13:49 The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Kwasi Kwarteng)

We are backing the development of hydrogen hubs in the Tees Valley and Holyhead, to breathe new life into coastal and post-industrial communities while we drive a new clean energy transition. We are establishing four carbon capture and storage clusters across the next two decades, and we hope that they will play their part in decarbonising our industrial processes. We are investing tens of millions of pounds in the Aberdeen energy transition zone and the global underwater hub.

What we have announced in these packages is levelling up in action. There will be new investment in new industries, creating new jobs and driving real change in communities across the UK. With these examples, we are talking about a vision for the future of the kind of country we want to be: a country that hosts good-quality, high-skilled, long-term jobs in every community and that takes its commitment to net zero extremely seriously. I would like to commend the work of my right hon. Friends the Members for Maidenhead (Mrs May) and for Tunbridge Wells (Greg Clark) in passing the net zero legislation in 2019. That was a signal piece of legislation for which I commend them heartily. As Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy—which is still the name of the Department—I am very pleased that we are committed to net zero in the way that we are.

Because of all the profound changes that we have seen over the last three or four years, as well as our departure from the EU, our legislation to end our contribution to climate change by 2050 and the unprecedented impact of the coronavirus, I believe that we must take a fresh look at our plans for industrial policy and long-term economic growth. As a consequence of all this, alongside the Budget, we have published “Build Back Better: our plan for growth”. Our cross-government plan for growth signals a departure from the industrial strategy brand and details a renewed focus on infrastructure, skills and innovation. It reflects new opportunities available to us following our exit from the European Union, which was successfully achieved as a consequence of the deal that we struck at the end of last year. This opens up new ways to drive growth, build on our competitive advantage and support a vision for a truly global Britain. We will draw on the valuable lessons we have learnt from the 2017 industrial strategy as we transition to this new, more focused and more ambitious plan for growth.

I want to reassure the House that the energy of my Department is entirely focused on building back better after the coronavirus pandemic. It is leading the Government’s work on supporting British industry and priority sectors, and I am happy to acknowledge that we are building on the incredibly dynamic and good work that was pursued by my right hon. Friend the Member for Tunbridge Wells. We will publish our innovation strategy in the summer. We will set out details of our approach to supporting sectors, places and technologies in the innovation strategy. Those will give a clear indication and sense of purpose as we seek to shape the UK’s future. My Department is already leading on strategies with respect to net zero, hydrogen and, of course, innovation itself, as well as the space strategy. We are engaging on a comprehensive programme of work to protect and create jobs as we transition to net zero.

The principle underlying all this effort is, of course, the green recovery. We fully intend to end, and we will end, our contribution to climate change by 2050, and we will do so through investments and innovations such as the ones I have just mentioned. Last week’s Budget builds on the framework set out by the Prime Minister’s 10-point plan, as well as on the support announced at the spending review and in the national infrastructure strategy.

I am delighted that my right hon. Friend the Chancellor spoke fulsomely about the UK infrastructure bank. The bank will target investment in green projects, which will help us meet our net zero targets in the public and private sectors throughout the country. It will provide a global centre of excellence and advisory support for net zero projects across the country.

With our strengths in many sectors, from offshore wind to hydrogen, carbon capture technologies and zero-emission vehicles, we are well placed to seize the opportunity of the green transition and lead a global green industrial revolution. The 10-point plan, which the Budget expands on, puts us in a very good position to achieve that goal.

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14:03 Ed Miliband (Labour)

While I would praise some of the measures taken by the Chancellor, I do not believe that a fair-minded observer would say that the Budget passes the Bevin test. On jobs, according to the OBR, even by 2025 unemployment never even gets back to pre-crisis levels. On welfare, the Budget tells people on universal credit that they need to go back to living on £74 a week from September, just as unemployment starts to peak. On the next crisis—the climate emergency—the Budget rejects a green stimulus and cuts green spending, as I will explain.

