Oral Answers to Questions

Mark Garnier Excerpts

Thursday 15th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Mark Garnier (Wyre Forest) (Con)]

May I start by thanking the Secretary of State for his very measured and intelligent thoughts about the GDP growth rate? I lament that some others in his Government seem almost complacent about the International Monetary Fund’s increasing GDP growth expectations from 1% to just 1.3%, putting us second in the G7. Does that not show a certain lack of reality in the Government? What we should be looking for is GDP growth of more like 2.5%. The G20 is averaging 3.1%, and we are 14th in the G20. Does the Secretary of State recognise that over-regulating, over-taxing and charging too much for energy is holding back our great entrepreneurs and businesses, who could be delivering the GDP growth that this country really needs?

[Jonathan Reynolds]

I believe that the figures show a level of resilience in an extraordinarily difficult global climate. In terms of our ambitions, I am pleased that we are turning around the underperformance of the 14 years of Conservative government, but I want more, and I am ambitious and hungry for that.

In order to achieve that, the Government have already committed to certain interventions. Going back to my previous point, we inherited the highest industrial electricity prices of any developed nation, but we are bringing those down by a quarter for 10,000 British businesses. I want more progress in that space, and I will be speaking to the Chancellor about further work on that agenda.

We are bringing down the costs for business, giving them new markets through the success we have had with our trade deals, and ensuring that the regulatory system supports those objectives. All of that contributes to what I believe is a set of tremendous opportunities for the UK because of the assets that we have. We should be ambitious for the future.