Speeches by Edwards.

“I wanted to pick up on the problem that the ceramics industry is currently having. As a Staffordshire MP, I know that the potteries have been very important there. The GMB general secretary has said that there has been a complete lack of support for these businesses, and Ceramics UK has called for an entire rethink of …”

“We have covered off skills and the jobs plans as part of your remit to advise the Government. The term “economic dynamism” has been suggested as something that you should have a look at. Perhaps that is about supporting the ability of markets to evolve, innovate and support high-growth businesses. I just wondered what …”

“I wanted to pick up on that point specifically, because I think that at the moment it is about 30% of a battery, is it not? It is going to rise in 2027 to be 65% to 70%, which is really massive. As we move towards electric cars, it is going to be a much larger part of the overall cost of the vehicle. We heard evidence …”

“Do you have thoughts on how, as an industry, you are trying to mitigate that, or does it feel like it is too far off?”

“From the conversation so far, it looks like this is not particularly commercial at all at the moment. I was going to ask you about the largest growth opportunities. The Government have set out this advanced manufacturing plan. It has some future priority growth areas, including the next generation of zero-emission vehi…”

“I would like to ask another follow-up question around procurement, but starting with with economic dynamism, what do you take that to mean? How are you advising the Government to manifest that?”

“We have been talking a lot about the cost of energy and non-commodity costs making up 62% of a bill and the rest being commodity costs and a few other bits and pieces. One thing I have been campaigning on is this challenge around business energy and how you bring that down. I recently launched a charter, alongside lots…”

“Are there any pieces of advice that you are starting to consider around the role of the Government? One of the areas where we know there is quite a big lever is around procurement. That can be used to drive some of that growth and help support smaller companies by giving them those revenue streams and the contracts tha…”

“My hon. Friend is correct that we had a wonderful trip to India as part of the Business and Trade Committee’s work. One thing we looked at was the joint value of the free trade agreement that we have recently signed, which sends a powerful signal about the future and how our countries can benefit each other.”

“The point on critical minerals, which the Select Committee has been looking into, is really important. One piece of evidence we heard was on the slight concern about the size of the UK and our ability to do this alone, which meant that our emphasis would be on friendshoring and the throughput of material we would need …”

“That is fine. We have been in touch with Energy UK about the charter, so it is disappointing that that is not higher up the agenda. Arjan, do you have anything that you would like to comment on? You represent a lot of industry bodies as well, which I am sure have a similar challenge and may have to buy through third-pa…”

“Rick, can I come back to what you were talking about a moment ago? If you are investing in green and renewable solutions on-site to help bring down energy costs, do you think there are enough tax incentives or ways of accounting for that in a particular way or could there be more such measures? Is that something that y…”

“One of the interesting things that we learned on the trip was that India’s approach is also about how it uses Government procurement. With careful consideration, that could be used to make sure that UK tech companies can grow and benefit from having a revenue stream and contract. There may be things we can learn from I…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for his compelling point about the role of parliamentarians and how we can engage with our constituents and other organisations. I also pay tribute to the British high commission, which did a lot of work to make sure that our trip went well and is hugely important in engaging our businesses right…”

“What a wonderful speech my hon. Friend is making about this important connection that our two countries can have! Similarly, I pay tribute to my constituency; it might not be associated with a huge Indian community, but it does have one, and they contribute a lot to the UK, and certainly to our medical professions and …”

“As chair of the all-party parliamentary group for small and medium-sized enterprise house builders, I regularly hear about the growing skills shortage, and the urgent need to change perceptions about careers in construction, which is a highly skilled, rewarding industry that offers strong career progression, good wages…”

“Just briefly, it is very interesting to hear that focus on recycling because we were having a discussion in our private session about really looking at the operational challenges and barriers to that. I was just going to come at this slightly sideways. We are often looking at the Government’s resources and what tentacl…”

“I want to pick up on an element of that, but before I do, James, at the beginning of the session, you started talking about supply chain weaponisation. You covered some of what I would have asked, but what is the likelihood of that being used? Could it—there are different schools of thought here—be sustained? Would the…”

“I want to come back to what you were saying earlier. You said we are not doing the processing and, as a result, we end up with a net loss. Could you give us some insight into why we are not doing it? What would it mean if we could do it? What are those barriers? Just briefly, it might be similar to what we have heard, …”

“We heard a bit in the last panel about where these minerals are coming from. I wanted to probe a bit more about where these gaps and vulnerabilities are going to impact the supply chains of some of the new technologies that we are looking for, so batteries as one example. I wanted to get your views on that and what the…”