Oral Answers to Questions Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateSarah Jones
Main Page: Sarah Jones (Labour - Croydon West)Department Debates - View all Sarah Jones's debates with the Department for Business and Trade
(3 weeks, 5 days ago)
Commons ChamberThis Department and, indeed, Departments across Government are working extensively on developing our industrial strategy, which the Conservative party opposes, but which business and industry welcome. Last month, we launched the Industrial Strategy Advisory Council, comprising a very impressive group of the UK’s top business leaders, policy experts and trade union leaders. My right hon. Friends the Chancellor and the Secretary of State for Business and Trade attended the council’s inaugural meeting on 17 December. In addition, we are currently analysing more than 3,000 responses to the Industrial Strategy Green Paper from businesses, academics, think-tanks and unions, and their insights and feedback are incredibly valuable as we develop the strategy.
I strongly welcome the inclusion of defence in the draft industrial strategy and was pleased yesterday to host a roundtable in Sedgefield with the Minister for Defence Procurement and Industry. Many of the innovative small and medium-sized enterprises that we talked to spoke of the struggles that they have with red tape, bureaucracy and contracting with Departments across Whitehall. How will Ministers grab the opportunity of the industrial strategy to remove this red tape, which too often can thwart SME growth?
I am really pleased my hon. Friend held that roundtable. It is quite a turning point to have an industrial strategy with defence as one of the sectors; building new relationships across Departments with colleagues who work in defence is a really powerful and important thing to do. He speaks to a wider problem face by a lot of industry when it comes to dealing with Government agencies and Departments. We are working hard to make these things easier, because growth is our priority and we have to break down those barriers.
It is essential that the Government’s industrial strategy creates manufacturing jobs across the country, including in my constituency. The RenewableUK offshore wind industrial growth plan shows the UK can be a global technology leader in advanced turbine tech, foundations, electrical systems and cables. Will my hon. Friend commit to using our industrial strategy to ensure there is growth in these areas to put British manufacturing at the heart of the clean energy transition?
I thank my hon. Friend for her question, for her defence of her constituency and for her ambitions, which we share. I believe the report she refers to came out before this Labour Government came to power. With our new policies and the new drive and ambition from our Secretaries of State for Business and Trade and for Energy Security and Net Zero, we are powering forward with our renewable agenda, and we will make sure that all of our growth driving sectors speak to my hon. Friend’s area and everyone’s area of the country and drive growth across the board.
Manufacturers in my constituency are really excited about the upcoming industrial strategy and all the growth that will bring. However, steel and aluminium businesses in particular are concerned about the upcoming carbon border adjustment mechanism, the gap with the EU, and whether the whole system will be ready for implementation. If we do not get it right, the CBAM will have a big impact on our ability to trade and on growth, so can the Minister assure me she is going to be working with the Treasury to ensure we get this right and that it supports manufacturers in the west midlands?
I know my hon. Friend will hold this Government to account on what we are doing and how we are going, and she will push, and already has done, to make sure we are doing everything we can for the industries in her area. The CBAM will be introduced in 2027, and she speaks to concerns that I have heard in conversations around steel in particular, which is very important to this country. That is why we are developing a steel strategy, which will set a future direction of travel for steel, but we are working with the EU and with industry here to make sure the CBAM works and does what it is supposed to do.
Andy Burnham’s Atom Valley mayoral development zone is creating a world-class supercluster for advanced manufacturing right across 70 million square feet in Rochdale, Oldham, Bury and Middleton. Rochdale’s Kingsway business park will be home to the SMMC—the sustainable materials and manufacturing centre—a world-class cutting-edge research centre. Will the Minister join me in supporting the SMMC, and perhaps arrange a visit either by herself or the Secretary of State to see what is happening with the jobs of the future in Rochdale?
I thank my hon. Friend for bringing to the House the work that is going on for the Atom Valley development zone, which is incredibly important and exactly what we want to see. The Mayor of Greater Manchester is to be congratulated for his leadership in this space as well. I am very interested in the work my hon. Friend refers to, not least because of the critical minerals strategy we are developing and the graphene work that I know will be under way in the manufacturing centre hub, so I very much look forward to talking further to him about what is happening and how we can help.
Why is it that the Government’s energy policy is driving uncompetitive energy costs in absolutely the wrong direction? Sir Jim Ratcliffe has pointed out that the principal threat to any strategy is actually the uncompetitive costs for those enterprises that will have to populate it.
