Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has to support local economies in broadening their economic base.

It is clear that the UK economy will face significant challenges as a result of COVID-19. It is important to ensure that decisions to support the economy in the short term also support our longer term economic vision for a stronger, fairer, greener economy that builds on UK strengths in science, international relations and ease of doing business.

We recognise that some sectors and regions are likely to be harder hit than others, so we will continue work on the levelling up agenda, building on the strengths of local places and creating new opportunities for long-term economic growth in parts of the country that have been worst affected.

Government will work with places across England to build on the development of their Local Industrial Strategies to define a local vision for economic recovery and renewal. Officials in the Cities and Local Growth Unit will work with places to understand the full scale of the challenges they face in the short- to medium-term, through the MHCLG-led Economic Recovery Working Group.

Achieving Net Zero also remains a priority and we will consider how transitioning to a carbon neutral economy and creating new sources of competitive advantage in green technology and sustainable business can be achieved.