UK Trade and Investment

Priti Patel Excerpts

Thursday 15th March 2012 Westminster Hall

[Priti Patel (Witham) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Amess, and I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for South Thanet (Laura Sandys) on securing the debate. It is always a privilege to attend debates of this nature and to discuss trade, exports, inward investment and UK plc. Conservative Members feel passionately about those issues and are constantly coming up with ideas. I hope that we will be able to give the Minister some constructive and helpful suggestions about how we can work together to further that agenda.

It is always interesting to follow the Chair of the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee, and although I was taken aback by some of his earlier comments, I agreed with his concluding remarks. I find somewhat ironic and superficial the synthetic lament about UKTI and the fact that there is now a lack of trade advisers. During the good times, a lot of money was spent by central Government, and we must question how it was used and why exports did not increase, given that all those resources were going in.

I agree with many of the points raised during the debate so far, and I will not go over ground that has already been touched on or repeat facts and statistics. I wish to talk about the United Kingdom in relation not only to business, trade and the global economy but to the Commonwealth countries. Statistics demonstrate that we are not doing enough to enhance or strengthen our long-established, traditional, historic and cultural ties with those countries and to do more business with them.

We all know about the economic outlook and the crisis in the eurozone. I feel that the United Kingdom should capitalise on its natural relationship with Commonwealth countries and become an even greater player on the economic stage. We must strive to work better with our friends of old and our friends of new to improve our economy and show that Britain is open for business and to enhance cultural ties and commonalities.

My hon. Friend the Member for Enfield North (Nick de Bois) spoke about the diaspora and the Indian community. I am of Indian origin and I know a little about the Indian community in this country. Central to what one hopes will be UKTI’s enhanced role following today’s debate, perhaps the Government will consider how engagement with other communities—not only in London and the south-east, but across the United Kingdom—can be strengthened. The Commonwealth network provides us with many natural trading partners, but we need to do more to enhance that network. If the UKTI is able to take a more strategic role, I hope that that would be embedded in its sense of direction.

I should like to take up some of the points that have been made and particularly the contribution made by my hon. Friend the Member for South Thanet. Local enterprise partnerships were mentioned. She and I share the largest LEP in the country—your constituency is also part of that, Mr Amess. I have been asking some interesting questions and it has been quite an education; I decided to throw myself into the world of LEPs and rationalise from that local grass-roots position how we can be more outward facing in terms of exports, enhance business relationships in the constituency and make connections overseas.

I feel strongly about the issue because 80% of my constituents are employed by small and medium-sized businesses—a figure that is higher than the national average. Small businesses are key to the local economy, not only in my constituency but in the eastern region and Essex. Every week when I meet local business representatives, whether I am meeting someone for the first time or someone whom I have met frequently over the past four to five years, I always ask about the international dimension. They have never engaged with UKTI—a point worth reflecting on—and partly because of current economic circumstances and constraints, they have not really considered where their business will be in five years’ time in terms of exports or the international footprint.

Through the LEPs network, I decided to engage with the Essex chambers of commerce—you will be familiar with that, Mr Amess—to consider the situation. Interestingly, in two weeks’ time, we will hold a trade event in my constituency. We have successfully invited the Indian Economic Minister and the UK India Business Council, as well as all the relevant businesses that need to engage externally and look east, to facilitate dialogue, connection and engagement. My conclusion, particularly after working with the chambers of commerce and speaking to many local businesses, is that all Members of Parliament have a symbolic and significant role to play. I see myself almost as a broker and someone who is able to facilitate people coming together in the same room.

I am in talks with the Essex chambers of commerce about taking a delegation of Essex businesses to India, probably in the summer around June. I will organise that with the chamber of commerce. With no disrespect to UKTI or central Government, I do not see it as central Government’s role to get involved. We know our businesses and economies best, and we are undoubtedly all ambassadors for our communities and businesses and for UK plc. It is incumbent on all of us to play a stronger role in doing so and in facilitating. Although UKTI has a role to play and will, we hope, take on board many of the comments and representations made here today, I feel that we can do much more on that basis.

I also feel that the Government have a role to play, particularly working alongside MPs, where we have contacts and business links. I have had the tremendous privilege to work in the corporate sector and across a range of sectors. I have worked in the east and the middle east, particularly in Asian countries. I have also had the privilege to work for gulf Governments, helping them attract foreign direct investment. What we learn from such experiences is valuable to the Government, as are our insights into how to do business and attract inward investment and our personal contacts and networks.

Just this week, I have had some interesting offline conversations, to use a business term, with people in the Indian Government about the Government tenders coming out of India. I am an advocate for our great country—I want British businesses to have a tremendous footprint in India—so I am picking up the phone to a company, which will remain nameless for now, that makes great products that have missed out on other international deals, to see where I can facilitate connections.

Off the back of today, we have a tremendous opportunity to sit down with Ministers and their teams to help carve out a strategic route map with certain countries to download our networks and insights, marry them up to British companies and see how we can facilitate greater dialogue, engagement and connections with other Governments, where those connections have not been particularly strong in the past and where central Government might not have a good footprint, a strong blueprint or a personal connection. There are quite a few examples.

I see this debate as a great opportunity to move forward strongly. The previous Government missed many opportunities. The economic backdrop was different then; it is tougher now. We are in a competitive marketplace. I speak of India a lot in debates on this subject. Germany and France are making great inroads there. I want us to be highly competitive and beat them, because we have a natural relationship with India that they do not. I welcome the Minister’s comments later, but I want to give him the message that I should like to sit down with his team and many other colleagues to work out what that strategic route map will be.