Peter Kyle addresses guests at the SMMT Annual Dinner
Source: gov.uk (2025-11-26)

The Business and Trade Secretary delivers the key note speech at the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) annual dinner.

Just a very personal thank you from me, Mike, for promoting the brilliant automotive sector, and also everything else that you’ve done in your time as Chief Executive, both here and abroad.

It’s also a big personal thanks to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders for making tonight happen in the first place.

I know you enjoyed a warm relationship with my predecessor, Jonny.

He got off the ground and implemented the Industrial Strategy which will benefit your sector for a decade ahead, and that is quite an achievement.

I’m really glad that he’s here tonight and I am extremely grateful for the friendship that he has shown me and to the Society.

I’m very keen to continue Jonny’s work under my tenure.

It’s always been a car mad, a family that I grew up in.

And for those of you who were there at the CBI speech yesterday, as I know some of you were, you heard me talking a little bit about my dad.

My dad left school when he was 14. He was in the Navy at 16. He was a door-to-door salesman in his mid-20s.

And then he moved South and worked his way up from door-to-door salesman to owning the company.

It was an incredible journey that he took me and my family on.

But that journey for me was punctuated by cars. I remember when I was a toddler him coming home in a Triumph TR7. Does anybody remember the Triumph TR7?

Well as a toddler when he showed me this marvel and when he went back into the house, I stole the keys and went back out to the car and ran the battery dead, making the lights go up and down.

And then a few years later he came home with a Porsche 924. A few years after that it was a Porsche 924S. A few years after, a 944.

The journey that my dad took my family on, where he worked his way out of poverty to affluence, was a journey that was punctuated by cars.

Then as a teenager, I remember sitting at home and hearing this noise rumbling down the street.

I knew exactly what it was.

I’d run out to see my dad finally arrive home in a Porsche 911, a car that has stayed in my heart ever since because of the symbolism that he had delivered for me and my family.

The relationship I had with my dad to the day he died last year was always bonded together by cars.

So, I’m passionate about your sector, it is personal for me and I’m excited by your sector and what it holds in the future.

But I also know that it’s been a tough time, with car production having roughly halved since 2016.

Getting those numbers up couldn’t simply be more important to me…

…because the motor industry is a bellwether sector, for our country.

What’s good for the British motor industry is good for Britain.

And when you get production up, you get growth back up in our country too.

That’s why I want my department to do everything it simply can to support your sector.

We’ve shown that in our decisive intervention at Jaguar Land Rover.

And we’re showing it in other ways too.

Take energy costs.

I know you have been hamstrung by some of the highest electricity prices in the G7.

We’re tackling that issue, and we’re tackling it head-on.

Yesterday, I launched our consultation on our new British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme.

It’s our flagship policy to bring down electricity bills.

We’re going to reduce electricity costs for over 7,000 eligible manufacturing businesses.

We want to save you up to £40 per megawatt hour from April 2027.

I believe that’s going to be a game-changer for our car industry.

And we’re implementing our Advanced Manufacturing Plan with urgency.

We’re partnering with industry to make our supply chains more secure.

And we’re setting up a new Supply Chain Centre based in my department.

And we will ensure that British industries continue to compete and win in the 21st Century.

To support that effort, we have brought forward the biggest set of automotive announcements in over a decade.

Transformative programmes like DRIVE35.

It’s ploughing money into the electrification of vehicle plants.

It’s channelling investment into batteries, electric motors, power electronics and hydrogen fuel cells.

And tomorrow we’re expecting the Chancellor to announce another £1.5 billion cash injection into DRIVE35.

That brings total capital support to £4 billion – running until 2035.

This is the biggest government investment in our car industry of the post-war era.

It’s going to make a massive difference to those at the cutting edge of your sector.

That includes the electric vehicle manufacturing pilots in Sunderland and the West Midlands, backed by our fantastic metro mayors.

They will benefit big industry names like Nissan and Jaguar Land Rover.

We want them to act as blueprints for other parts of the country too.

This is important because I have to be honest with you.

There will be some difficult decisions at the Budget.

Tough but necessary decisions to keep inflation down.

To protect businesses like yours from the rising costs.

To keep debt under control for the long term.

But make no mistake, we do want the UK to press ahead with zero emission vehicles.

We’ve already brought in consumer grants.

But tomorrow, we’ll go even further.

We’re expecting to see an extra £1.3 billion being added to the Electric Car Grant.

And the scheme will be extended for another year to 2030.

The rollout of charge points is likely to receive a £200 million top-up…

…because we know anxiety about where to charge has been holding some buyers back.

Here again, we want to work with you in allaying fears that we know exist.

One of the ways we can do that is through consulting on new Permitted Development Rights.

This is another big announcement expected in tomorrow’s Budget.

They will make it much easier and cheaper for people without a driveway to charge their cars overnight.

So, we are hastening the transition to zero emission vehicles.

And when we have the chance to lead in other areas, we will grab it with both hands.

Self-driving cars are a great example of that.

When I was the Technology Secretary, I spent a lot of time in San Francisco, and I got to experience these vehicles firsthand.

I want to replicate America’s success on this side of the Atlantic and I want Britain to be leading in that transition.

As you know, we introduced the CAM Pathfinder programme over the summer.

We’ve launched a series of funding competitions since.

And with the roll-out of our new permitting scheme next Spring, self-driving cars will become a reality on British roads very soon.

So, if it wasn’t clear by now, I want you to know I am fighting in your corner.

Whatever disruption you face, I want to help you overcome it…

…whether that’s disruption on energy, on supply chains, or on tariffs.

As you know, this government has signed a comprehensive trade deal with India.

It’s a deal that takes auto tariffs from over 100% down to 10%.

And it throws the doors open to millions of Indian consumers for your products.

At the same time, we’ve also negotiated a strategic partnership with the EU.

That will mean smoother, simpler trade with the UK’s closest neighbour.

We are also closing in on trade deals with the Gulf Cooperation Council and South Korea.

And, of course, for the US, we have another tariff-lowering agreement. The Economic Prosperity Deal.

We were the very first country to secure such an agreement after Donald Trump announced the tariffs.

It ensures that the first 100,000 cars we sell to the United States face much reduced tariffs.

And that makes a real difference to you.

I know that your industry - perhaps more than any other - is export-driven.

80% of the cars you make are shipped abroad. I understand that.

I want more British-made cars being cleared for export.

That is my goal as Secretary of State.

And working with the SMMT, I know it’s one we can achieve when we work together.

I want to be your voice in government.

I want to create more opportunities for you so we can get past this challenging time and realise the decade of renewal that we have promised you…

…a decade of growth and investment for your sector…

…because what’s good for you is good for our economy.

And it’s good for our entire country, too.

Thank you.