This Government inherited very high energy costs from the previous Government, who had taken no action to make our country more energy secure. We are powering through to have clean, green, home-grown energy that will bring costs down and make sure we are secure as a country and not reliant on the whims of global leaders and the price of oil and gas. We will bring those costs down and we will support our industry, which I am afraid the previous Government failed to do.
Over the past week, the UK Government have committed to support a runway in London, a football stadium in Manchester and a science corridor for Oxford and Cambridge, yet for the past year, Conservative and Labour Governments have failed to act to secure the long-term future of Grangemouth, after INEOS announced the closure of the oil refinery. Despite general election promises to step in and save the plant, why are the Labour Government willing to jeopardise jobs at Grangemouth, the country’s energy security, which the Minister has just spoken passionately about the need to secure, and the wider industrial strategy through this inaction?
The hon. Member will be pleased to hear that we have re- established a working group with the Scottish First Minister and the Welsh and Northern Irish leaderships to make sure we are working collectively, because we do not want to take a party political approach to the growth of all our nations. We are collaborating well with the Scottish Government on Grangemouth, where we are working at pace and putting in investment and support. We are working to transition people from North sea oil and gas into the new energies of the future. There is the passport that we published, and we have set up Great British Energy, which will be headquartered in Aberdeen. A lot of work is going on, and we need the Scottish Government to support us in that work. We will work in partnership, because that is what will create good jobs.
The chemical industry is an important employer in my constituency, with the HEX Group and SI Group employing many people. As mentioned, Sir Jim Ratcliffe is already highlighting the extinction of the British chemical industry. My chemical manufacturers need to ensure that they are buying energy at the same price as manufacturers in Germany, the Netherlands and France. When will they be able to do that?
The chemical industry has been suffering for many years because of the previous Government’s economic policies, crashing the economy under Liz Truss and failing to deal with energy prices over multiple years. I have met the chemical industry. It is an important part of our economy, and we need to do what we can to protect it. I am having conversations, and we are building our energy policies. We are building our industrial strategy.
Word salad? Gosh. That abuse from the Opposition Front Bench has cut me to the core. The industrial strategy has set out eight sectors that will turbocharge the economy. Across all those sectors lie our foundational sectors, of which the chemical industry is one. We will support that industry in a way that his Government failed to do.
I will try to avoid a word salad. We have heard from various different industrial sectors how important it is to have stable and predictable energy costs. This month has seen little sun and only intermittent wind, so we have been heavily dependent on imported oil and gas. Are Ministers in the Department for Business and Trade challenging the Energy Secretary over his policies?
I am disappointed by the hon. Lady’s approach to this matter, and I am disappointed by the Conservative party’s overall abandonment of previously strongly held views about the need to balance climate change with our economy. It is a fact that we are moving faster towards renewable energy. Last year, 50% of our energy came from renewables for the first time. We are growing them at pace because they are cheaper. Onshore wind is the cheapest form of energy we have, solar is very cheap and floating offshore wind brings us huge opportunities. Renewables will bring our costs down and make sure we are energy secure, and they go hand in glove with growth, as the Chancellor set out in her speech yesterday.
The Minister’s Government have changed policy to not issue any new licences for domestic oil and gas, so we will become more dependent on imports at times when solar and wind are not working, unless we can increase nuclear generation. It is Nuclear Week in Parliament, so what pressure is she putting on the Energy Secretary to make new nuclear an important part of our industrial strategy?
I sit jointly in the Department for Business and Trade and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, so the hon. Lady can be reassured that I talk to my colleagues and am working with them. Indeed, I am leading on hydrogen and carbon capture, which is an important part of the mix. We are clear that nuclear is an important part of our future and that the strongest approach to deliver energy security and bring prices down is to have all the opportunities available to us and to build at pace. That is why we are trebling our solar, doubling our wind and supporting big nuclear as well as small modular reactors. She can be reassured that we are putting a strategy in place, which the previous Government failed to do.
I delighted to tell my hon. Friend that we are working hard on our steel strategy. Immediately after we have finished these questions, I will be going to Sheffield to talk to the industry about future demand. Steel is an important industry for our future, to which we have made a £2.5 billion commitment. We will ensure that we turn around the decline we saw under the previous Government and deliver a steel industry fit for the future.
The steel industry is an important part of Wolverhampton North East’s heritage and must remain a part of our future. Will my hon. Friend outline how the £2.5 billion UK steel strategy and the new steel council will boost competitiveness and secure jobs at Tata’s Steelpark in Wednesfield, which is the UK’s largest processing and distribution centre?
