Speeches by Bance.

“I would like to ask a question to all of the panel at this point. We are here today focusing in on the industrial strategy. How would you rate the Government’s overall package of industrial energy support? We had the announcement about BICS two weeks ago. Many of us were very happy that it is starting earlier and is la…”

“I should say for the record that we have a TUC staff member on the panel and I worked for the TUC for a number of years before I was elected. For the members of the panel, if you think the implementation is off track, how do you step in and hold Departments to account? Let us take the automotive industry. A number of y…”

“You will recall that when we met before I said that for me one of the ways that the industrial strategy will be judged is whether the rate of major British employers closing slows or stops. Since we last met, we have had problems in Mossmorran. We continue to have difficulties at Grangemouth. We have seen Stellantis cl…”

“That one is a square.”

“Just reflecting on what you were saying, Matthew, one of the last seat foam manufacturers in the country, in my constituency, is closing in September as a result of the volume crisis. It is real and is here now in the supply chain. I wanted to come back particularly to cross-government working and cross-government alig…”

“Murray, the past year has seen significant disruptions to trade, to put it lightly. How effective do you think the Government have been in responding to these challenges from JLR’s perspective?”

“In closing, we are talking industrial strategy today. It is supposed to be the industrial strategy for the whole of Government, not DBT’s industrial strategy. We have spoken a number of times about how the different bits of Government are not aligned around what is in the advanced manufacturing sector plan, particularl…”

“That is good to hear. Coming in on the quota, my understanding was that there was some discussion about how the quota was allocated between different exporters. Have we come to a conclusion in those conversations yet? Is it still open? I think the quota was pretty fully utilised in the second half of 2025.”

“The incentives still do not work for you to transition from gas.”

“I have already started giving the Minister a hard time because my steel processing SIC codes are in, but, as Alucast in my constituency told me, my aluminium processing SIC codes are not in. That is people in the same setting, but just on different days of the week or with different sets of machines or with different m…”

“Does it mean that you are not to be granular?”

“The Government have said that the council should not assess policy impacts on an annual basis and should instead be forward-looking. I am terribly sorry. I just do not understand what that means. Do you know what it means?”

“We have three focuses. We have the sectors and the business environment more broadly, but we also have place. Could you comment a little on how you are seeing place in the work that you do?”

“T4. We now know what was going on in the economy before the attack on Iran. Growth was up. Unemployment was down. Borrowing was lower than forecast. The Chancellor took the right decisions and it was working. Does my right hon. Friend agree that families and businesses should know that, when times are tough, it is Trum…”

“From the previous panel we heard some discussion of the impact of subsidy for manufacturing in China, and particularly the impact that that has on the competitiveness of UK-based manufacturing. I wondered whether you wanted to comment on the implications of that for your members. What should Government be doing to prot…”

“I wanted to ask Rain and Peter whether you have comments. Given the recent findings by European transport authorities that some electric buses supplied by Chinese manufacturers may allow remote access to battery or power management systems, what steps should Ministers be taking to ensure that public transport fleets in…”

“I thank my hon. Friend and fellow member of the Business and Trade Committee for giving way. We have sat in a number of hearings where different industries have expressed to us the competitive disadvantage that they experience because people in the industry use the gig economy or platform work to avoid responsibilities…”

“I wanted to follow up the point that you made, Mr Evans, on energy costs. Do the sectors that you represent benefit from the British industrial competitiveness scheme, or is that not the situation for your industries?”

“Would you say that your preferred policy solution for energy costs is the removal of policy costs and loading them on to general taxation?”

“Many people have talked to us about SIC codes.”