PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE
Topical Questions - 5 September 2024 (Commons/Commons Chamber)

My Department’s four priorities are to reset our trade relations, deliver a new deal for working people, support small business and implement a mission-focused industrial strategy. In just a few short weeks, we have begun preparing no fewer than four Bills for the King’s Speech. I have attended the G7 trade summit, and set up the Horizon convictions redress scheme. We have ensured UK Export Finance support for the defence of Ukraine, changed the remit of the Low Pay Commission and organised an international investment summit for 14 October. I have spoken to my international counterparts, to all my colleagues in the devolved Administrations and to several hundred business leaders. That is how we will build the pro-innovation, pro-worker, pro-business economy that the British people voted for.

I thank my right hon. Friend for that reply. This Government were elected on a platform to embed economic growth and break down barriers to opportunity. In the past couple of weeks, I have spoken to colleges and businesses across my Southport constituency, including our rightly famous Silcock’s family entertainment centre, to see how we can develop our skills policy to ensure that for towns such as Southport, the best days lie ahead. How will the Department work to support the next generation of entrepreneurs to ensure that our economic mission is furthered?

I hope you will allow me, Madam Deputy Speaker, to pay tribute to my hon. Friend after what his community has been through, and the incredible way that he stepped up to represent that community. That is something we would all like to acknowledge.

The points that my hon. Friend makes are right: small businesses, entrepreneurs and start-ups are essential to our economic success, in Southport and in every part of the UK, and the support we will give them covers advice, guidance and training. On his point about skills, that is why we have established Skills England. If we want entrepreneurs to take real risks with their own property and income, we must give them stability. We cannot change policy every year; we cannot elect Liz Truss as Prime Minister and expect people to take those risks. The stability and consistency we will bring is as important as the policy environment we will create to do exactly what my hon. Friend says.

I call the shadow Minister.

When dealing with the Post Office Horizon scandal, does the Secretary of State understand that by sitting on the letters informing Horizon victims that their convictions have been quashed, the Department is exacerbating the trauma of this terrible injustice? After two months in office, I understand that fewer than one in six letters have been sent. When does he plan to get a grip on the situation?

I welcome the hon. Gentleman to his place. We have been in office for two months, and we have already set up the Horizon convictions redress scheme. Indeed, I was pleased to work with the former Minister, the hon. Member for Thirsk and Malton (Kevin Hollinrake), on creating the legal environment necessary to do that. The letters are an issue for the Ministry of Justice and its database. We have not sat on anything, and we have moved at pace to give people the compensation they deserve. We will continue to do that, and to work with those on the Opposition Front Bench to deliver what we all want to see.

The introduction of the minimum wage was one of the proudest achievements of the last Labour Government, but for too long the UK’s labour market enforcement system has been fragmented and ineffective. That is bad for workers and bad for the majority of businesses that want do to the right thing and comply with the law. That is why we will create a fair work agency to bring together employment rights enforcement, including of the minimum wage.

I remind Members that these are topical questions, so can we have short questions and short answers?

I thank the right hon. Member for his role, which I have referred to in the past and has been important in these matters. I am not passing the buck to anyone; I am simply saying that it is the Ministry of Justice, rather than me, that sends those letters out. As of 30 August, 130 letters have been sent out, quashing more than 370 convictions. I think that is real progress since the election. It is not fast enough for me, and we will continue to push that. We are working closely with the Northern Irish and Scottish Administrations, because of the devolved nature of justice, exactly as he would expect. I can assure him that this matter was a priority for me in opposition, and it will continue to be a priority for me in government.

I would be happy to meet my hon. Friend to discuss the question about a banking hub in his constituency. As he will have heard in answers that I gave earlier, reform of the business rates system to tackle some of the egregious disincentives in respect of the need to invest in our high streets and the competition from online giants is something we took seriously in opposition and continue to take seriously in government. Colleagues in the Treasury are working hard to bring forward proposals to reform the business rates system.

I remind Members to speak through the Chair.

I assure the hon. Lady that the SPS agreement—the veterinary agreement, as it is called—is one of the priorities we are pursuing. That matter is being led by the Cabinet Office, as is the reset with the European Union. I assure her that dialogue is under way between the Department for Business and Trade, the Cabinet Office and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. It is a priority. It will take time to reset, but I assure her that we are fully aware of the urgency.

Good product regulation and public confidence in our system are important across the board for every sector of the economy. My hon. Friend will have seen the Product Regulation and Metrology Bill in the King’s Speech. It will give powers to the UK Government to regulate in a range of fields. What she raises is exactly the kind of area we will be able to consider and debate in more detail.

I thank the hon. Member for his interest in this incredibly important issue and the work, which he will be aware of, that ensured that we got to this point. I think this is the biggest miscarriage of justice in British history, and the moves to provide some form of redress are extremely important.

We have moved at pace to put the scheme in place. We were able to do so because of the legislation we got through in the wash-up at the end of the last Parliament. The hon. Member will have heard what I said about the letters that we got out to get that information to people. [Interruption.] What was that? We will take that up offline. I welcome his interest and will continue to work with him on it.

The reset, of which we have spoken today, is fundamentally about turning the page and reinvigorating our alliance with our friends, neighbours and partners in the European Union. As well as securing a broad-based security pact and tackling barriers to trade, we aim to build stronger and wider co-operation in a whole range of areas including foreign and defence policy, irregular migration, law enforcement and judicial co-operation, while promoting climate, energy and economic security.