Beneath the rhetoric, the Government cannot be the answer to the problems of the country. They may have produced a document charting 10 years of failure on productivity, but they have not changed their view. The answer to 10 years of failure cannot be more of the same. This should have been a Budget with a plan to respond to the climate emergency by creating the jobs of the future; and a Budget with a plan to help business through the crisis and beyond with debt restructuring, providing a decent pay rise for our key workers and dignity in the social security system, rather than plunging the most vulnerable into deeper poverty. This is a Budget of low ambition for Britain. The post-war generation would never have accepted such a meagre vision as that presented by the Chancellor and the Government. They never would have, and neither should we, and that is why we will vote against the Budget tonight.

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14:29 Peter Grant (Glenrothes) (SNP) [V]

The former Prime Minister, who just finished speaking, mentioned the importance of our aviation industry. Even without the pandemic, we knew that that industry needed to change radically because of climate change. Even a year ago, none of us would have predicted the almost total closure of an entire industry, so what is the Chancellor’s vision for how the aviation industry will look five to 10 years from now? How big will it be? Will air traffic be back to pre-pandemic numbers? Will aviation still directly provide 470,000 jobs and still support around 650,000 other jobs in the UK, as it did before the pandemic? If it does not, what will happen to all the people whose jobs disappear? If the Chancellor’s speech is anything to go by, the answer to all those questions is that he does not know and probably has not even thought about it, because he never mentioned aviation during his speech. In almost 6,500 words, the industry that has perhaps been the worst affected of all industries during covid was literally never mentioned.

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14:42 Darren Jones (Labour)

The reality of this Budget is that the Government have no credible plan for long-term economic growth that will meet the required scale of ambition for the net zero transition, that will mean real change for workers in every community across the country or that will really help businesses to grow and make a profit. There is no denying that the extension of covid support was welcome, and I am pleased that the Chancellor agreed with my Committee’s assessment that premature end dates had caused unnecessary redundancies and harm to business, but that was the least that we could have expected. On a longer-term vision for our country, I cannot find very much at all. The OBR has concluded that Brexit will shrink our economy by 4% and covid by an additional 3%. After the initial year of reopening post-lockdown, our expectations for growth still hover around only 1.5% a year, and in the face of a decade of failed austerity, the Chancellor has still cut billions from day-to-day spending.

The Budget also fell short of the required ambition to deliver on our net zero commitments, with no real increase in infrastructure spending and the Chancellor sticking to his previous position of only 3% of GDP. That is, I am afraid, a continuation of Ministers announcing targets with no plan or finance to allow them to happen. The Government cannot just announce a green industrial revolution and hope for the best. A failure to stimulate the growth of the green economy is just part of their failure in the Budget to meet the scale of the unemployment challenge. According to HMRC data, 782,000 fewer people are on company payrolls since October 2020, yet does the Government’s job and skills programme meet the scale of the challenge? No, it does not.

For all the failures by the Government in the Budget, I want to end on a positive note. Throughout the pandemic, both as a constituency MP and Chair of the Business Committee, I have seen the remarkable abilities of the British people to adapt to the challenges that we face: the researchers and innovators that led the world in genomic sequencing in vaccine development; the engineers who pivoted from aircraft wings to ventilators; and the small businesses that transformed themselves by moving online. Our key workers—carers, nurses, shopworkers, truck drivers, teachers, police officers and many more—kept our country moving when we all had to stop, reminding us of our sense of national duty, and the volunteers, churches, food banks and resident groups renewed our sense of community. Behind every business and public service is a worker, a business owner, a leader, an innovator, a public servant, a citizen of our United Kingdom. Brexit, technology, climate change and the legacy of covid are all like tectonic plates, slowly reshaping the British economy.

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14:46 Mark Menzies (Fylde) (Con) [V]

I would like to make sure, as the UK Government host COP 26, that nuclear fuel is front and centre, because in order for the United Kingdom to develop a radical decarbonisation strategy, it is very important not only that we are investing in small modular reactors and advanced modular reactors—documents for which are currently sat with the Treasury—but that we have the means to manufacture all the aspects within that, and in my constituency nuclear fuel is responsible for 900 jobs.

