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  • Jonathan Reynolds – 2025 Commons Statement on British Steel

    Jonathan Reynolds – 2025 Commons Statement on British Steel

    The statement made by Jonathan Reynolds, the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, in the House of Commons on 12 April 2025.

    Mr Speaker we meet under exceptional circumstances to take exceptional action in what are exceptional times.

    Our request to recall Parliament was not one we have made lightly. And I am grateful, genuinely grateful, to Honourable members on all sides of this House for their cooperation and for being here today as we seek to pass emergency legislation that is unequivocally in our national interest.

    I would also like to particularly thank the staff here in Parliament for facilitating today.

    I would like to thank the Prime Minister, the Chancellor and the Home Secretary for their support.

    Indeed, the only reason we can take this action today is because of the restoration of economic stability and the dedicated resources for steel in the last Budget.

    I would like to recognise my honourable friend for Scunthorpe and the honourable member for Brigg and Immingham and for all my honourable friends from Teesside for their advocacy and engagement on behalf of their constituents throughout this matter.

    As honourable members will know, since taking office this government has been negotiating in good faith with British Steel’s owners, Jingye.

    We have worked tirelessly to find a way forward, making a generous offer of support to British Steel that included sensible, common sense conditions to protect the workforce, to protect taxpayers’ money, and create a commercially viable company for the future.

    Despite our offer to Jingye being substantial, they wanted much more, frankly, an excessive amount.

    We did, however, remain committed to negotiation. But over the last few days, it became clear that the intention of Jingye was to refuse to purchase sufficient raw materials to keep the blast furnaces running.

    In fact, their intention was to cancel and refuse to pay for existing orders.

    The company would therefore have irrevocably and unilaterally closed down primary steel making at British Steel.

    Now I want to make absolutely clear that separate to any conversation about a possible deal to co-invest in new facilities, the British Government offered to purchase raw materials in a way that would have ensured no losses whatsoever for Jingye in maintaining the blast furnaces for a period of time.

    A counter offer was instead made by Jingye for us to transfer hundreds of millions of pounds to them without any conditions to stop that money, and potentially other assets, being immediately transferred to China.

    They also refused a condition to keep the blast furnaces maintained and in good working order.

    Now even if I had agreed to these terms, I could not guarantee that further requests for money would not then be made.

    In this situation, with the clock being run down, doing nothing was not an option.

    We could not, will not, and never will, stand idly by while heat seeps from the UK’s remaining blast furnaces without any planning, any due process, or any respect for the consequences.

    And that is why I needed colleagues here today.

  • Jonathan Reynolds – 2025 Speech at Samsung KX

    Jonathan Reynolds – 2025 Speech at Samsung KX

    The speech made by Jonathan Reynolds, the Business Secretary, in London on 13 February 2025.

    Good morning, and thank you very much for that warm introduction, Aleyne, and my sincere thanks to the whole team here at Samsung for so generously hosting us, today.

    It’s actually quite emotional to be honest, it would have been someone like my grandfather who dug out that coal, sent it down here, and a few generations later I get to be on this stage doing this.

    But Samsung is a company synonymous with the best in cutting-edge design and innovation;  and much of it is on full display here within these four walls.

    It is a fitting venue to discuss this government’s ambition to go further and faster in our growth mission…ensuring that your investments that you outlined here in the UK pay dividends.

    Three years ago, I gave my first speech as the then Shadow Business Secretary – and I promised we would be both a pro-business and a pro-worker party…

    …A party rooted not just in the experience of working people, but which recognises, above all else, that you cannot rebuild an economy without a flourishing private sector; backed by an unapologetically pro-business government.

    I committed to partnering with you in making our offer to the country one you could get behind.

    And you gave us the ideas, energy and, in some cases, explicit support that was needed to win a strong majority and an even stronger mandate from the British people. A mandate to deliver our Plan for Change.

