Business and Trade – in the House of Commons at on 7 March 2024.
If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.
Last week, I travelled to Abu Dhabi for the 13th World Trade Organisation ministerial conference, where I met counterparts from many countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa, along with trade representatives from the United States, European Union and the Gulf Co-operation Council. Alongside WTO members, we negotiated real outcomes for the UK and important agreements with our trading partners. We delivered for British business through the renewal of the e-commerce moratorium, a global agreement to avoid taxes on online transactions, from emails to movies and music. Building on the momentum from the 13th ministerial conference, we will continue to champion free, fair, open trade at every opportunity, recognising its potential to lower costs and increase prosperity, both here in the UK and around the world.
I thank the Minister for that statement.
We are no longer constrained by European competition law. The German Government are providing at least €6 billion in support for their steel industry. Given the very credible plan put forward by my union, Unite the union, to protect jobs and expand production at the steel plant at Port Talbot, why are the UK Government not investing more to create a viable future for our steel?
I am disappointed that the hon. Gentleman feels that we have not been investing as much as we should. What we have done in Port Talbot is the biggest investment that Government has ever made in steel. We are turning Port Talbot around; it is going to be regenerated. We are replacing high carbon emitting blast furnaces with electric arc furnaces to help reduce emissions, which his party and all of us across the House signed up to when we made the commitment to net zero. He may have specific things he thinks we can do on the transition, so I can tell him that we have a transition board to help those whose jobs are not going to be there with electric arc furnaces. However, we have done a significant amount for Port Talbot.
May I commend to my right hon. Friend the recent paper on industrial policy by Policy Exchange and its conclusion that we should avoid entering a subsidy race and should instead concentrate on broad, long-term measures supporting investment right across all industries?
I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for highlighting the Policy Exchange report, and I agree that the UK should not enter a subsidy race with other industrial nations. We already have our advanced manufacturing plan, which, obviously, focuses on advanced manufacturing, and the Chancellor is also looking at green industries, life sciences, creative industries and digital technology. Those are all areas in which we know we can grow as well. I have spoken about the record levels of investment we get into the UK. Last autumn, when the Chancellor announced full expensing, more than 200 business leaders and the CBI said that that was a game changer and the single most transformative thing we could do to fire up the British economy. We will continue to be competitive and ensure that we continue to be the third country, after the USA and China, in securing inward investment—of course, beating our European counterparts.
I call the shadow Secretary of State.
Last month, the Secretary of State said at the Dispatch Box that she could state explicitly that trade talks with Canada had not broken down. However, the Canadian high commission has since contradicted that in writing, saying that neither negotiations nor technical discussions with respect to any of the outstanding issues have occurred since the UK unilaterally broke them off on
I am very happy to expand on what I said last time I was at the Dispatch Box on this topic. I repeat that our engagement with Canada on trade issues has been extensive across multiple Departments covering the free trade agreement, cheese quotas and rules of origin. On
I can tell the hon. Member that there was a meeting on
That was a lot of words for the Secretary of State to use to say that she believes the Canadian high commission was correct in the answer that it gave.
May I ask an important question about the proposed UK carbon border adjustment mechanism? Labour very much supports the introduction of a UK CBAM, but we are concerned that the Government will do so a year after the EU, resulting in the UK potentially being flooded with carbon-intensive products originally destined for Europe, including steel, cement and fertiliser. Do the Government recognise that danger? If they do, what is their plan?
Just on the first point, if the hon. Member still wants to believe Canada before the UK, that is his business, but we on the Conservative Benches know who we are working for, and we are working for British businesses.
On the hon. Member’s second point, carbon leakage is a global problem facing all countries that are ambitious in tackling climate change, and we are working with international partners on how we tackle it together. We are following developments on the EU CBAM closely, and we are engaging with the European Commission to discuss technical considerations relevant to UK manufacturers. We share its concerns on carbon leakage, but we need to make sure that the UK response, whatever it is, is tailored to what the UK needs, not just a copying and pasting of what others are doing.
Kettering is the beating heart of the east midlands economy, so will the Secretary of State be kind enough to facilitate a visit from her ministerial team to Ball Corporation in Burton Latimer? It has the newest, largest and most modern aluminium can manufacturing plant in Europe and a fantastic example of the very best of successful foreign direct investment into the UK economy.
I commend the Ball Corporation in Burton Latimer for all it is doing. I also thank my hon. Friend for what he is doing to promote inward investment, which supported more than 2,800 jobs across the east midlands in 2023. He has spoken to me before about the importance of the Ball Corporation to Kettering, and I am happy to confirm that either myself or one of my Ministers would be delighted to visit when diaries allow.
I call the SNP spokesperson.
While the UK Government struggle to support small and medium-sized enterprises exporting to Europe, they are providing a £600 million export guarantee to INEOS so that it can build the largest chemical plant in Europe for 30 years in Antwerp, Belgium. Why can the UK Government find £600 million to support that investment, but not match the £500 million that the Scottish Government are investing in domestic energy transition at home?
