Lord Dobbs (Con):...But I am not finished. We need millions of test
kits; where will we get them? From Roche, AstraZeneca and GSK. It
is the same story with ventilators: Babcock, BAE,
Honeywell, Rolls-Royce Mercedes and even McLaren Formula
1. It is a long and extraordinarily diverse list of names, and I
make no apologies for continuing with this roll call of honour.
Brewers have turned out millions of bottles of sanitisers, and so
have cosmetics manufacturers. Chivas and Budweiser...Request free trial
(Con):...But I am not finished. We need millions of test kits;
where will we get them? From Roche, AstraZeneca and GSK. It is the
same story with ventilators: Babcock, BAE, Honeywell, Rolls-Royce Mercedes and even
McLaren Formula 1. It is a long and extraordinarily diverse list of
names, and I make no apologies for continuing with this roll call
of honour. Brewers have turned out millions of bottles of
sanitisers, and so have cosmetics manufacturers. Chivas and
Budweiser have been standing alongside Estée Lauder and L’Oréal,
not forgetting Diageo and PZ Cussons. Private enterprise has shown
itself to be extraordinarily adaptive. I read on the BBC that one
quick-witted manufacturer has turned his 3D-printing operation,
which usually makes sex toys, to producing ear protectors for the
NHS. This is not quite swords into ploughshares, perhaps, but it
seems there is no end to the entrepreneurial imagination...
(LD):...It
is also necessary for the Government to embark on a serious
programme of retraining. Those Rolls-Royce employees
who are going to lose their jobs have a skills base that would
easily allow them to be retrained for other similarly skilled
opportunities. How shall we pay for this? I do not believe that the
wholesale raising of taxes makes sense, as it will depress both
demand and initiative; nor is cutting public expenditure possible.
There can be no return to austerity; indeed, we may need to
increase public expenditure...
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy () (Con):...In the north-east alone—my home region, if
the House will forgive me—we have seen the Barbour factory in South
Shields shift from producing wax jackets for the world to making
gowns and scrubs for local hospitals. Rolls-Royce in Tyne and
Wear, and indeed elsewhere, played its part in the ventilator
challenge, producing medical ventilators for the UK. The same is
happening up and down our nation. As mentioned by the noble Lord,
, our
leading world fashion houses have gone from luxury fashion to
protective kit, delivered to the front line by eBay, Amazon and
many others. I am sure my noble friend Lord Lang will be delighted
to hear that...
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