    Today, I want to reflect on the progress that we have made as a government. I want to talk candidly about what I believe we need to do;

    …And I want to provide a clear direction, some reassurance and – I hope – some excitement and optimism about the future.

    Now I am extremely proud of the work that my department has done in the first seven months of this Government.

    That includes our record-breaking International Investment Summit…where we secured £63bn of inward investment commitments for the UK…

    …that was where we published our Industrial Strategy Green Paper…

    …and where we launched our Industrial Strategy Council expertly led by Clare Barclay. I’m so glad Clare could join us ahead of the council’s meeting later today.

    Building on from the investment summit, at Davos last month, the Chancellor and I sent a clear message to the international community: that the UK is a great place to invest and do business. We have the lowest corporation tax in the G7, uncapped R&D tax credits, and 100% full expensing on capital allowances.

    And ahead of our Trade Strategy’s publication, we are leveraging our relationships with Europe, China, India and the Gulf and beyond so businesses can make the UK their base to connect with global markets.

    And this is important, because in response to the announcements made by the US this week, I want to reiterate that under this government, the UK will always champion free, fair and open trade. That is what is in our national interest.

    And where we have seen the opportunity for an active government to bring business and workers together, my department has always been on the pitch…

    …Whether that’s securing a better deal for the workforce at Port Talbot

    …engaging on the takeover of Royal Mail…

    …Or the renegotiated deal that saw Navantia acquiring Harland and Wolff and protect 1,000 jobs at shipyards across the UK. I will always roll up my sleeves and get involved.

    But – being candid – none of this work in itself is sufficient, if it does not lead across the board to improved business confidence, to greater investment, and to higher household income, in every part of the country.

    And on that I, and the whole government, recognise the challenge, and we accept it.

    In the Budget the government had a responsibility to fix the foundations and restore economic stability.

    And while I recognise that the Budget capped corporation tax, extended capital allowances, and raised the employment allowance threshold from this April, I know it asked a great deal of business. I don’t underestimate that for a second.

    We will never take that contribution – your contribution – for granted.

    You are playing your part in fixing this country, in stabilising the public finances, in investing in our people and helping us rebuild our crumbling infrastructure.

    And we know it is imperative that therefore we clear the path for the private sector to thrive… that we deliver the right conditions for growth.

    It’s why, on top of the £100 billion of investment unveiled at the Budget, this Government has thrown its full support behind a third runway at Heathrow.

    It’s why we’re making the Oxford Cambridge growth corridor a success with the right transport and public services to foster growth.

    It’s why through our expanded Office for Investment and the National Wealth Fund we will be supporting transformative investments throughout the country from West Yorkshire to the West Midlands, and Glasgow and Greater Manchester.

    The challenges we face as government make all the things we promised to do even more critical.

    And I relish that.

    And I don’t believe there are easy answers to complex problems.

    But I do believe that good policy, good strategies, and good government working hand-in-hand with the private sector, can make a difference.

    And I want my constituents to feel, and to be, better off.

    And only a pragmatic, business-orientated government can deliver that.

    And that to me is what being pro-worker, and pro-business means.

    And I believe this national UK Government is able to deliver on this mission because, fundamentally, we can offer what no-one else can:

    First of all, political stability – sadly, a rare commodity in many countries these days.

    Secondly, openness to the rest of the world – at a time where that is clearly coming under pressure.

    And most importantly of all, we are offering a willingness to use our mandate in Parliament to transform the business and investor environment.

    And we are using our Industrial Strategy to ensure that our policies are made with business, for business.

    As you know, in October last year, we consulted on our Industrial Strategy Green Paper; our blueprint to channel investment and support into our country’s high-growth sectors and high potential places.

    In that green paper, we posed a series of questions, and you answered in great detail. You told us that you need access to a high-skilled workforce.

    And that is why we have launched Skills England, bringing in flexibilities for the Growth and Skills levy, allowing for shorter apprenticeships and giving employers more control over training.

