Topical Questions

The Secretary of State and the Minister for Trade Policy and Economic Security are at the funeral of the late, great John Prescott. In this place, we remember him. Yesterday, the Chancellor set out this Government’s plan for growth, our vision for the country and our path to putting more money in people’s pockets, reviving our high streets and supporting thriving businesses that create wealth, jobs and new opportunities. I was in Davos last week with the Chancellor and the Business Secretary, and there was enthusiasm about investing in a country that believes in open and free trade, that is resetting its relationship with the EU, that is forging new free trade agreements and that is creating stability here in the UK economy. It is little surprise that the UK has just been ranked by PwC as the second most attractive country in the world for investment. We recognise that growth will not come without a fight, which is why we are pressing ahead with our industrial strategy, and channelling support for eight growth-driving sectors of our economy. It is why we are developing our small business strategy and working across all Government Departments to deliver the growth we need. We are supporting the Prime Minister’s plan for change, putting more money into people’s pockets and realising a new decade of national renewal.

Yesterday, the Chancellor announced that the Government will work with Mayor Ros Jones and the Mayor of South Yorkshire to reopen Doncaster airport, so will the Minister meet Doncaster MPs to discuss how the Department can meaningfully help? Will she also acknowledge that the growth agenda will be a success only if areas like Doncaster, South Yorkshire and the north are a critical part of it?

My hon. Friend makes a good point, and I would be happy to meet a group of MPs from her area. The ambition on airport expansion was very clear in the Chancellor’s speech yesterday. We are hungry for growth; we set that need alongside the need to decarbonise our airspace. Yesterday, I chaired a meeting of industry experts looking at how we can turbocharge our decarbonisation of aviation. I would be pleased to meet my hon. Friend the Member for Doncaster Central (Sally Jameson), and I agree that we need to grow all parts of the UK to make this work.

I call the shadow Secretary of State.

Next week, members of the Public and Commercial Services Union in the Department for Business and Trade are once again out on strike. Does the Minister consider the union’s demands to be reasonable? Will Ministers cross picket lines to return to work?

The shadow Secretary of State shows a new-found respect for the trade unions, after the previous Government’s failure to engage with them caused multiple strikes and huge amounts of wasted money. The contract is not directly with the Department, but obviously we work with PCS and all our trade unions. I regularly meet our trade unions to make sure that we have good workers’ rights.

We need to keep questions and answers short and sharp.

I met Anglo American to talk about Woodsmith just a couple of weeks ago when I was in Saudi Arabia, and it is an important site. I promised to go and see it, so perhaps I can go with my hon. Friend. It is important that the critical minerals strategy we are developing marks a step change from the previous Government’s strategy, which just looked at a moment in time and said, “We need to do a bit more of this, that and the other.” We will have targets, will be driving forward, and will look at our future demand. We are going to look at the eight sectors that we want to grow, consider what critical minerals we need, and think about how to ensure that we have the supply chains to get it right.

No.

My hon. Friend is right that there is a lot of expertise and a lot of tech companies in his patch, and we want to see them thrive. It is for the Government to support that growth, to listen to what the barriers to growth are and to tackle them. Our digital development strategy, the UK’s digital strategy and our AI strategy, which the Prime Minister launched, are all vehicles to support these brilliant industries that we want to encourage. I am always happy to talk to my hon. Friend about what more we can do to encourage more of them on to his patch.

I commend Charlotte on her business. We recognise that we need to do more to help businesses like hers to be able to export more easily to Europe. That is why the Prime Minister has set out our determination to reset the relationship with Europe. We have made clear our plans to negotiate a phytosanitary agreement with the EU, which may or may not make an immediate difference for Charlotte, but there are other aspects of our plans to reset the relationship with Europe that I hope will help.

I thank my hon. Friend for her work supporting workers at Stellantis. I met several of her colleagues and representatives from Stellantis this week, who I meet regularly. We stand ready to talk to them about whatever they need to remain. The consultation finished on 24 January and we await the final decision. She makes a good point about Luton airport, which I use very often because there are very good train links from Croydon to Luton. I should say that there are also good train links from Croydon to Gatwick. We know that the Secretary of State will be making a decision in due course, but the direction of travel on growth and breaking down barriers was clear in the Chancellor’s speech yesterday.

I can give the right hon. Member that reassurance. The independence of the CMA is very important. That will remain in place and a new strategic steer will be issued shortly that will reaffirm that independence.

The experience of the pandemic really brought home that millions of people in this country do not qualify for statutory sick pay. We are determined to deal with that and I am happy to meet my hon. Friend to discuss the issue in more detail.

Yesterday, out of the blue, Bank of Scotland announced that it will close five branches in my constituency, leaving hundreds of square miles of the rural south of Scotland without a single bank branch. While we must work with Link and others to ensure access to cash in those communities, does the Minister share my concern not only that this will leave empty premises prominent on the high street, but that it sends a message that the banks are giving up on rural areas and on those who do not bank online?

I recognise that the right hon. Gentleman’s constituents will be concerned about the Bank of Scotland’s decision. He may know that more than 9,500 bank branches closed between 2010 and 2023. That is why the Government are determined to ensure the much more widespread roll-out of banking hubs, with a commitment to roll out 350 banking hubs. I strongly suggest to the right hon. Gentleman that he get in contact with Link and Cash Access UK to make the case for a banking hub in his constituency. If I can help in any way, I will be happy to consider doing so.

My hon. Friend and I have previously talked about this great opportunity. The rapid development and breakthrough of new AI models such as DeepSeek tell us that we need to go further and faster to remove barriers to innovation and make Britain the most competitive market. We need to be developing the technology ourselves. That is why we have set out our new AI strategy and why we are scaling up our capacity, creating AI growth zones and putting in place every vehicle we can to support the growth of technology innovation in our country, because we will need it in future.

Our precious high street in Eastbourne is blighted by the dilapidated Debenhams building on Terminus Road, whose owner has left it empty for years, attracting antisocial behaviour and crime. Will the Minister meet me or support me to meet his colleagues from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and Eastbourne borough council to discuss how we can use the new high street rental auction powers to force the owner to make that unit occupied again, so that we can regenerate our high street in the sunniest town in the UK?

I have already met the hon. Gentleman to discuss some of the issues facing the high streets in his constituency. If he thinks I am the most appropriate Minister for that discussion, I am happy to make sure that it happens. He may actually want to discuss this particular issue with colleagues in MHCLG, whose attention I will draw to the question, because they and their officials are working much more closely on the implementation of the powers he mentions.