I ask this question on the basis that I am sanctioned by the Chinese Government for having raised the evidence of genocide and slave labour in Xinjiang. We know that the vast majority of polysilicon is now produced in Xinjiang using slave labour. Will the Secretary of State give the undertaking that, as required under section 54(11) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, there will be no use of any solar arrays that have polysilicon in them made under slave labour in Xinjiang?

I give the right hon. Gentleman an absolute assurance that I would expect and demand there to be no modern slavery in any part of a supply chain that affects products or goods sold in the UK. He is right to say that under the Modern Slavery Act, which was put in place by a previous Conservative Government, any business with a turnover above £36 million needs to have a reporting regime around that. I promise him that, where there are specific allegations, I will look at those to ensure that. It is an area where we have existing legislation, and indeed we would go further if that was required.

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that question. I meet businesses every day, and my most recent engagement was the breakfast we did on our plans to make work pay, where businesses themselves were pointing out the things they are doing because they value and care for their workforce and will invest in them. The issue in Rochdale he refers to is close to my heart as a Member of Parliament from just down the road in Tameside. I will of course have that meeting with him and continue to work closely with him to deliver on his objectives.

As part of the Government’s net zero strategy, car manufacturers are expected to produce 22% of their cars as electric vehicles and face a £15,000 penalty for every car by which they fall short of that. The target is expected to be missed by 100,000 cars this year because of consumer resistance. The effect on the car industry is that producers are restricting supplies of petrol cars to retailers, and some are threatening to pull out of the UK market altogether. In the light of consumer resistance, will the Secretary of State look again at the target set, since consumers are clearly not going to be forced to purchase cars they do not want, and producers will be forced to try to get rid of cars they cannot sell?

I am grateful to the right hon. Member for that question. The policy to which he refers—the zero emission vehicle mandate—and its penalties as we ramp up to the phasing out of petrol and diesel vehicles is actually a Department for Transport policy of the previous Government. We supported it, because there is no point in having an objective to phase out petrol and diesel vehicles without a corresponding ramping up of regulation to do that.

There is an issue with consumer demand, which affects all of Europe. We are working closely on that. Under the policies of the last Government, there are flexibilities—things that can be transferred from one financial year to the next. We keep everything under close review, but we are committed to the transition. That is essential to industry and consumer confidence and making sure that that happens. Every country in the world has similar policies. This is an ongoing transition, and we are absolutely going to make it work for British industry.

I thank my hon. Friend for his question and for hosting me when I visited after the riots. I extend all my sympathies to the businesses affected. There is no excuse under any circumstances for looting shops, or in this case burning down a library. I was very much affected by my visit. He knows that we work very much in collaboration with the Association of British Insurers to ensure that claims are processed quickly. By now, I hope that businesses are aware that if they are underinsured or uninsured, help is still available to them under the Riot Compensation Act 2016, the details of which are on the gov.uk website.

One Air is a small and growing cargo airline based in my constituency, which is having to deal with huge amounts of additional red tape and costs as a result of the Brexit deal and the end of reciprocal arrangements with the EU. Can the Secretary of State give an assurance that, when Ministers negotiate mutual recognition of professional qualifications, the aviation sector will be included?

I can give the hon. Lady that reassurance. The aviation sector often complains about the lack of recognition, particularly relating to pilots. There is mutual interest in this area, and it could be a solid basis for negotiation. We can never promise the outcome of negotiations, but I can promise her that it is a priority for us.

I welcome my right hon. Friend to his place. Before the election I met fruit growers in Nazeing and more recently farmers in Hatfield Broad Oak, both in my constituency, who raised concerns about hiring seasonal workers caused by Britain’s exit from the EU. What can his Department do to address that issue?

I recognise the point that my hon. Friend raises. Our reforms to zero-hours contracts will not affect seasonal labour—we recognise that it is an important part of the labour market. Additional burdens have been placed on businesses because of Brexit, as he outlined. We do not want to relitigate the arguments of the past, but we believe that we can make tangible improvements for businesses in his area and for everyone.

My right hon. Friend will be aware of the disgraceful union-busting tactics and intimidation employed by Amazon against GMB members seeking union recognition at the Amazon warehouse in Coventry. Despite more than 1,000 votes in favour, union recognition was lost by just 28 votes. What steps is he taking to ensure that workers, such as the brave and determined GMB activists at Amazon, can more easily win union recognition?

I draw the House’s attention to my proud membership of the GMB trade union. We believe that businesses work best when they give workers a voice through a recognised trade union. I would be very interested to hear more about what has happened at the Amazon warehouse in Coventry. The Government will look closely at that as part of our plan to make work pay. We will simplify the process and laws around statutory recognition.

That certainly took the nation’s interest in more than one way. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has already announced a review into it, and we will look at secondary pricing. The whole system needs urgent reconsideration, and we understand that the Competition and Markets Authority is looking into the matter, too.

What thought has the Secretary of State given to attending the Williams inquiry? The Post Office scandal is unfinished business. It is now vital that we not only learn the lessons, but accelerate redress for the innocent and, crucially, punish the guilty fast.

I am very grateful to my right hon. Friend for that question. As a new Secretary of State, the inquiry and the whole issue has affected deeply how I believe accountability and power should be considered in the roles we have as Ministers. It comes on the back of what we heard about Grenfell yesterday, and what we have heard about Bloody Sunday and Hillsborough. I believe that, although this is essentially a legacy issue, it is exactly the agenda that we have on coming into these jobs. The future of the Post Office must be linked to the inquiry not just in terms of redress, but in how the business model works better for sub-postmasters. I do not believe that this has been put into the public domain yet, but I have received a request to attend the inquiry. I will, of course, do so, and believe it is an essential way to put across what we will take from that inquiry and our plans for long-term reform in the future.