15:38 Greg Clark (Tunbridge Wells) (Con)

It is my priority as Business Secretary to ensure that the UK continues to enjoy the benefits from our transition to ultra low and zero emission vehicles by continuing to build an agile, innovative and cost-competitive supply chain, which we need to secure vital international investment. With that in mind, we remain dedicated and absolutely committed to securing UK battery manufacturing. As part of the Prime Minister’s 10-point plan, we have already announced £500 million to support the electrification of vehicles and their supply chains, and other strategically important technologies, through the automotive transformation fund over the next four years. We continue to work with investors through the automotive transformation fund, and to progress plans for manufacturing the batteries that we will need for the next generation of electric vehicles here in the UK.

I do not recognise some of the premises of the hon. Member’s question. The Prime Minister’s 10-point plan, far from being full of platitudes, is a world beater. I saw a story in The Guardian yesterday about the UN saying that other countries are struggling to meet our targets and our performance on decarbonisation and net zero, so I do not recognise that. She is right to suggest that we are 100% focused on securing these vital jobs. We are totally committed to net zero. I was lucky enough to be the energy Minister who landed the energy White Paper—the first energy White Paper that the Government published in 13 years. We are very focused on trying to land investment to drive the green industrial revolution here in this country.

I am very pleased that my hon. Friend has raised that question. I had an excellent visit a few months ago, as he remembers, in his constituency in Culham. I spoke to many business people who are driving the net zero agenda, and, alongside him, I am very happy to support those efforts.

Clearly, the right hon. Gentleman and I may have a different view on the threat of climate change, including, in particular, the drive to net zero. I suggest to him that the Prime Minister’s 10-point plan has been well received. There has been huge support across the United Kingdom to see cleaner technology and electric vehicles and many people are very supportive of the Government’s measures in this regard.

Last month, I met representatives from Johnson Matthey, which is opening a new flagship site at Milton Park in my constituency, where it will develop and test advance batches, working both to lengthen the driving distances and shorten the charging times. Does my right hon. Friend agree that this is a very welcome development that supports the Government’s ambition to transition us to electric vehicles as well as to help us meet our 2050 net zero goal?

I am delighted to answer that question, because it relates to an earlier answer that I gave. There are new jobs and opportunities in this push towards net zero. I would be very pleased to visit the Johnson Matthey site in Wantage and I think that it is an excellent development that we are all extremely pleased about.

As I said to my right hon. Friend the Member for Tunbridge Wells (Greg Clark), the Government are 100% committed to making sure those jobs stay. We are in conversations—negotiations, if they may be called that—with the company. We are also very committed to the Prime Minister’s 10-point plan and driving the energy transition, which will have economic impacts, secure jobs and be a great thing not only in the fight against climate change but for the economic development of our country.

The transition to electric vehicles is essential if we are to hit our world-beating commitment of net zero emissions by 2050. Will my right hon. Friend set out his plans to support the wider roll-out of vehicle charging points in places such as my constituency, where our rurality has necessitated the slower uptake of electric vehicles?

As the hon. Lady will have seen from these questions, we are looking at a number of sites. We are absolutely committed to having at least one gigafactory site, if not more—I think we need more than one—before the next election. I could not be clearer about our commitment to the transition and ultimately to reaching net zero by 2050.

On the specific question, I have met Steve Rotheram a number of times in previous ministerial roles, and I believe I am setting up a meeting with him soon. He has great knowledge of the area, and is interested not only in Ellesmere Port but in the possibilities of the HyNet industrial cluster, and decarbonising that. I am sure I will speak to the Mayor very soon.

There are huge opportunities in Wales for the siting of gigafactories, and also, particularly, in terms of the net zero challenge. I spoke to Ken Skates of the Welsh Government only this morning. There is a huge appetite in Wales to drive the net zero agenda. I would be very happy, as my right hon. Friend knows, to have a conversation with him on how best we can work together to do that.

My hon. Friend is quite right. The UK Government are absolutely committed not only to the manufacturing of these critically important batteries, but to recycling. We want to see a circular economy for electric vehicles. If we attain that, we will surely maximise the economic and environmental opportunities of the transition to zero emission vehicles.

More widely, we have heard great rhetoric from this Government on electric vehicles, but the action is lagging. For example, we have seen nothing from the £3 billion zero emission bus fund, while the Scottish Government power ahead. When will a sustainable strategy be delivered to support factories like Ellesmere Port to not only survive but thrive?

We are absolutely committed to that. When I was energy Minister, people like the hon. Member were saying, “When is the energy White Paper going to come out? What is the plan?” We have a 10-point plan, which has been widely accepted and welcomed. We also have an energy White Paper that sets out the path and we are developing strategies for how we get to net zero at a record pace. The Government are delivering. We have a very clear direction, and the industry has broadly welcomed that.

I agree with a lot of what the hon. Gentleman says. What I would say, and how I would slightly re-tilt the emphasis, is that there is Government investment, which we have—and we are committed to £12 billion through the 10-point plan—but also private investment. If we look at the success of offshore wind, we see that it was driven largely by the investment of private capital. Exactly the same thing will happen in respect of the net zero challenge. That is why we are in conversations with the private company to secure that investment.

My view is that that issue, which is critical for the United Kingdom, is something on which I am willing and happy to engage with Members across the House of Commons. It is too important an issue for narrowly partisan views, and of course I am happy to meet the hon. Gentleman and discuss opportunities to drive investment to power the net zero transition.

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