Queen’s Speech — House of Lords, 2022-05-16
Topic: Mixed Topics
Questions: 2050—I am just 100 years out. Even if we get to that, a lot of countries in the world will not. Two things follow from that. The first is that climate change will not be significantly improved. We in this country produce 1% of the world’s emissions, so if we have all the struggles and make the vast expenditures but other countries do not, we will not have achieved anything so far as climate change is concerned Secondly, if we have spent an enormous amount of money improving our electricity and getting it all done, our electricity will almost certainly be more expensive than it is in other countries. There is a danger we have to watch, as the heavy industrial users of electricity will build their factories in other countries, not in those that have spent all that money on this. We have the time to deal with this, but we have to be very careful that that is not the end result of what we do.
Aamer Sarfraz (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, when I think of all Britain’s success stories over the years, it is hard to look at our domestic automotive industry without a great sense of pride. I draw the House’s attention to my interests as set out in the register, particularly in early-stage battery technologies The United Kingdom has been blessed with industry pioneers: Frederick Bremer built the country’s first four-wheeled petrol engine car; Herbert Austin, a Member of your Lordships’ House, led the UK in capturing global market share; Michael Stanley Whittingham won a Nobel Prize for the development of lithium-ion batteries in this country; and Andy Palmer launched the world’s first mass-market electric vehicle. But sadly, our domestic auto industry has been in a steady, gradual decline We used to be the world’s largest car exporter and the world’s second-largest car producer, but last year we made just 930,000 cars—fewer than Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Canada and Indonesia. We now make less than 1% of the cars in the world, yet the industry still supports the jobs and livelihoods of more than 800,000 people. All the great names of British auto making have been acquired by foreign competitors. While we welcomed the foreign investment, it also means that key decisions happen in overseas boardrooms, with distinct corporate cultures and ultimately competing priorities to those of UK plc It is no accident that Governments in the largest economies around the world have gone to great lengths to support their auto industries. During the 2008 financial crisis, the Japanese, German, French and US Governments all stepped in and recognised the importance of their car industries to their economies and the shadow they cast on associated industries. The industry does not just make cars; it makes skilled people who end up in aviation, logistics, academia, engineering, construction and elsewhere. In 1939, the car industry was able to pivot its manufacturing capability to drive the war effort, and in 2020 it was the car makers that pivoted to create ventilators in our moment of need. We have an opportunity now to revive the car industry. It is transforming itself with the deployment of electric vehicles. We have a chance to retool, re-evaluate and recreate a new supply chain that includes the mass production of batteries. Chief among our needs is attracting four to six battery manufacturers to the UK instead of the EU. Duty regulations mean that batteries must be made in Europe by 2026, yet almost all cell makers are setting up in the EU simply because they can access bigger grants in lower-cost countries and in a political environment that makes EV batteries a project of strategic importance The gracious Speech highlights levelling up, economic growth and net zero, all themes in which the auto industry can play a starring role. But we cannot level up unless there is a level playing field, and that is what the Government need to deliver to our car industry.