Speeches by McDonald.

“(6) Any other proceedings on the Bill may be programmed.—(Gen Kitchen.)”

“While the Government are minded to nationalise British Steel, we do not have any other nationalisations in mind. However, we do recognise the importance of the Dalzell plate mill, and I am concerned to ensure that it gets back up and running, and delivers its steel ship plate orders. I thank my hon. Friend for the work…”

“Question agreed to.”

“At the time that the industrial strategy was established, the Government carefully selected those sectors that had the greatest growth potential for the economy, but we were also extremely clear in communicating that that does not mean that sectors that were not identified as having high growth potential were not impor…”

“Steel Industry (Nationalisation) Bill (Money)”

“My hon. Friend is right: £200 million is available for such projects. The initial £14.5 million of funding that was announced will help businesses to test the feasibility of their project ideas in order to secure long-term funding from the National Wealth Fund.”

“King’s recommendation signified.”

“My hon. Friend knows that when he talks about reindustrialisation and improving the manufacturing base of this economy he finds a very sympathetic ear in me. Certainly, we have all seen over the course of the past few years, through multiple crises, how the resilience of global supply chains has been reduced. Increasin…”

“Motion made, and Question put forthwith (Standing Order No. 52(1)(a)),”

“Yes, indeed. I engage with the construction industry extremely regularly as the co-chair of the Construction Leadership Council, and skills, along with health and safety, are absolutely at the top of our agenda. The views of the construction industry on the Construction Industry Training Board are discussed there and d…”

“It is not free but, for a start, you can be focused. BGS has started to think about the places in the UK where there is the greatest opportunity to do that enhanced research. As I mentioned, in Cornwall it is not about lifting the lid on the whole thing. It is about looking at already well‑mapped areas and refining the…”

“Yes, exactly.”

“It is an iterative process. The latest version is better than the previous one. The next one will be even better. I cannot remember exactly who it was now, but one of your previous witnesses was talking about the development of battery technology. A lot of critical minerals demand is driven by battery demand. I think i…”

“There are quite a lot of questions in there.”

“It is not that we have not figured it out, but there is not such a project yet. That does not mean there could not be.”

“The question that we would need to ask first, though, is what midstream processing we would want to develop in a country in Africa and why we would want to do it. This goes back to the point that I raised with Noah. We would have to decide first where we would see that sitting and whether it would be here or there.”

“You were surprised that we have a geological survey that is 50 years out of date. When I called in the British Geological Survey to meet with me, I pulled my geological map off my bookshelf at home from 1962 and it was pretty much the same as the data that it has now. In the meantime, foreign Governments have been payi…”

“Those demand forecasts, you can see them now and they are quite extreme. In fact, in the FT today there was an article about the acceleration of lithium demand, which is well over 1,000%. Copper demand is going to double over the next few years. It is not, “Is it 3% or 5%?” It is, “Is it twice as big or five times as b…”

“You could pick those numbers up in the press.”

“Yes, I am. As I said, it is an iterative process. I would expect it will improve every time as a result of getting better data and the shift in technology, which is a really important thing. Let us say I am sat here in three years’ time—who knows? I do not know whether I will be lucky enough to be able to do that. Ther…”