    Meanwhile our Great Britain Working White Paper has already set out detailed plans to support people back into work.

    And for key sectors such as AI and life sciences, we’ve committed to looking at visa routes for the most highly skilled, ensuring those routes continue to work for the UK. The upcoming Immigration White Paper will set out plans to make our immigration, skills, and visa systems work better and more coherently.

    You told us that planning has become a by-word for inefficiency.

    So, we’re making it quicker and simpler for developers to build on brownfield land.

    We’re making it much easier to build laboratories, gigafactories, data centres, and digital network grid connections.

    And we’re preventing campaigners from repeatedly launching hopeless legal challenges against planning decisions.

    You have also told us that access to capital needs drastic improvement.

    Here again we’re listening and we’re responding. That is why the Government is creating pension megafunds, unlocking billions of pounds of investment. At the same time, we’re delivering on Lord Hill’s Listing Review to allow the FCA to rewrite the UK’s Prospectus Regime for faster fund-raising.

    And, finally, you told us that we need a ‘regulation reset’ in this country.

    Day in, day out I hear from business leaders who say to me that regulation and regulators are too cumbersome.

    They’re too slow.

    They’re too focused on theoretical issues, with little understanding of how businesses and markets actually operate.

    And I’ve heard that message loud and clear.

    One of our foremost regulators, the Competition and Markets Authority, has recently made great strides in addressing some of these issues.

    And today, my department is publishing a consultation on a new Strategic Steer for the CMA to accelerate this work.

    This isn’t about meaningless platitudes – about the ‘cutting of red tape.’

    It’s about effective consumer protection, competition law and digital market powers so that we create a level-playing field for businesses to compete on. We need to address genuine harm done by those who are not playing by the rules.

    Our Strategic Steer asks the CMA to minimise uncertainty for business – by being proactive, transparent, timely, predictable and responsive in its engagement.

    And I know, under Sarah Cardell and the new Interim Chair, Doug Gurr, the CMA has already taken significant steps in adopting this approach…in always having growth and investment in mind.

    Its extensive work around the merger of Vodafone and Three is a fantastic example of that…as is the CMA’s launch of a Growth and Investment Council to identify opportunities for greater competition.

    And there is more to come.

    I know Sarah and the CMA have set out their plans to deliver real, meaningful reforms to the merger control processes already today. Its eyes are trained firmly on more direct engagement with businesses. On speeding up its decision-making to deliver more certainty for investors. On adopting a faster, more agile approach to protecting competition.

    I fully endorse these measures because this Government believes in effective, independent institutions. In promoting competition and protecting competition – that is fundamental to our growth mission. And with the current CMA team in place, we want to support them every step of the way in the changes they’re making.

    I want to see that same level of ambition from our other regulators because right now, I don’t think our regulatory environment is doing enough to drive investor confidence and support growth.

    So, I’m taking this first step today but watch this space.

    I’m serious about delivering our wider regulatory reform over the coming weeks and months…

    …I’m also serious about building the pro-innovation, pro-worker, pro wealth creation economy that we promised at the general election. I know you in the room share that commitment, too.

    I’m proud of the reforms that we’ve set out in the Employment Rights Bill – of the opportunities they will afford working class families and working-class communities like the one I grew up in.

    I want everyone to benefit from the stronger economy I know we can have.

    But I always said, however, that we would work with – and not against – business to deliver these generational reforms.

    I said that we would never introduce changes that would make it harder for firms to hire with confidence.

    And this is precisely why my department is consulting on many of the key aspects of our Make Work Pay reforms – not least on probationary periods.

    I want a statutory probation period that lets businesses get a good sense of how new employees are performing.

    And it’s common sense to ensure that there are lighter touch standards for dismissal during those initial months of people starting a job.

    I know how important this is for employers. And I get it.

    It’s why my department will continue to engage face-to-face with business to develop a sensible, balanced proposal before we go out for formal consultation.