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14:49 Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat)

This Budget fails millions of people across the UK. It fails tens of thousands of small businesses and millions of self-employed people. It fails millions of NHS staff and carers, and it fails future generations with its lack of ambition for action on climate change. The Liberal Democrats argued for a Budget for small businesses, which would protect shops, restaurants, pubs, cafés, beauticians and barbers, all of which make up our local high streets, and create jobs in our communities. The Liberal Democrats wanted a Budget to make our country fairer, greener and more caring. We got the reverse.

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15:15 Andrea Leadsom (South Northamptonshire) (Con)

In my stint as Business Secretary, I rewrote the Department’s objectives, so that its top priority was for the UK to lead the world in tackling global climate change. On the one hand, there is no doubt that that is the right thing to do—the future of our planet keeps far too many people awake at night. However, on the other hand, building a green economy also makes superb business sense for the UK.

First, the UK is at the forefront of developing green technologies: from offshore wind to nuclear fusion and green hydrogen, we are leading the way. Secondly, the UK has more than 450,000 people in the green collar workforce already. In my time at BEIS, I was confident that a target of 2 million green jobs by 2030 was possible. The particular beauty of the green economy is the breadth of employment opportunities—from apprenticeships in solar power to decarbonisation of heavy industry to cutting- edge scientific discoveries, there is something for all talents. The UK’s green economy could become a bigger jewel in our crown than UK financial services is today, and I urge the Chancellor to share that vision.

COP26 is a great platform, and we need radical action with world-changing initiatives, so I want to put forward three specific ideas. The first is to announce at COP26 a yearbook in which the Paris agreement signatories can record their Government, state and business-level achievements—transparency so that all can see and challenge, while the discussion continues over the more formal measurements.

The second idea is to announce at COP26 three ambitious bilateral commitments to decarbonisation by 2030. The UK can be a key role model, and those pledges could include, for example, working with India on delivering 100 GW of battery storage around the world, with China to deliver 200 GW of offshore wind, and with Brazil, say, to deliver 0.5 billion hectares of new woodland around the world.

The third idea is to announce at COP26 a global green investment bank. Our former rock star central banker, Mark Carney, is now the Prime Minister’s green adviser, and he should be pulling together the global pensions industry, project financing and green investment expertise to work together on financing the decarbonisation of our planet.

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15:19 Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op) [V]

Many people have talked about the green economy. Our good science, good technology and good manufacturing have meant that we have sorted covid and we are winning against this global pandemic. Now we have the science, the technology, the partnerships and the manufacturing capacity to set about saving our planet from climate change and global warming, so let us do that. This Budget should have taken a lead. It should have shown passion, partnership and a real ability to build relationships that work. I only hope that this Chancellor will stay on and do a proper job for a change.

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15:33 Dr James Davies (Vale of Clwyd) (Con) [V]

It was announced at the Budget that the north Wales growth deal will be reprofiled, with funding being brought forward from 15 years to 10 years. This will mean an extra £4.4 million per year from this April for nine years. It is hoped that this investment will create 3,800 new jobs and deliver a £2.2 billion boost to the local economy. This deal alone is set to help redevelop the former North Wales Hospital in Denbigh, support high-value manufacturing in St Asaph, and boost digital connectivity and green energy projects.

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15:51 Paul Holmes (Conservative)

The Solent region has pockets of deprivation left over by the old industries of the railways in Eastleigh town centre and the post-industrial past of Southampton’s docks. The announcement of the Solent freeport, which was opposed by the Lib Dem leader and pooh-poohed by the Labour party, will prepare our workforce for the future. We are talking about 52,000 jobs, the creation of decarbonisation industries, such as green maritime, green transport jobs and a world-leading sector in green energy. This will mean that £2 billion-worth of investment will be attracted to the Solent region and it will add £3.7 billion of gross value added uplift to the UK. This Budget is a shot in the arm for my region, which is often seen as economically developed, to ensure that the Solent region, my constituency and Southampton as a whole will have the world-leading recovery that we need.

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15:57 Clive Efford (Labour)

The level of home ownership has gone down under the Tories at a time when borrowing is at an all-time consistent low. There are now 800,000 fewer people under the age of 45 who own their homes than in 2010. What we needed was a plan to decarbonise the existing housing stock. That would create jobs in every region. What we needed was a plan to build council housing and to upskill local workforces. Sadly, that requires thinking of which the Tories are simply not capable.

