Oral Answers to Questions

Patrick Hurley Excerpts

Thursday 15th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Kate Dearden]

I thank the hon. Lady for raising this issue. I know that she and colleagues across the House have campaigned on this, and I share their concerns. In our recent consultation on reforming the product safety framework, we sought views on additional measures and responsibilities that are needed to improve the safety of products sold online, which included lithium-ion batteries and their use in consumer goods such as e-bikes. I would be happy to keep the hon. Lady updated on the progress on this work when we respond in due course.

[Patrick Hurley (Southport) (Lab)]

6. What steps his Department is taking to help increase economic growth.

[The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (Jonathan Reynolds)]

As we have heard, this new Department brings together a range of essential policy areas to back industries, technologies and jobs that will power future growth. For me, sustained economic growth can come only through greater private investment and private capital. The business investment figures for the UK are encouraging, with our industrial strategy using the policy tools at its disposal to attract more than £390 billion of private investment commitments since it came into force.

[Patrick Hurley]

I welcome the GDP figures that have been published this morning, but if we are serious about growth, we need to ramp up our manufacturing capacity and ensure that GDP growth is matched with jobs growth. Will the Secretary of State therefore consider setting an ambition of 1 million new manufacturing jobs in the next decade, putting reindustrialisation at the heart of the Government’s growth strategy?

[Jonathan Reynolds]

I warmly welcome my hon. Friend’s question on reindustrialisation, which is an essential part of the Government’s programme. Backing reindustrialisation does not mean that we do not recognise the tremendous contribution of services, and it is not nostalgia—it is about looking at the brilliant innovation that we have in the UK and seeing it scaled up. Doing so requires policy intervention, and I am extremely pleased that the British industrial competitiveness scheme will shortly come online, bringing down our energy and electricity prices for 10,000 British manufacturers and ending the situation we inherited from the Tories where we had the highest energy prices of any industrialised major nation. We do have to look at targets, and I will look at the one my hon. Friend has proposed, but I also think there are other areas we have to include in that to get the holistic impact that we need.