    And we will also consult on the length of the statutory probation period, with our preference being 9 months.

    We have also made clear that the changes we make to unfair dismissal will come into effect no sooner than the autumn of next year.

    I want there to be a buffer – a proper, business readiness period – so employers fully understand the details of our reforms, and can prepare long before they enter into force.

    That is the right thing to do – for both employers and employees.

    So, let there be no doubt – we are still the party of business.

    And we are willing to do the difficult things.

    Be that a third runway at Heathrow, a step change at the CMA, or stopping endless court challenges over the job-creating projects this country needs.

    We can share our ideas and ambition with each other.

    Take the big bets.

    Take some risks.

    Be the disruptors.

    My desire to be your champion in government has never wavered.

    And it is as resolute now as ever.

    We have to go further and faster in driving growth.

    And, friends, together, I know that we will.

    Thank you very much.

  • Jonathan Reynolds – 2024 Speech at Labour Party Conference

    Jonathan Reynolds – 2024 Speech at Labour Party Conference

    The speech made by Jonathan Reynolds, the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, on 23 September 2024.

    Conference,

    I stand here before you today,

    proud to be your Secretary of State for Business and Trade.

    Proud to be a part of the most working class Cabinet in British history.

    And proud of the pro-business, pro worker platform that was fundamental to our success at the election but which will be even more fundamental to our success in Government.

    No-one should be in any doubt, we campaigned as a pro-business party and we will govern as a pro-business party.

    Because we know that we cannot deliver for the British people, unless we turn around the low investment, low productivity, low growth economy which we have inherited.

    And we cannot do that, unless we work in partnership with business to bring about the change we need.

    And my ask of all of you, is not just to support that agenda, but to actively stand with me and this Labour Government, as we work day and night, to again give people the work, and the wages and the prosperity, and the living standards that everyone in Britain needs, and everyone in Britain deserves.

    Because Conference, the task is urgent.

    What I found, when I walked through the door of my Department on the 5 July was a mess left by Conservative ministers – who had simply ceased to govern.

    Just like the Downing Street parties they threw, they expected someone else to come in and clear up after them

    The Conservative overspending – that £22bn black hole in the Treasury reserve – put at risk things that could not be more important to the British people: money for the steel industry, compensation for postmasters.

    And vital decisions, on everything from shipbuilding to automotive, simply not taken.

    They were deferred, they were left for us to deal with.

    If people ask me for an example, of what a pro-worker, and pro-business agenda looks like:

    I point out to them that over the last decade the unions in this room have actually fought harder for British industry, than the Conservative Party did!

    Nowhere have we seen that more, than in steel.

    I’d like to thank Community, and GMB, and Unite, for working with me to improve the deal for the workforce at Port Talbot.

    I’ll always be the first to say, I wish we could have done even more.

    But I can tell you working together with the unions we have done more for steel in two months, than the Conservative Party did in 14 years.

    I am always aware, of just how consequential the decisions I make are,

    That they touch the lives of a great many people.

    And understanding that, is what being a Government of service is all about.

    And we have already begun the work to deliver that change.

    Implementing our plan for small business: where previous governments talked about ending late payments – we have taken the action needed to ensure companies pay on time

    And we aren’t just tackling issues like business rates, but removing the wider barriers that speak to the heart of local economies.

    Making our high streets safe and vibrant once again including new measures to stop violence against shop workers and turning around derelict town centres.

    It means delivering on our Industrial Strategy, so we win a great share of investment in the UK of the industries that will contribute the most to our future growth.

    It means having a trade strategy, that resets our relationship with the EU whilst also building new trade opportunities around the world.

    And conference, alongside those things, we cannot deliver change without delivering our New Deal for Working People.

    Now Conference, you may have seen, the Conservative Party, they don’t like our plan to make work pay.

    And while it is ironic to hear the same people who have been asleep on the job for the last 14 years complain about other people’s working patterns.