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16:03 Ruth Edwards (Rushcliffe) (Con)

At its heart, a freeport attracts more businesses, and more businesses mean more jobs—60,000 more jobs, in the case of the East Midlands freeport. The site at Ratcliffe on Soar in Rushcliffe will be the heart of our shift to a green economy, encouraging employers in green energy generation to locate on the site. Proposals for a new zero carbon research centre there, backed by six universities across the region, will be accelerated. Creating attractive career paths in growing industries will encourage more university graduates to stay in the region; currently only 17% do so. It is also good news for local businesses, which will form part of the supply chain for the building and infrastructure associated with it.

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16:15 Virginia Crosbie (Ynys Môn) (Con) [V]

The 2021 Budget is a Budget befitting a Government leading the way in building back better post-Brexit and post-covid. On behalf of my constituents on Ynys Môn, I particularly thank the Chancellor for the funding he announced for the Holyhead hydrogen hub. The investment of £4.8 million will have a significant impact on Ynys Môn and will provide a major stepping stone in the Government’s commitment to achieving net zero.

The project is the culmination of work by a number of important local and national employers, including Menter Môn, Stena, M-SParc, the Isle of Anglesey County Council and Coleg Menai. They should be saluted for their initiative and drive. It is that type of project that will form the heart of Anglesey as the energy island, turning our local natural assets into green energy and once again crowning Anglesey as Môn Mam Cymru.

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16:43 Neil Parish (Tiverton and Honiton) (Con) [V]

I would be grateful, however, if the Minister on the Front Bench today could put forward my suggestion that new fishing boats qualify for that tax cut. Many of our fishing boats in the south-west are built in the north of England, so reducing taxation on new boats would help to create more jobs across the country, improving our fleets, saving on emissions and improving the safety of our fishermen at sea. This policy would be a win-win for our economy, much like the green homes grant that I believe will be extended and fully funded on a multiannual basis. If done properly, the green homes grant will deliver insulated homes, create skilled jobs, reduce heating emissions and save on household bills. So I urge the Minister to take that policy forward and create a green revolution not just for this year because we are hosting COP26, but for the next decade as we recover from covid-19 and work towards net zero.

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16:52 Ian Paisley (North Antrim) (DUP) [V]

However, the Budget will be measured on how it delivers on the economic promises that it makes, especially the green revolution promises. For me, the measurement will be investment in the green economy of hydrogen. The Prime Minister has set a target of 5 GW of hydrogen by 2030. I want to pose this question to the Front Bench: does the Secretary of State agree that the hydrogen strategy must marry supply with demand? The Government can kickstart this supply and demand approach by turbocharging their investment in 4,000 zero-emission buses and making at least half of these hydrogen buses. Combined with this, we must reform two things—the renewable transport fuel obligation and the bus service operators grant. These reforms will support bus operators to buy hydrogen buses made across the United Kingdom, and therefore unlock major investment and job creation schemes in green hydrogen production across all four parts of the United Kingdom.

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17:01 Jack Brereton (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Con)

Our prospectus identifies four key high-growth sectors: digital, advanced manufacturing, especially in ceramics, green energy and creatives—decent jobs, proper skills and rewarding pay. Our prospectus outlines a range of projects we hope to deliver based around four priority areas: transport, economic development, education and skills, and health and productivity.

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17:44 Sam Tarry (Ilford South) (Lab)

The lack of pandemic support has already had a profound impact on those who work in the transport sector, with over 1,000 jobs lost in both the bus and coach manufacturing industries—mostly, unfortunately, again in the north of England. And all this is at a time when the fuel duty freeze is costing the Government the best part of £1 billion, sending a clear message about where their priorities lie in terms of their decarbonisation agenda.

What hope is there for the ordinary worker who wants to return to work but is faced with a rise in rail fares and cuts to bus routes, which, in recent years, have seen 134 million miles lost? Where is the Government’s much heralded bus strategy, which was supposed to have been published last year? There was not a word of this in the Chancellor’s statement or, indeed, any update on the commitment to unveil 4,000 zero-emission buses, which can only lead us to conclude that their decarbonisation agenda has missed the bus. As the MP for Ilford South, I watch in dismay as the Government continue to level down London’s transport network rather than truly levelling up the midlands and the north.

