Speeches by Bance.

“There are other issues that the industrial strategy has to get right. We have spoken about skills and energy costs. I would be interested in your thoughts on land and access to finance. Those are the two other issues that are coming out in the responses to the industrial strategy. Brian, shall I start with you this tim…”

“On that point about people who are mid-career, by definition they have a car loan, a mortgage and kids. How do we make it financially possible for them to take a break to retrain? I would appreciate your thoughts on that point.”

“Thank you. If I may, Chair, the PwC report said there will be over 2,800 potential impacts on the supply chain. What further action are you taking to mitigate that, perhaps in consultation with your partners in the relevant Governments and local authorities?”

“The burger van isn’t, is it?”

“That is obvious nonsense given that you are a partner in the joint vehicle.”

“But you as an employer could decide voluntarily to include those employees in that guarantee. Why have you decided not to do that?”

“Okay. Will you write to this Committee to tell us the terms you offer?”

“Okay. I know that you have said that you are just a member of the supply chain but you can voluntarily commit here to making sure that your employees have similar, if not the same, terms of redundancy as the Petroineos employees. Are you able to do that today?”

“That is very official but I was talking about the regulatory requirements that are necessary. We will come on to money.”

“Is there a document that you can share with the Committee on these points? You mentioned that you had submitted a PID to the Treasury.”

“Are you able to share that or a version of that?”

“I want particularly to ask Mr Hardie and Mr Pritchard their view on the realism of the projects proposed in Willow. I have heard enthusiasm for the opportunities but that has not yet been matched by the sort of commitment that would give the community and the wider industry in the UK confidence that any or all of the p…”

“Will we get to the £3.5 billion that we need?”

“Thank you, I appreciate that. My point continues to be that the signals that could be sent from Petroineos and from INEOS, making it clear, if at all possible, if the risk profile were correct, if the financials added up and if the regulatory environment were correct, that they were intending to make that investment su…”

“Exactly. Could you, in this point, play a different role to unlock that chicken and egg?”

“Mr Hardie, you and your colleagues have mentioned some of the regulatory barriers that need to come down for the options in Project Willow to be realistic. I think it is important for this Committee to shine a light on what those regulatory barriers are, where they sit and what your confidence is that they can be remov…”

“This comes to part of the point of having both Ministers on the panel with us today. We want to make sure the defence industrial strategy contributes to the overall industrial strategy. We are awaiting the steel strategy. The extent to which Departments are able to work together on cross‑cutting agendas is becom…”

“Staying with the defence industrial strategy, when will it be published? Will it be after the strategic defence review?”

“Will it give industry clarity on the capabilities that the Government want to onshore? What is your emerging sense of those capabilities?”

“Building on that, I have listed a number of the particular treaties and conversations that the UK is engaged in. We have a long-standing position on the upholding of labour rights around the world and yet in CPTPP Vietnam and Brunei don’t recognise independent trade unions, there are questions about forced labour in Ma…”