    Didn’t we hear the same arguments against the Minimum Wage?

    So when they stand up in a few years’ time trying to claim credit for the work the Labour movement did to advance the rights of working people: don’t you let them forget what side of history they were on.

    Because we know when it comes to the Conservative Party the British public have already availed themselves of the right to switch off.

    Conference, I will always make the case that many businesses in Britain model fantastic best practice, and they invest in their workforce, whether it’s offering shared parental leave, or support for carers.

    And we are going to make Britain more competitive and more investible.

    But our mission is not just for growth, but for growth that everybody benefits from.

    So Conference, I put it to you:

    Where a person has worked, a regular number of hours for some time, they should have the right to a contract that reflects those hours.

    And where a person has worked somewhere for two years, they do deserve protection from being unfairly dismissed.

    And that most of all, where a person goes out to work, not only do they deserve to be fairly paid for that work. But what every business also needs, are customers who have some money in their pocket, some spending power, and that means, over time, moving towards a Britain where everyone earns a real living wage.

    Conference, the task ahead of us is a big one.

    It will be difficult at times.

    No one else can change this country.

    So I say let’s accept the challenge and get on with the job.

    And if you feel, the same drive, the same passion, the same energy, and most of all, the same hope, that I feel, everyday, as your Secretary of State I am telling you we can build a Britain, not just of good work and good wages, but of dignity, respect, and opportunity.

    The Britain that we have always believed in, the Britain we have always strived to build,

    Conference, together, for the first time in years, our pro-business, pro worker government gives us the chance to do exactly that.

    And I promise, as your Secretary of State, I will work every single moment I have.

    to make that happen.

    Thank you Conference.

  • Jonathan Reynolds – 2024 Statement on the UK Steel Safeguard Extension

    Jonathan Reynolds – 2024 Statement on the UK Steel Safeguard Extension

    The statement made by Jonathan Reynolds, the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, in the House of Commons on 18 July 2024.

    I would like to make a statement on decisions made by the previous Government in relation to the UK’s steel safeguard measure.

    A successful steel industry is critical to our economic future, and we need the right policy environment to build sustainable growth in the UK and to ensure we respond effectively to unfair overseas trading practices and protectionist measures.

    Trade remedy measures enable Governments to protect their businesses from unfair foreign trade practices. They tackle issues of dumping or of unfair Government subsidies or, as in the case of safeguards, give businesses time to adjust to unforeseen increases in imports.

    The UK has, since 2018, applied a safeguard measure on imports of certain steel products. A safeguard measure imposes a tariff on specified product imports. This provides a level playing field and protects domestic producers from serious injury caused by unforeseen increases in imports giving them the needed time to adjust.

    The UK’s safeguard measure applies on 15 different steel product categories and was set to expire on 30 June 2024 under UK law. The Trade Remedies Authority conducted an investigation to determine whether or not there would be injury or threat of injury to domestic steel producers without the safeguard. They considered evidence from both domestic and international industry and organisations. After careful consideration, the Trade Remedies Authority recommended to the previous Secretary of State for Business and Trade that the measure should be extended on all 15 product categories for a further two years, to 30 June 2026.

    The previous Government considered the evidence in the Trade Remedies Authority’s recommendation and wider matters in the public interest, including the UK’s obligations under the relevant World Trade Organization agreement. They took the decision to extend the measure on all 15 categories for a further two years, to 30 June 2026. The decision to extend the measure on five of the 15 product categories represented a departure from the UK’s obligations under the relevant WTO agreements. The previous Government balanced this against the evidence the TRA found in their investigation and the UK’s public interest. As shadow Business and Trade Secretary, I supported this decision.

    The previous Government also decided to extend the application of the suspension for Ukraine to 30 June 2026. The extension review conducted by the Trade Remedies Authority did not consider the future of the existing suspension for Ukraine as it was beyond the scope of their investigation. The previous Government decided that it was in the UK’s public interest to extend the suspension for Ukraine to 30 June 2026. This decision was taken to ensure that imports of Ukrainian steel will not be subject to the additional safeguard quotas and duty. This is in line with the UK’s commitment to support Ukraine in the war with Russia, which the Prime Minister has reaffirmed to President Zelensky.