The Budget was a pivotal moment for the climate emergency and jobs crisis, but next to nothing was announced for a new economic green recovery. There is no new investment for green recoveries in key industries, including automotive, aerospace and steel. Just £20 million was announced for floating offshore wind technology. Labour has called for a £30 billion green economic recovery, which would create 400,000 secure jobs in clean industries.

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17:25 Tan Dhesi (Labour)

We could have had a major national rail electrification programme to help decarbonise our transport, but, no. I welcome the £20 million for floating offshore wind technology, but that is paltry compared with the scale of the challenge. In reality, we need a £30 billion green economic recovery package to create 400,000 green secure jobs. That is how we would get a proper investment-led recovery to help us meet our carbon targets and help tackle the climate crisis.

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17:29 Ben Spencer (Conservative)

Finally, but most importantly, this is a Budget that tackles the long-term challenges we face. First, on sustainability and climate change, I particularly want to draw attention to energy innovation and support for the UK biomass feedstocks programme. That will be essential for the development of domestic biofuel supplies to support the sustainability of our aviation sector and jet zero, benefiting my constituents by securing the future of the aviation sector and those employed in it and reducing aircraft pollution and the harms that it causes.

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17:31 Mike Hill (Hartlepool) (Lab) [V]

While the exploration of potential new large-scale infrastructure projects is very welcome, there is already one large employer in my constituency in the form of Hartlepool nuclear power station, which is integral to our nation’s energy supply and needs guarantees about its future. The Budget was the perfect opportunity to cement the future of nuclear energy in Hartlepool, which contributes to the Government’s green energy commitments and our zero carbon future. The omission of the nuclear sector from the Budget is deeply concerning to the workers in that power station, as the clock ticks down to the decommissioning of the site without a renewal firmly on the table. Sites such as Hartlepool already have the infrastructure, the professional and skilled workforce and the desire to keep those generators spinning. We just need the Treasury to show that it is willing to support us, and I hope the Minister will respond to that. The Government must be serious about the future of the sector, as thousands of jobs nationwide and our national energy security depend on it.

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17:36 Kerry McCarthy (Labour)

Finally, we were promised a green Budget, yet we got nothing of the sort. We needed to see measures that would kick-start a transformative green recovery, but what we got was a pitiful lack of ambition from the Chancellor. Although I welcome the £4.1 million allocated to reducing car usage in the west of England, this kind of piecemeal funding is no substitute for a national strategy for decarbonising transport and encouraging take-up of active travel. Ahead of hosting COP26, we should be leading the way on tackling climate change and biodiversity loss, yet the Chancellor is more concerned with boosting his own leadership prospects and “brand Rishi” than with showing the international leadership that we need from our senior politicians on this issue.

The UK is being eclipsed in green recovery spending at an international level. For instance, France and Germany have both delivered substantial green spending packages to decarbonise their economies. Labour has already set out its plan for a £30 billion green stimulus to support 400,000 new green jobs. I urge the Chancellor to read those plans, which might just help him to think bigger when it comes to protecting our planet.

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17:46 Peter Aldous (Waveney) (Con) [V]

East Anglia has enormous potential to play a lead role in the emerging green economy. We can be a global leader and exemplar, and we must ensure that local people benefit from this. There are great opportunities in a wide variety of sectors: low carbon energy production, including offshore wind, nuclear and hydrogen; the storage of carbon in the gas fields of the southern North sea; sustainable, responsible custodianship of our marine and fishing resources, building on the work of the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, which has been in Lowestoft for over a century; low-carbon shipping and maritime activities, not just in Felixstowe and Harwich but in Ipswich, Lowestoft, Great Yarmouth and King’s Lynn; and, finally, the emergence of net zero agriculture.

