Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Michael Fallon and Iain Wright

Thursday 26th June 2014 Commons Chamber

[Michael Fallon]

It took some 18 months to get that compensation scheme approved by the Commission, which is why it will take some time to get the compensation for the renewables obligation and the feed-in tariff and why that scheme will not apply until April 2016. The Commission did not agree to our request for backdating.

[Mr Iain Wright (Hartlepool) (Lab)]

The hon. Member for Warrington South (David Mowat) asked exactly the same question in April and today received pretty much word for word the same unsatisfactory response. The fact is that the Government have imposed a unilateral carbon price floor that is widely divergent from the EU emissions trading scheme, which has put Britain’s energy-intensive industries at a competitive disadvantage to our European counterparts and done nothing to prevent carbon leakage or encourage investment in low-carbon energy. What practical steps is the Minister taking to shape reform of the ETS to make it more credible and to level the playing field for British industry, or have the Government lost that battle in Europe too?

[Michael Fallon]

Other countries such as Germany can of course offer higher support to their industries, but they did not have the appalling deficit that we inherited, because of course they did not have a Labour Government. I intend to ask the new Commission this autumn for an early review of the ETS and to include new sectors, such as cement, that have missed out so far.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Michael Fallon and Iain Wright

Thursday 23rd January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Michael Fallon]

I shall certainly see what more we can do in that regard. I know that food and drink exports will be one of the themes of our commitment to Expo in Milan later this year and I shall be discussing our pavilion in Milan this evening and tomorrow.

[Mr Iain Wright (Hartlepool) (Lab)]

I detect a real note of complacency in the Minister’s remarks. Let us not crack open the imported champagne just yet. The Secretary of State’s trade and investment White Paper of 2011 stated:

“The UK now needs to rebalance its economy…toward increased exports and investment.”

Yet the value of exports fell in the last quarter and net trade acted as a drag on GDP growth for much of 2013. Given that the trade gap remains persistently high and is growing, manufacturing as a share of our economy has fallen under this Government, and investment has continued to flatline, will the Minister now concede that an export-led recovery has not materialised?

[Michael Fallon]

I am disappointed that the hon. Gentleman should talk down British exporting and British manufacturing at precisely the time we see a renaissance not only in our automotive industry but in our aerospace and other industries. Of course trading conditions are tough, not least with problems in the eurozone and elsewhere, but exports are up and we continue to help drive increased export performance through supporting small and medium-sized enterprises and mid-sized businesses.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Michael Fallon and Iain Wright

Thursday 8th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Michael Fallon]

It is being so cheerful that keeps you going, isn’t it? I would have hoped that the hon. Lady welcomed the £4.5 billion contract won by Hitachi to build the next generation of inter-city trains, creating 900 new jobs in north-east England. The north-east also did particularly well under round 3 of the regional growth fund, with 29 bids selected, worth £120 million, creating or safeguarding 30,000 jobs. I am looking forward to my visit to the north-east next week to open new factories in Blyth and on Tyneside.

[Mr Iain Wright (Hartlepool) (Lab)]

The 2.5% quarterly drop in construction output to which the Minister referred is dire enough, but year on year, activity in the construction sector has fallen by a massive 12%, and further decline is predicted through to at least 2014. The sector is crying out for assistance from, and co-operation with, a Government who value construction as an important part of an active industrial strategy. Will the warm words, the excuses, the complacent tone that we have heard this morning, the protestations of just how difficult it is and the bland and vague promises of help in future stop, and will the Minister take decisive action that will help the construction sector now?

[Michael Fallon]

As I have already said, we are investing £4.5 billion to fund new affordable homes over the spending review period, all of which is committed to be spent in this Parliament. That is leveraging in a further £15 billion of private sector investment. We are on track to deliver 170,000 affordable homes by 2015.