Wednesday 22nd May 2019

(4 years, 10 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Greg Clark Portrait Greg Clark
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I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that. As I said to colleagues, we should not allow any ideology to influence these decisions, but he is right to draw attention to the accounting officer’s opinion and advice on this, which includes an assessment that makes it clear that the option of whole or partial nationalisation of the company, temporary or permanent, does not change the assessment of legality. The reason for that is that it is a question not of the ownership but of the cash needs of the company. Whether a business is owned in the public sector or the private sector, the test of commerciality has to be met for the Government to put cash in; that applies whichever sector it is in. That is the legal test on which this hinges.

Tom Brake Portrait Tom Brake (Carshalton and Wallington) (LD)
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The action taken so far is welcome, but this is still clearly a disturbing time for workers and suppliers. We heard earlier that British Steel invested £40 million in Ascoval—the Select Committee may want to look at that. At the same time, the French state and local government bodies invested an equivalent sum of £40 million in that steel mill. Is there anything the Government could learn from that? May I encourage the Secretary of State to be creative in the way he was suggesting he would be, by setting up a Brexit fund that could support businesses struggling as a result of Brexit?

Greg Clark Portrait Greg Clark
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It is not a question of having the funds available; it is a question of the legality of being able to deploy them. The right hon. Gentleman will know, as the House will, that I have a good record of being able to invest alongside private businesses where this secures jobs and innovation. That is absolutely something that I would do in the steel sector. One legal requirement—we are meeting the legal requirements—is to show that there is co-investment from a private investor. In the situation in France, there was substantial investment on both sides. The same was not available in this case, which was one reason why the advice that I was given was of the nature that it was.