UK Export Finance does not give the money; it provides guarantees to loans that are being provided by banks. There is quite a significant distinction: we have not given that money; we have guaranteed a loan. The reason why we provide those guarantees is that they guarantee jobs to British businesses. There is a big difference between a loan guarantee and giving money. If he would like more of an explanation on that, we are happy to provide one to him.
As chair of the British-Switzerland all-party parliamentary group, I am delighted to commend the Government on the forthcoming new trade agreement with Switzerland, but will the Secretary of State please update the House on progress? Particularly, will she tell us which of the 20-plus working groups the Government intend to prioritise as part of the negotiations?
I thank my hon. Friend, who is a leading member of the British-Switzerland APPG, for his interest. Both the Secretary of State and I met the Swiss Trade Minister in Abu Dhabi last week. The trade talks are progressing well. We are seeking high-ambition outcomes in all areas, including services and investment, mobility, digital, and the environment, which are not covered by our existing FTA. In short, there are a large number of high-priority areas for us, building on the agreement that we did on financial services in Bern at the end of last year, to ensure that this UK-Switzerland FTA really takes forward the bilateral trade relationship. The fourth round of negotiations is taking place in Bern this week.
We know the impact that mandatory pay gap reporting can have on tackling low pay and in-work poverty, but little progress is being made on tackling the disability pay gap, which is higher now than it was a decade ago, with disabled people earning on average £3,400 less—effectively working for 47 days for free. When will the Government introduce mandatory disability pay gap reporting, and what steps is the Secretary of State taking to close the gap?
The hon. Lady raises a significant issue around ensuring that disabled people are able to access employment and are paid properly. We have no plans to introduce mandatory disability pay gap reporting—no plans to introduce disability pay gap reporting at all. Unlike gender pay gap reporting, which is very simple, binary and easy to execute, disability pay gap reporting, like ethnicity pay gap reporting, is very complex. There are a range of disabilities that could not be easily monitored, so I would like to work with her on other areas where we can help to improve the lives of disabled people at work. We do not believe that disability pay gap reporting is the answer.
Israel is one of the United Kingdom’s most dynamic trading partners, so does my right hon. Friend agree that prioritising a free trade deal with Israel will complement the good work that the Government are doing to defeat the haters as part of the Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill, and send an unmistakeable message that the UK stands ready to strengthen our unbreakable friendship with Israel?
My hon. Friend is right. Israel’s current relationship with the UK is worth about £6.4 billion, but our FTA is a roll-over of the one that Israel signed in 1995 with the EU. It does not take into account services, digital, artificial intelligence or genome sequencing. There is a lot that we can do. That is why we are working on this FTA. It is a priority for us. As I said earlier, we face many challenges in carrying on negotiations with a country that is at war, but we are working to overcome them.
Quarter 4 of 2023 was the 10th quarter in a row in which more British businesses closed their doors than opened up. Just yesterday, a small business owner in Twickenham contacted me to tell me that his business was on the brink. If the Secretary of State will not consider business rate reform, as my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh West (Christine Jardine) suggested, what is she doing to help our small and medium-sized businesses, and to stem the tide of insolvencies?
The hon. Lady raises an important point. We do not shy away from the fact that things have been difficult for businesses, with the covid crisis, of course, followed by the cost of doing business crisis. That is why we stepped in to support businesses, with a £4.3 billion package for rates last autumn, which has helped many businesses to get through a difficult time. Unfortunately, that support has not been passed on in Scotland and Wales, but it certainly has in England. I am very happy to meet with her to discuss her particular business problem.
Because of its very large population and economic activity, Nigeria offers many opportunities for British businesses. I understand that there was a recent ministerial visit to that country. Could we have a brief report of the outcome of that visit?
My hon. Friend is right. I signed the enhanced trade and investment partnership in Nigeria, alongside my counterpart, Dr Doris Uzoka-Anite, on
Last week, Carl Cresswell, director of business resilience in the Department for Business and Trade, told the Select Committee that he personally thinks that we will end up spending more money on Horizon compensation overall than that £1 billion currently allocated by the Treasury, but we did not hear anything about that in yesterday’s Budget. Does the Secretary of State share that view?
We have always been clear that the £1 billion is not a cap. Clearly, the amount of compensation that needs to be paid for redress is to get people back to where they were before the scandal took place. At the moment, we are not nearing that £1 billion, but I think that over time we will be. As I say, it is not a cap; if we need to raise the amount, we will.
I understand that another round of negotiations is about to start in India on our long-promised trade deal. The original proposal was to complete the trade deal by Diwali. This year, Diwali is on
I thank my hon. Friend for that question and for his continual interest in us getting a high-quality trade deal with India, for which he has long been a passionate advocate. Of course, the most important thing is what is in the deal, rather than the date that it is delivered. We remain in round 14 and we recently welcomed Government of India negotiators to London. The prize remains large—with tariffs as high as 150% for whisky and 125% for autos—and we want to ensure that we get our key service sectors able to export into a market of 1.4 billion people.
