- Session will look at role of
defence spending and procurement in industrial renewal
The UK's new Government has made national reindustrialisation a
strategic priority, including mobilising the UK's planned
increases in defence spending into British firms, and leveraging
the expertise of regional devolved government's local growth
plans.
But news at the weekend of up to four thousand redundancies at
auto-manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover will pose an early test to
Government's plans. The company was hit last year by a major
cyber-attack that disrupted its supply chains for months, just as
it grappled with the impacts of a wave of US tariffs.
Business Secretary immediately refuted
suggestions of a bailout for the troubled firm, but Committee
Chair is today calling for clarity on
maximum support for workers to find new employment.
And while in many OECD countries defence expenditure has returned
to levels last seen at the end of the Cold War, there are
significant concerns about the Ministry of Defence's ability to
adapt to warfare that is changing at the fastest pace in
history.
With its notorious difficulties delivering the large scale,
decades-long projects that have always been its core function,
can it now adapt to the reality of warfare unfolding in Ukraine
and the Middle East, and fast enough? Or will the Defence
Investment Plan be obsolete before it's even
delivered?
Rt Hon MP, Chair of the Business and
Trade Committee, said:
News of up to 4,000 redundancies at JLR is a body blow for
workers, families and communities across the West Midlands.
Whether or not these redundancies are voluntary, we now need
urgent assurances that maximum support will be deployed to help
everyone affected find new work.
But the troubles at JLR underline the challenge facing the
Government's reindustrialisation drive. Britain is preparing to
spend billions more on defence, infrastructure and new
technology. But British business needs cheaper energy and
government orders, not at some distant point in the future, but
now, now, now.
On Tuesday, we will ask the Mayor of the West Midlands and
the Minister for clear answers. Reindustrialisation cannot be
measured by the strategies Whitehall publishes. It will be
measured by the industries Britain retains, the capabilities
Britain rebuilds and the jobs British workers can rely on.
On Tuesday 8 September the Business and Trade Committee will
begin to test delivery of the Defence Industrial Strategy and how
it fits with new plans for delivery of the broader Industrial
Strategy.
- Can the urgent necessity of re-arming and increasing the
capabilities of British forces with new technologies and
strategies be met in reality by the Government's unfolding
plans?
- Where will the financing come from to support British defence
tech startups? How can the UK ensure supplies of the
critical minerals advanced defence technologies rely on?
- Does the Government have a grip on what sovereign
capabilities the UK must maintain, and is the Defence Investment
Plan geared to support them?
- Should the UK join the new Defence, Security and Resilience
Bank allied financing facility?
- Beyond the rhetoric on devolution, what specific role will
local leaders, including regional mayors, take in delivering the
Industrial Strategy, the Defence Industrial Strategy - and
ultimately national economic growth?
- If regional authorities are empowered to retain more of the
tax they collect, will that just drive more inequality instead of
reducing it?
- Are regional and local leaders convinced by the new Prime
Minister's plans for co-ordinating with Whitehall?
The session will close with questions to the new minister for
reindustrialisation , testing the new
Government's confidence that its new model for growth can
overcome the profound structural problems that have held the UK
economy back for decades and left national defences weakened
