Industrial Strategy Consultation

Oliver Letwin Excerpts

Monday 23rd January 2017 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

I expected the hon. Lady to welcome the commitment to upgrading infrastructure across the country. This is a Green Paper that is proposing priorities for the years ahead, and I had hoped that she would welcome that and the fact that the Chancellor has provided a 60% increase in infrastructure investment, which will benefit the east midlands and other parts of the country.

[Sir Oliver Letwin (West Dorset) (Con)]

I strongly welcome this Green Paper, particularly three elements of it: Mark Walport’s battery review; the special sector deal for new ultra-low emission vehicles; and the considerable efforts to create a hub for autonomous vehicles. Does my right hon. Friend agree that those three together should give the UK the opportunity to become one of the world’s leading producers of the electric and autonomous vehicles that we will all be driving 20 or 30 years from now?

[Greg Clark]

I do agree with my right hon. Friend. An industrial strategy offers us the opportunity to align policies that reinforce each other. We have some of the world’s best researchers in energy storage, and one of the world’s most effective, efficient and innovative automotive sectors. We are one of the leaders in renewable energy through offshore wind. If we bring them together, one will reinforce the other to give us this chance to be a world leader in a set of technologies that, under any reasonable estimate, seems likely to be taken up around the world in the future.