    In taking this decision with respect to the Ukraine suspension, UK legislation requires the Secretary of State to lay a statement before the House to explain why such a decision was taken. Now that Parliament has been reconstituted, I am laying this statement to make the House aware of the decision taken by the previous Government.

  • Jonathan Reynolds – 2023 Speech on Post Office Horizon Compensation

    Jonathan Reynolds – 2023 Speech on Post Office Horizon Compensation

    The speech made by Jonathan Reynolds, the Labour MP for Stalybridge and Hyde, in the House of Commons on 23 March 2023.

    I thank the Minister for his statement and for advance sight of it.

    I too begin by paying tribute to Alan Bates and the Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance, which has campaigned for decades for compensation, justice and the truth. In addition, I recognise the campaigning efforts of Members from across this House on behalf of their constituents, and join the Minister in paying tribute to my right hon. Friend the Member for North Durham (Mr Jones) in particular. There can be no doubt that he has played an instrumental role in helping to chart a route to justice for thousands of people. We all wholeheartedly thank him for that.

    The House is in unanimous agreement that the Horizon scandal has been a shocking injustice. Indeed, I think it is no exaggeration to say that it is one of the greatest scandals of modern times. As we continue to hear in the public inquiry the accounts of lives torn apart by the scandal, we can never lose sight of how devastating its impact has been on those victims. Today’s announcement of the group litigation order compensation scheme is very welcome. I was pleased to hear about the appointment of claims facilitators and external legal advisers—in the interests of full transparency, I declare that I am a former employee of Addleshaw Goddard.

    I thank the Minister and his predecessor, the hon. Member for Sutton and Cheam (Paul Scully), for their work on this matter. I am sure that the Minister will appreciate that I feel duty-bound to put on record the level of frustration that many people have felt about how protracted their fight for justice has been, particularly the 555 litigants excluded from the original historic shortfall scheme. Indeed, one of the first speeches that I made from this Dispatch Box as shadow Business Secretary was in support of calls for compensation to be expanded to them—a campaign that was established long before that exchange nearly 18 months ago. The most important step now is for that compensation to reach victims as quickly as possible, so may I press the Minister on the steps that we will all take to ensure that the process is completed as swiftly as possible?

    I am also grateful for the update on the historic short- fall scheme. The Government’s ambition was for that scheme to be completed at the end of last year, but in December, the then Secretary of State said that 93% of eligible claimants had been issued offers of compensation. The Minister has given the figure of 98% today, so can he confirm that the scheme’s completion is imminent? I also was pleased that he raised the tax issue. Will he commit to coming back to the House when he can to provide more information on the work that he said he is doing?

    Today’s announcement is certainly welcome, but as we all await the conclusion of the public inquiry, and its recommendations, surely this is one of many steps that we need to take to make amends for what has been the most insidious of injustices.

    Kevin Hollinrake

    I thank the hon. Gentleman for his words, and for welcoming the statement and the opening of the scheme. I absolutely concur that we should all be grateful for the work of my predecessors—not least, as he said, my hon. Friend the Member for Sutton and Cheam (Paul Scully).

    The hon. Gentleman is right to say that we want to do this as quickly as possible. I am very pleased with the work of the advisory board, which is helping with the scheme. The scheme is based on a set of principles that should mean that compensation is delivered more rapidly and that there is a clear route to claims being settled quickly. We very much hope that that is the case—we want to get those payments out of the door at the earliest possible opportunity.

    Again, we are working at pace on the tax issue. Clearly that is a matter of law as well as of tax policy, so getting that right is key. We have to work with the Treasury and HMRC to ensure that we get it right, but that is a determination and a commitment that I am very happy to make. We hope to make a further announcement on that work shortly.