The Secretary of State will have seen the recommendations that our Committee set out this morning for ending the circus of the Post Office administration of the redress schemes for victims of the Horizon scandal. I know that she takes this incredibly seriously and so I know that she will study our cross-party recommendations for the new legislation that she is about to bring before the House. The question for today is this: if we put all the ongoing investigations to one side, on the basis of the facts as they are known today, does she still have full confidence in Nick Read as the chief executive of the Post Office to run the redress schemes currently under way?
We thank the right hon. Gentleman for his work. I have taken a quick look at the report, although it was only issued this morning. All the recommendations he makes in that report we have either fixed or are fixing with the assistance of the Horizon compensation advisory board. We agree with him that we need to bring the compensation schemes in house. The GLO—group litigation order—scheme is already being delivered by the Department for Business and Trade. We believe that further compensation will flow from our overturning of convictions. We will be overturning hundreds of convictions through legislation in this House very shortly, as quickly as possible, and that will provide a flow of hundreds of millions of pounds in compensation for those individuals. That will be done by the Department for Business and Trade.
As the trade envoy to the western Balkans, the issue of Government-to-Government agreements is raised with me frequently. There is no doubt that if they were available, more deals could be done with the Balkan countries. Will the Minister give an update on the Government’s position, please?
I thank my hon. Friend, in particular for his brilliant work as a trade envoy. He covers more markets than any of our other trade envoys with great skill and dexterity. Back in 2017, this Department and I were pioneers in putting in place a G-to-G agreement with Peru for the UK to be the delivery partner for the 2019 Pan American games. A great deal of business with and in Peru has resulted since. We remain open to future G-to-G agreements on a case-by-case basis. I am happy to meet him to discuss what specific things he has in mind that would work in the western Balkans.
I have repeatedly asked Ministers whether any strings were attached to the £500 million of taxpayers’ money that was given to Tata Steel, particularly with regard to job guarantees. I have not had a straight answer, so I will try again today. Can the Secretary of State please confirm whether any conditionality was attached to the £500 million, or did the Government simply buy Tata Steel’s bluff about closure, and give it £500 million so that we could make 2,800 people redundant?
The hon. Gentleman attends the transition board meetings, so he knows that his question is not really relevant to what he is trying to get to the bottom of. We provided £500 million to ensure that steel making continues in Port Talbot. Tata made it clear that it was uneconomic and unsustainable to continue with steel making, so the support that we have given will ensure that north of 5,000 jobs will continue in Port Talbot, and it will support supply chains. On top of that, £100 million has been provided to the transition board, so that its members, including the hon. Gentleman, the unions and all the local representatives, can ensure that local people who need to go through transition get the support that they need. Without that support, there would not be any future steel making at Port Talbot.
When will the Secretary of State wake up to the huge potential of universities to tackle all the problems in society, including climate change? Will she come to Huddersfield, which has one of the best universities in the country? It is working with local businesses to make the future safe for our country.
If the hon. Gentleman sent a proposal to my office about what we could do on a visit to the University of Huddersfield, I would be very keen to take a look. We support our universities. If he has a specific business and trade angle in mind, we will see what we can do, if diaries allow.
Mr Hussein from east Devon, whom I represent, has effectively been robbed of £100,000, given that £40,000 of sub-standard building work has to be levelled and destroyed. The Federation of Master Builders has campaigned for a compulsory licence scheme for construction companies. The Domestic Buildings Works (Consumer Protection) Bill would outlaw cowboy builders, provide compensation for consumers and ensure that reputable builders were not undercut by unlicensed rogues. Will the Minister take a fresh look at that Bill?
The hon. Gentleman raises an important point. Some of the most frequent correspondence that I get from colleagues from across the House relates to rogue builders. We are determined to ensure that this does not happen to our constituents. We advise them to use builders registered with TrustMark, which is a trusted scheme, to ensure that work is done properly. I would be very happy to meet him to discuss that potential legislation.
Goldman Sachs has found that Brexit Britain has significantly underperformed compared with other advanced economies; the result is that UK GDP is 5% lower than it would have been had we not left the European Union. Does the Secretary of State appreciate that best way to grow the economy, boost business confidence and reduce trade barriers is to rejoin to the EU?
I recommend to the hon. Lady the report produced by my Department on
I am very encouraged by the Secretary of State’s comments about the free trade deal with Israel. The UK is a friend of Israel, and Israel is a friend of the UK, so what more can we do to increase trade between us? More importantly—and very regionally —how can the Secretary of State ensure that Northern Ireland is very much part of that trade deal, so that companies in Strangford and across Northern Ireland also feel the benefit?
The hon. Gentleman will remember that we had the Northern Ireland investment summit, at which we talked about bringing more investment into Northern Ireland. He will know that around 500 Israeli firms operate in the United Kingdom. That investment from overseas is creating thousands of jobs in high-value sectors, and a free trade agreement will help to increase the investment. That will benefit businesses in Northern Ireland, too.