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.

Green Investment Bank

Oliver Letwin Excerpts

Wednesday 11th January 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hurd]

The right hon. Gentleman may be right about the cross-party agreement on the need for a GIB; the difference is that we did it, and he did not. His party had plenty of opportunity to do it. He talks about the need for a continued commitment to investment in renewables, and I think we have shown that. In fact, one of the most decisive steps this Department has taken in the short time we have been in power is the announcement of the new contract for difference auctions, which will be the next stage of support for the more mature renewable tech choice. There is no issue about this Government’s commitment to the low-carbon economy and the green infrastructure that needs to underpin it. The Secretary of State could not have been clearer about that. Where I think there is a divergence of view is that the Labour party seems to think that state ownership is a good in itself, whereas in this situation we feel we have moved on from that. When it comes to this very important organisation, which has done a great job, we want to liberate it so that it can do more in future. It is partly through that lens that we are looking at the proposals before us.

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

Does my hon. Friend agree that the test—the proof of the pudding—lies not in how many existing assets of a given kind are owned, but in whether there will be a greater or smaller amount of investment in renewable and other green energy projects in the future? Does he agree that this privatisation will prove to have been a success if investment in new projects increases as a result?

[Mr Hurd]

I am delighted to respond to that question from my right hon. Friend, who was, in many respects, the guardian angel of the coalition Government, and who was intricately involved in the deliberations that led to the establishment of the Green Investment Bank. He is absolutely right, and he has made a fundamental point. We should not necessarily judge the bank on the basis of what it is at the moment; this is about what it can become, about levels of future investment and about commitment to the green purpose of the organisation. I do not think that the Government could have been clearer about the priority that we attach to those considerations. This is about the future.