I thank my hon. Friend for standing up for her community and protecting her industry. I would be happy to have a conversation with her about the changes she thinks we need to make.
Steel output in the UK fell by 49% in 2021, by 30% in 2022 and by 11% in 2023—what an awful thing to have happened to our industry. We need to turn that around. We do not underestimate how hard that will be, but we are putting in place the money, the policies and the Government dedication to ensure that we support a thriving steel industry.
Through increased inward investment, we can innovate, create jobs and deliver on our growth mission to become the fastest-growing nation in the G7. We have wasted no time: on top of the £63 billion raised at our international investment summit, our new national wealth fund has already leveraged £1.6 billion of private sector investment, and we have outlined ambitious plans for planning reform alongside a modern industrial strategy to secure record levels of investment.
I am honoured to have been appointed as the UK trade envoy to Pakistan. Given the growing financial pressure on UK universities, with several leading institutions announcing job cuts amid the deepening funding crisis, what steps is the Department taking to foster stronger educational partnerships with Pakistan to help alleviate financial pressures in the sector in the UK, while supporting Pakistan’s educational goals?
I congratulate my hon. Friend on his appointment as the trade envoy to Pakistan. I can think of no one better, and I know he will make a big difference in that role. The Government took the decision to reappoint Professor Sir Steve Smith as our international education champion to ensure that the UK-Pakistan education partnership’s work continues as part of the international education strategy, which is now jointly led by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the Department for Education and the Department for Business and Trade. Led by Sir Steve, the UK has worked closely with the Pakistan Higher Education Commission on revising Pakistan’s new transnational education policy. That work will continue, and I am sure my hon. Friend will bring great help to it.
The south-west is home to an incredibly important economy based on defence, food security, space, maritime, and, in Exeter, life sciences and climate tech and research. We are also home to huge green energy potential, utilising floating offshore wind. However, we currently need investment in our port facilities so that the new green jobs will be based in the south-west, not in France or elsewhere. Will the Minister meet me, along with colleagues and the sector, to discuss to the future of green energy generation in the south-west?
I thank my hon. Friend for his question. I saw the talent and potential for myself when I visited Exeter in September for Great South West’s annual conference. I am visiting the region again in a few weeks, because there is huge potential, huge excitement and huge opportunities to grow. As he knows, there is £1.8 billion from the national wealth fund to invest in our ports. I am very happy to meet him and others to see what potential we can discuss.
I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.
I declare an interest: a family member has shares in a medical company.
In the United States, President Trump created chaos by freezing funding for the National Institutes of Health, and his nominee for US Health Secretary is an anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist. The United Kingdom has the perfect opportunity to seize this moment and make ourselves a beacon for global research investment. Already, Wokingham has many pharmaceutical businesses, such as Becton Dickinson and Hollister. What steps is the Minister taking to ensure we attract global life sciences sectors to the UK?
I was in Davos last week meeting representatives from the life sciences industry and talking about the huge potential for growth that we have in the UK. One of the eight sectors we have identified as part of the industrial strategy, is life sciences, where we have huge talent and huge skills. We need to build on that and be really ambitious in what we can deliver. Through the industrial strategy and the work with the brilliant industries we have in this country, we can do just that.
As we have already discussed, the automotive sector is absolutely vital to the Government’s plans for green economic growth, and for growing the economy more widely. That is why, at the Budget, my right hon. Friend the Chancellor committed to ensuring over £2 billion of capital and research and development funding before 2030 for zero emission vehicle manufacturing and its supply chains. We are also consulting the industry to make sure that the zero emissions transition works for the UK’s car industry, and working with the automotive transformation fund and the Advanced Propulsion Centre to make sure that we carry on innovating and seeing the growth of the automotive sector in the UK.
Around 3,000 of my constituents in North Warwickshire and Bedworth work in the automotive sector. I have met representatives of many small and medium-sized businesses that provide engineering and manufacturing services for the sector, as well as Jaguar Land Rover, which has a battery assembly centre in my constituency. A career in the automotive industry should be an attractive prospect to many young people in my constituency. What is the Minister doing to support the sector in upskilling its workforce and providing apprenticeship schemes, so that companies are not left relying on immigration to fill skills gaps?
My hon. Friend makes a really good point. There is a lot of work under way to look at skills across the board, because thus far no Government have had a proper strategy on the skills that we need, and on how we make sure that we train our own people, so that we do not have to rely on immigration. There are examples in the automotive sector of absolutely brilliant apprenticeship schemes that other industries can learn from, and we are working with Skills England. I have regular meetings with colleagues in the Department for Education, the Home Office and the Department for Work and Pensions to make sure that we crack this nut and encourage people to go into good, well-paid jobs.
