Speeches by Aldridge.

“You mean here in the UK.”

“Yes. That is fascinating. There is lots to think about.”

“I appreciate that. You have touched on this slightly, but is there a cross-Government strategy for de-risking supply chains? I know you are having conversations with specific Departments, such as the MOD when it comes to UK defence capabilities and specifically Chinese export controls.”

“So it is practical.”

“I want to pull something out about the co-ordination and diplomatic follow-through. In a previous session it has been raised that other countries have put a lot of heavy weight into the diplomatic relations. The Department for Business and Trade has seen cuts to its overseas staffing. I wonder whether you are seeing th…”

“The strategy does not mention the primary threats to UK supply. Christopher Vandome from Chatham House talked about how the strategy shies away from the inherently geopolitical challenge presented by critical minerals. In your view, what are the UK’s most pressing dependencies here?”

“We see that there is a vulnerability around global price volatility. Could you explain a little how that manifests in your business and what more the Government could do on this? Nick, is that something you could come back to us on?”

“The one area where I would push slightly is around having a specific plan for de-risking those supply chains. Does the Department have that? Is there a co-ordinated plan on that? Is it something that is happening incidentally? It would be useful to know explicitly, if that is the case.”

“Nick, when you talk about pressure to bring prices down, is that a diplomatic thing, or is that something more about collaboration with similar powers? What are the mechanisms that could do that?”

“It is a big “if”, isn’t it? We have to get that, I suppose.”

“Sam, if I can come to you, the Government have launched a consultation on potential powers to protect the UK from adverse economic pressure. You talked about a mentality switch, and I thought that was really interesting. Where should the balance lie between the need for consultation and scrutiny, and the need for a qui…”

“How effective is the UK’s existing inbound investment screening regime? How might it be strengthened?”

“The first thing you said was, “You can write the rules, but is there the will to follow through?” That resonated with me. Do we have the political will? Aline, can I come to you to build on some of those points?”

“I thank my hon. Friend, who accompanied me to India. It was a phenomenally insightful visit. The human connection is not incidental to this debate; it is the very foundation of it. I use this opportunity to give a special shout-out to people such as Akhilesh Madhav and his family, who chose Weston to work in our NHS, t…”

“Thank you very much for being here. We hear a lot about how energy prices are strangling business and causing real problems for households in places such as Weston-super-Mare and all our constituencies. It is important to remember that we are all constituency MPs. BP announced profits are up £1 billion, so clearly the …”

“I thank the hon. Member for his question. We must take those considerations really seriously, and they are absolutely part of a wide-ranging conversation that we have with all our trading partners. We should be aiming for the best out of our relationships; we do not want a low bar. This issue is not simply about what t…”

“Absolutely. Building on that point, many of us who made that visit think we need to address the problem that too much of British public life is working with an image of India that is frankly decades out of date. Many still think of India as a poor nation, a country that we assist, rather than as a strategic partner of …”

“What is driving that massive doubling of profits over the past six months?”

“I absolutely agree. One of the things I took back to my constituency was about how I engage with schoolchildren and college students, but that point is much wider; we should be really ambitious in that cross-cultural dialogue. There is nothing but gains to be had, so far as I can see. It came out loud and clear from ou…”

“As ever, I agree with my hon. Friend. Specifically on the point about how we build our domestic capacity, there is something very exciting about the new £500 million investment in sovereign AI. It would be great to hear how that investment might—I hope—be linked closely to this work.”