope.
Stephen Pegge: I am not close enough to its work and resource. One thing that I would say is that the Insolvency Service has very good experience in these sorts of investigations. I would also say that the other element of work, if it has found problems that meet the threshold of evidence and it takes action to disqualify a director, does not necessarily need to involve a court process. In most cases, the Insolvency Service will be successful in getting an undertaking from the director involved to be disqualified. It then has the powers to put that into effect, but certainly people may want to consider whether the resources are sufficient to deal with the case.
The other point is that these are situations where dissolution has been successful. We are also looking to these measures to act, to a certain extent, as a deterrent, in order to make it less attractive for those looking to abuse the system to try it on, as it were. So it may be that this event becomes less frequent in due course.
In fact, one of the processes that is clearly available is for creditors to object to an application for dissolution—and, indeed, the Insolvency Service at the moment is also able to object—on the basis of complaints at that earlier stage, where they have evidence of doing so. And because of evidence of significant numbers of attempts here, those objections have been done on a mass basis.
Ms Marie Rimmer (St Helens South and Whiston) (Lab)
Q Good morning, Mr Pegge. Clause 2(14) states that the provisions
“have effect in relation to conduct…occurring, and in relation to companies dissolved, at any time before, as well as after, the passing of this Act.”
Do you support making these provisions retrospective and, if so, how should the Insolvency Service make use of these retrospective powers?
Stephen Pegge: As I understand it, the support for this measure was confirmed as early as 2018 and it has really been a lack of parliamentary time that has made it difficult for it to be put in place. Given that we are aware of abuse that has happened in the meantime, I support this measure being retrospective. I appreciate that that retrospectivity is not often applied to such Bills, but we are talking about a fairly high evidence threshold and about situations where natural justice would support this measure being made with retrospective effect.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Paul Scully)
Q It is good to see you again, Stephen. That is an interesting point about the retrospective nature of the measure, given what you were saying about businesses taking on more debt throughout the pandemic. Obviously, the insolvency practitioners will work through things, as you have rightly said, in order of public interest. What do you think they may look to do to give lenders confidence, by approaching the pandemic response finance first?
Stephen Pegge: Clearly, when lenders are undertaking a credit assessment, they will consider both the willingness to repay and the ability to repay, the probability of default and the loss in the event of default. All those could potentially be, and I would say probably at the margin, factors that could be influenced by the use of dissolution as a means of avoiding liability.
Quite clearly, it is very difficult for a company that has been struck off the register to make payments under a loan, so there will be the avoidance of debt in those circumstances. Given that currently there is time and cost involved in restoring a company to the register, the ability then to take this action against directors after the event both to deter and, if the activity should still carry on, to investigate and take action against directors in a more timely and cost-effective way should reduce the ultimate losses to creditors. I think there has been an estimate that creditors could be saved around £1 billion as a result of this measure, which would be significant in terms of credit assessments.
The net effect is the ability to provide more finance with less time having to be spent on assessment up front, on better terms, and in circumstances that should help the recovery. However, I will emphasise, Minister, that this is only one factor and it is all operating at the margin. Nevertheless, it is certainly something that during the past year has become a matter of concern, especially in relation to bounce back loans.
Oral Answers to Questions
Marie Rimmer Excerpts(6 years, 6 months ago)
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Claire Perry
The hon. Gentleman might have been reading one of the report’s recommendations. He is absolutely right. We must deliver this in a way that is cost-effective and supports further innovation. I am confident that, with the taskforce’s help, we will have very good recommendations and ideas to move forward with.
Ms Marie Rimmer (St Helens South and Whiston) (Lab)
The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Greg Clark)
Our modern industrial strategy will boost productivity and earning power across the UK. We have announced four sector deals in areas including life sciences, the creative industries, the automotive sector and artificial intelligence. More will come in the weeks ahead. I am encouraged by the work of the mayoral combined authorities and local enterprise partnerships in developing local industrial strategies.
Ms Rimmer
I and my Front Bench colleagues have been informed that dozens of sectors have put forward proposals for a sector deal, including the steel industry, but have had little or no engagement from the Government. Will the Secretary of State confirm how many proposals for sector deals he has received and to how many he has formally responded?
Greg Clark
I am delighted to report that we have had a huge interest from sectors right across the country, including the steel sector. The Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, my hon. Friend the Member for Watford (Richard Harrington) and I have had substantial discussions with the steel industry and we look forward to developing that deal in the weeks and months ahead.
Oral Answers to Questions
Marie Rimmer Excerpts(7 years, 3 months ago)
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Greg Clark
Talking of groundhog day, the hon. Lady talks complete nonsense. The industrial strategy challenge fund and the industrial strategy Green Paper have been widely welcomed in all parts of the country. After our exchanges, I will send the hon. Lady the support it has had from the north-east of England, of which she should be aware. This is something that has long been called for. I have listed the sectors that will benefit. As we are talking about manufacturing, in terms of her reflections on the state of confidence in the economy, the hon. Lady should know that the EEF last week reported record orders, record export orders, record employment and record investment intention. She should welcome that.
Ms Marie Rimmer (St Helens South and Whiston) (Lab)
12. To ask the Secretary of State what steps his Department is taking to support small and medium-sized enterprises.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Margot James)
British Business Bank programmes are supporting £3.4 billion of finance to almost 60,000 businesses. Growth hubs and the business support helpline provide information and guidance. In the hon. Lady’s area, the Liverpool city region growth hub has engaged and supported over 4,550 businesses, and I am leading a taskforce to identify opportunities to support SME growth.
Ms Rimmer
The Government’s delay in giving out the business rate relief they announced in the spring Budget caused considerable suffering to thousands of businesses across the country. Measures such as the introduction of the staircase tax have also caused considerable tax increases for thousands of businesses across the country. Confidence has fallen back in the second quarter. The chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses has said—
Mr Speaker
Order. This is a most interesting essay, for which unfortunately we do not have time. What I am looking for from the hon. Lady—I am sure she will gratify the House—is a short question with a question mark at the end of it.
Margot James
The hon. Lady raises very important issues, and I have met the chairman of the FSB to discuss business rates. Some of her questions should really be directed to my right hon. Friend he Chancellor, but in the meantime let me say that there has been a cap on rates increases, and small business rate relief will mean that bills will not increase by more than £50 per month for the first year. There has also been a £300 million local authority fund to provide discretionary relief on business rates, and I would encourage the hon. Lady to pressurise her council for the full benefit thereof.