Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Sarah Jones and Harriett Baldwin

Thursday 12th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Dame Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con)]

We have been promised a modern industrial strategy for nearly a year. First, it was going to be with us in the spring; then it was going to be published at the spending review; and now it will be here “shortly”. The industrial strategy seems to be a strategy to clobber industry with higher taxes and higher business rates. Will the modern industrial strategy have greater longevity than the Office for Investment? It was announced in October, and we were not given an update until last Thursday, when it launched. Yesterday, we were told in the spending review that it is now being restructured. What is the future for the Office for Investment?

[Sarah Jones]

I can guarantee the hon. Lady that our industrial strategy will have a longer shelf life than hers did; I think it lasted 18 months—I am not entirely sure. We forget, because it did not have much of an impact. We have worked with all industries across the country to put together a comprehensive package that will make it easier to do business in the UK, and support our city regions and clusters across the country, where we have excellent industry. It will turbocharge the eight growth sectors, and it will make the Government more agile in interacting with business. That is why we are reforming the Office for Investment, as we have always said we will. It is now a significantly more substantial organisation, and will give significantly more support. The hon. Lady should look at—

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Sarah Jones and Harriett Baldwin

Thursday 30th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Dame Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con)]

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?

[Sarah Jones]

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.

[Dame Harriett Baldwin]

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?

[Sarah Jones]

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.