Iain Wright: I think that is the kindest thing that anybody has ever said to me. The Secretary of State fully appreciates that uncertainty lasting for months and years will drain business investment away from Britain. In our Select Committee this morning, Funding Circle told us that an £100 million investment deal with a European consortium will now not go ahead—it has been pulled, and it will not be...
Iain Wright: The Minister mentions industries and sectors and I want to mention two more in which we have comparative advantage: the processing chemicals industries, with NEPIC leading; and the great potential in the offshore wind supply chain cluster. What tangible steps will the Minister and Government take to ensure we can accentuate the positive and fulfil the potential of these industrial sectors?
Iain Wright: I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for the fantastic work that he has done to ensure a viable future for the steel industry. He was kind enough to mention the pipe mills in my constituency. Can he reassure me that we will be talking up the steel industry in the north-east to make sure that it has a viable future we can be proud of as part of a modern, dynamic manufacturing supply chain?
Iain Wright: It is clear from the woeful evidence given to our inquiry by Lord Grabiner, chairman of Arcadia, that effective corporate governance in BHS was almost entirely absent—something that prompted the director general of the Institute of Directors to state in a letter to my right hon. Friend the Member for Birkenhead (Frank Field) and me on Friday that it “represents a blight on the...
Iain Wright: I welcome the Work and Pensions Secretary’s rhetoric in today’s written statement, when he says: “Britain’s steel industry is an important part of our economy and this Government is working to help the industry secure a long-term viable future.” However, may I push the Business Secretary on the risk that steps that are taken could set a dangerous precedent, whereby companies...
Iain Wright: Don’t push it!
Iain Wright: It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Moon. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland (Tom Blenkinsop), a great parliamentary champion of steel, for securing this all too crucial debate. I also thank him for giving evidence to the Select Committee on Business, Innovation and Skills on 28 April, during its inquiry on the UK steel industry,...
Iain Wright: That is crucial. Any such commitment would provide much needed confidence in our steel industry, as well. It is a foundation industry that is strategic in its importance to the economy and vital to our manufacturing base. That brings me on to my second point: confidence. I have pushed the Minister and the Secretary of State on the matter, because it is of central importance. The Minister...
Iain Wright: I thank the Secretary of State for attending the Thursday sitting of the Select Committee, which is conducting an inquiry on steel. He may recall that I asked him about the maintaining of confidence. There is growing concern that firms are not supplying to Tata facilities because they fear that the steel business may go into administration and they will not be paid, and credit insurance is...
Iain Wright: First, may I thank the Minister for spending this morning at the Tata Steel facility in Hartlepool? I was grateful for her time. On BHS, a theme seems to be emerging across the House. Does the Minister agree that it cannot possibly be right that Sir Philip Green, as the previous owner, loaded the company with debt, did not invest in the business and paid his wife over £400 million in...
Iain Wright: The Secretary of State for Defence has stated in the past that UK warships are only built in UK yards, but what percentage of the total contract value will flow to British companies, and what specific work will be given to the British steel industry from those contracts, with regard to not only the value of the orders in the supply chain, but the swift timetabling for the awarding of...
Iain Wright: It is an absolute pleasure to follow my colleague on the Select Committee on Business, Innovation and Skills. I do not agree with much of what he said, but the rigour of his analysis, both in his speech and in his work on the Committee, makes the Committee much sharper in what it does, so I commend him for that. I welcome the emergency debate, because steel industry is facing a real...
Iain Wright: My hon. Friend makes an important point. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills should be looking out for the British economy, making sure that it is the Department for future economic growth. It needs the civil service capacity to do that, and the proposal for it to lose 30% to 40% of its headcount will have enormous consequences for those early-warning systems and for the...
Iain Wright: To secure a long-term, sustainable, profitable future for the British steel industry, the focus needs to be on developing high-value, niche downstream products in particular sectors or for particular technologies, collaborating closely with customers in product development and design. Parts of Tata Steel, such as the Hartlepool pipe mill and facilities in Corby, do that, but they are not part...
Iain Wright: I thank the Backbench Business Committee for agreeing to hold this important debate. We had a similar debate in September 2015, initiated by my hon. Friend the Member for Bath (Ben Howlett) and myself. Hartlepool magistrates court and county court are scheduled for closure by the Government, which is why I wanted to raise the issue in September. That debate obviously fell on deaf ears, as...
Iain Wright: I would like, if I may, to advance the argument made by the hon. Member for East Lothian (George Kerevan) about the downgrading of productivity. Productivity was the central economic challenge of this Parliament—so said the Chancellor last year. A failure to address the productivity gap between ourselves and our main economic rivals would undermine our competitiveness and reduce living...
Iain Wright: I would suggest that the approach on capital gains tax is contrary to having a long-term economic plan, as it encourages short termism—people do not scale up, but sell out quickly. That is a major structural concern. To a large extent, the Chancellor has done positive things in this Parliament to encourage investment. In particular, the changes to the annual investment allowances are very...
Iain Wright: The hon. Gentleman makes an important point about infrastructure, and there was very little in the Budget to address that. Earlier, I mentioned the possibility of rebalancing. In 2012, we were promised an export-led recovery, and the Government announced proudly a target of £1 trillion of exports by 2020. I am all for ambition and for stretching targets, but given the Government’s limited...
Iain Wright: The hon. Gentleman makes an important point. My point is that by trying to ramp up the quantity of apprenticeships while making a major—possibly the major—change to the institutional architecture of apprenticeship delivery, the Government risk missing their target and that, as a result, the skills policy in this country will be affected adversely. Budgets are rarely remembered past a...
Iain Wright: On a point of order, Mr Speaker. May I seek your advice and guidance on a matter of principle for this House? Select Committees have the power through this House to send for persons, papers and records, to enable them to obtain oral and written evidence to allow them to undertake their work. In keeping with this long-established power, the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee, which I...