Ukraine

Debate between Nusrat Ghani and Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi

Thursday 19th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker]

I call the Chair of the Select Committee on Defence.

[Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Slough) (Lab)]

I am grateful to the diligent Minister for advance sight of his statement. It was good to chat with the Secretary of State on his return from Ukraine, and I welcome his pledge, while there, of a £225 million package of support for Ukraine, because as the Minister rightly highlights, Ukraine’s frontline is the frontline of our own security. Can the Minister provide further detail, however? After the UN Secretary-General’s statements last week about turbocharging defence, can the Minister provide further details of discussions with NATO and other allies, in particular our US friends, including recent discussions between the Prime Minister and President-elect Trump, on the international defence steps being taken at this critical juncture?

[Luke Pollard]

I am grateful for my hon. Friend’s support for the military package outlined today. The UK Government will increase defence spending to 2.5% of our GDP, and a path for that increase will be laid out in due course at future fiscal events. We will publish the strategic defence review, which will set out, perhaps more importantly, what we seek to spend any money on; we can then look at what capabilities we need to develop and how that takes us further. We continue to speak with our NATO allies through the SDR process, to make sure that the UK’s defence offer is a “NATO first” offer that allows more interoperability and supports our NATO allies, especially on NATO’s eastern flank. I look forward to being able to speak more about that in due course to my hon. Friend’s Committee.

Tata Group Gigafactory Investment

Debate between Nusrat Ghani and Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi

Thursday 20th July 2023 Commons Chamber

[Ms Ghani]

My hon. Friend is such a champion of the businesses in his constituency. May I provide him with some confidence? Securing this investment is about providing assurances to everyone in the supply chain that there is now a bigger game for them to play—there will be far more production, sales and, obviously, work for them to do. My hon. Friend has invited me previously; it is an outstanding engagement and I look forward to visiting him shortly. I chair the Automotive Council so I meet a lot of small and medium-sized enterprises, but if I have not already met the firm he mentions, I suggest he gives my private office a little nudge and I will make sure I correspond with the firm shortly.

[Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Slough) (Lab)]

By 2025, Germany is set to have 10 times more battery capacity than the UK, while the US is set to have 30 times more capacity. I welcome yesterday’s announcement of Tata Group’s investment in a UK gigafactory, but will the Minister confirm exactly how the Government plan to ensure that this will be just the first, not the last, such announcement?

[Ms Ghani]

The hon. Gentleman has done his homework, but the most important point he needs to remember is that to meet our demand in the UK we need 100 GW. That is not a decision we have taken; it is a piece of work done by the Faraday Institution. Comparing us with the USA or Germany does not really work well, because we are trying to deal with the manufacturing that we have in the UK. So, we need 100 GW; this announcement provides 40 GW, and we have 12 GW with Envision and Nissan, which may go up to 38 GW if they wish to expand. Potentially we are two thirds of the way there, but we do not want to be complacent. When drawing international comparisons, we have to ask how many of the countries—whether the USA or Germany—are two thirds of the way to meeting their battery needs. This is of course not the first or the second step, because we have Nissan already with Envision, but yesterday’s announcement is substantial and we will of course continue to go forward. It shows huge confidence in the UK supply chain and will no doubt attract further investment.

High Speed Rail (West Midlands - Crewe) Bill (First sitting)

Debate between Nusrat Ghani and Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi

Committee stage & Committee Debate: 1st sitting: House of Commons
Tuesday 25th June 2019 Public Bill Committees

[Ms Ghani]

The clause introduces schedules 18 and 19, which disapply or modify controls for listed buildings and ancient monuments to allow the construction of phase 2a and to enable the installation of noise insulation in listed buildings.

[Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Slough) (Lab)]

Obviously, listed buildings and ancient monuments are held in high regard nationally. Can the Minister assure us that, in addition to the views of Historic England, English Heritage and the like, the views of local historical groups and community groups will be taken into account before any decisions are made?