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17:49 Margaret Greenwood (Wirral West) (Lab) [V]

The Chancellor’s Budget was a disappointment, because it failed to grasp the enormity of the challenges facing our country: the challenges of poverty, inequality, low pay and unemployment; the erosion of our vital public services over the past 11 years; and the urgency of addressing the climate crisis. It also failed to take the opportunity to reward the public sector workers who have kept the country going throughout the pandemic. Instead, the Chancellor has shamefully decided to cut the pay of NHS staff and other public sector workers when he should be giving them a pay rise.

The Chancellor has also failed to show ambition to tackle the climate emergency. Labour has repeatedly called for a £30 billion green economic recovery to secure 400,000 secure jobs in clean industries, but the Chancellor has failed to deliver. He announced just £20 million for floating offshore wind and has actually cut the green homes grant by more than £1 billion. The new national infrastructure bank offers a fraction of the funding recommended by the National Infrastructure Commission.

To conclude, the Government should cancel their plans to cut the pay of public sector workers and cancel once and for all the cut to UC; reinvest in our public services, which have been damaged by years of austerity; and heed Labour’s call for a £30 billion green economic recovery to create 400,000 secure jobs in clean industries to tackle the climate emergency.

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17:54 Alan Brown (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (SNP) [V]

When we have 3,000 people per year dying from fuel poverty, levelling up should involve cutting VAT on energy- efficiency measures and direct Government investment in them. As we transition to net zero, we must not create further fuel poverty. The contracts for difference process has been successful in bringing down the cost of renewables, but the overall project costs go on our electricity bills. It is unsustainable for the costs of decarbonising our heating systems to go directly on to energy bills. When will the Government address that?

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18:27 Apsana Begum (Labour)

Despite finally listening to trade unions and campaigners with regard to the furlough scheme, there was not nearly enough to secure a recovery that puts people in a better position than when they entered the pandemic, never mind laying the foundations for the economy to meet the challenges of the future, including tackling climate change and mass unemployment. Yes, the main rate of corporation tax will increase from the present 19% to 25%, but not until 2023. At the same time, the rich and big business are being treated to mouth-watering tax giveaways and reliefs, despite unclear evidence about whether that will actually create the investment needed.

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18:33 Liz Twist (Labour)

Finally, and briefly, I want to talk about the things that were left out. We face a huge climate change issue. We know this—we have declared a climate emergency. It is really disappointing to see no real significant measures to address that. Then there is social care. We all know there is a problem and that we need to improve the quality and availability of social care. The people doing it do a great job and we should pay them for it.

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18:36 Naz Shah (Labour)

Bradford was at the heart of the industrial revolution and is now at the heart of the northern powerhouse. We have one of the youngest populations not just in the UK, but in Europe. We have been ranked as the second most entrepreneurial city in Britain, and the University of Bradford was recently ranked, in a new study, No. 1 for impact on social mobility. Bradford is aiming to become the UK’s leading growth city. I am really grateful for the £50 million that we have already got from central Government for air quality. That contributes to the wider ambition, but this is about more than net zero. It is about incorporating sustainable development goals, one of which is our ambition to be the city of culture in 2025.

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18:43 Bridget Phillipson (Labour)

The Chair of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, my hon. Friend the Member for Bristol North West (Darren Jones), was right to emphasise that we need to see a focus on growth as part of a transition to net zero. We should have seen that joined-up approach to support growth in every part of our country, with decisions based on genuine need, not narrow, partisan advantage.

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18:51 Steve Barclay (Conservative)

My hon. Friend the Member for Stroud (Siobhan Baillie) reinforced the Government’s commitment to a green recovery and reskilling to take advantage of the investment set out in the Prime Minister’s 10-point plan. My right hon. Friend the Member for Ashford (Damian Green) also highlighted the importance of green innovation, which is reflected in the commitment to double the spending on energy innovation, with a new £1 billion net zero innovation portfolio.

My right hon. Friend the Member for South Northamptonshire (Andrea Leadsom) highlighted the key opportunity provided by our leadership of COP26. My hon. Friend the Member for Tiverton and Honiton (Neil Parish) highlighted the value of the super deduction policy. In answer to his question on fishing, I can confirm that fishing boats are within scope either for the super deduction or the related 50% first-year allowance.

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