The Secretary of State and the Minister for Trade Policy and Economic Security are at the funeral of the late, great John Prescott. In this place, we remember him.
Yesterday, the Chancellor set out this Government’s plan for growth, our vision for the country and our path to putting more money in people’s pockets, reviving our high streets and supporting thriving businesses that create wealth, jobs and new opportunities. I was in Davos last week with the Chancellor and the Business Secretary, and there was enthusiasm about investing in a country that believes in open and free trade, that is resetting its relationship with the EU, that is forging new free trade agreements and that is creating stability here in the UK economy. It is little surprise that the UK has just been ranked by PwC as the second most attractive country in the world for investment.
We recognise that growth will not come without a fight, which is why we are pressing ahead with our industrial strategy, and channelling support for eight growth-driving sectors of our economy. It is why we are developing our small business strategy and working across all Government Departments to deliver the growth we need. We are supporting the Prime Minister’s plan for change, putting more money into people’s pockets and realising a new decade of national renewal.
Yesterday, the Chancellor announced that the Government will work with Mayor Ros Jones and the Mayor of South Yorkshire to reopen Doncaster airport, so will the Minister meet Doncaster MPs to discuss how the Department can meaningfully help? Will she also acknowledge that the growth agenda will be a success only if areas like Doncaster, South Yorkshire and the north are a critical part of it?
My hon. Friend makes a good point, and I would be happy to meet a group of MPs from her area. The ambition on airport expansion was very clear in the Chancellor’s speech yesterday. We are hungry for growth; we set that need alongside the need to decarbonise our airspace. Yesterday, I chaired a meeting of industry experts looking at how we can turbocharge our decarbonisation of aviation.
I would be pleased to meet my hon. Friend the Member for Doncaster Central (Sally Jameson), and I agree that we need to grow all parts of the UK to make this work.
I call the shadow Secretary of State.
Next week, members of the Public and Commercial Services Union in the Department for Business and Trade are once again out on strike. Does the Minister consider the union’s demands to be reasonable? Will Ministers cross picket lines to return to work?
The shadow Secretary of State shows a new-found respect for the trade unions, after the previous Government’s failure to engage with them caused multiple strikes and huge amounts of wasted money. The contract is not directly with the Department, but obviously we work with PCS and all our trade unions. I regularly meet our trade unions to make sure that we have good workers’ rights.
I met Anglo American to talk about Woodsmith just a couple of weeks ago when I was in Saudi Arabia, and it is an important site. I promised to go and see it, so perhaps I can go with my hon. Friend. It is important that the critical minerals strategy we are developing marks a step change from the previous Government’s strategy, which just looked at a moment in time and said, “We need to do a bit more of this, that and the other.” We will have targets, will be driving forward, and will look at our future demand. We are going to look at the eight sectors that we want to grow, consider what critical minerals we need, and think about how to ensure that we have the supply chains to get it right.
My hon. Friend is right that there is a lot of expertise and a lot of tech companies in his patch, and we want to see them thrive. It is for the Government to support that growth, to listen to what the barriers to growth are and to tackle them. Our digital development strategy, the UK’s digital strategy and our AI strategy, which the Prime Minister launched, are all vehicles to support these brilliant industries that we want to encourage. I am always happy to talk to my hon. Friend about what more we can do to encourage more of them on to his patch.
I thank my hon. Friend for her work supporting workers at Stellantis. I met several of her colleagues and representatives from Stellantis this week, who I meet regularly. We stand ready to talk to them about whatever they need to remain. The consultation finished on 24 January and we await the final decision. She makes a good point about Luton airport, which I use very often because there are very good train links from Croydon to Luton. I should say that there are also good train links from Croydon to Gatwick. We know that the Secretary of State will be making a decision in due course, but the direction of travel on growth and breaking down barriers was clear in the Chancellor’s speech yesterday.
My hon. Friend and I have previously talked about this great opportunity. The rapid development and breakthrough of new AI models such as DeepSeek tell us that we need to go further and faster to remove barriers to innovation and make Britain the most competitive market. We need to be developing the technology ourselves. That is why we have set out our new AI strategy and why we are scaling up our capacity, creating AI growth zones and putting in place every vehicle we can to support the growth of technology innovation in our country, because we will need it in future.