  • Jonathan Reynolds – 2023 Speech on the Budget

    Jonathan Reynolds – 2023 Speech on the Budget

    The speech made by Jonathan Reynolds, the Shadow Business Secretary and Labour MP for Stalybridge and Hyde, in the House of Commons on 16 March 2023.

    Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for calling me to close the Budget debate this evening. I begin by acknowledging all 28 speeches we have heard today, but I want to pay a particular tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for West Lancashire (Ashley Dalton) for her outstanding maiden speech. I thought she captured the history and pride of her constituents, but also their ambitions and aspirations, in a truly impressive way. I also want to refer to the fact that she is a graduate of the Jo Cox women in leadership scheme. For the shadow Chancellor and me—we were both asked to speak on the day Parliament was recalled following the loss of Jo—to be able to open and close this debate and see a graduate of that scheme take her place and give a maiden speech like that, of such quality, is truly one of the legacies that Jo deserves. I know the whole House will share that sentiment.

    As we have heard, this Budget has come at a time of profound importance for the country. Many Members have said that too many of their constituents are not just struggling to afford the little things that make life worth living, but finding it a stretch to afford the basics. We see every public service squeezed to breaking point. Frankly, very little in this country is working as it should. At the same time, there is an urgent need to proceed with net zero, and win the prize of the jobs and industries that will sustain our economy for generations to come. Acknowledging these challenges is not talking Britain down; it is facing reality head-on.

    Yet, after looking at those challenges, what was the Chancellor’s big idea yesterday? What was the rabbit out of the hat and the only thing we did not know was coming? It was that huge tax giveaway for thousands of the very highest earners, during a cost of living crisis. I think we have learned something in this debate today, because we have found out that the Government cannot even tell us how many doctors that will benefit. I do not think they are unwilling to tell us; I do not think they know. As my right hon. Friend the Member for East Ham (Sir Stephen Timms) said, they never seem to miss an opportunity to give something away to those at the top.

    Most of all, we have had another Conservative Budget and another set of lost opportunities to rise to the challenges we face. Fundamentally, it is a Budget for growth that downgrades growth. Many Members have rightly highlighted that the cost of living crisis is dominating the lives of their constituents and the hard-working people who have seen their wages stall while prices have risen.

    Grahame Morris

    My hon. Friend is very kind to give way, and he is making an excellent speech, but can I just ask his opinion about left-behind areas? It is all very well for the high earners who are getting advantages with their pension pots, but does he see the benefits, particularly in former mining communities, of implementing the recommendation of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee report and returning the investment fund and the full miners’ pension scheme surplus to retired miners and their widows, who are struggling with the cost of living crisis, not least with huge fuel bills?

    Jonathan Reynolds

    I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his question. He will know that he represents several members of my family, so I have personal knowledge of his constituency, and they think he is a very fine Member of Parliament. Because of my family and my personal heritage of growing up in County Durham and mining communities, I know the issues he talks about, particularly those around profit sharing and the surplus and reserves of the mineworkers’ pension scheme. There is a case to look at there, and I would be more than happy to engage with him on those issues for the benefit of his constituents and those of other Members in the Chamber.

    We are seeing people cutting back on all they can, but still being left with too much month at the end of their money. The British public need only ask the following questions. Are they better off after 13 years of this Government? Are they safer? Are the public services they rely on working better than a decade ago? No, no, and no again. At the core of that failure is the hard truth that, over 13 years, the Government have turned the UK into the worst-performing major economy in the world. That failure is at the heart of what is hitting people’s pay packets and public services. As we have heard many times in the debate, the British economy is the only developed economy in the world that has still not recovered to its pre-pandemic size.

    Catherine West

    My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech. Does he agree that without reforming housing—be it the overly pricey private sector, the lack of social homes or the mortgage crisis created by the last Budget—there can be no real growth?

    Jonathan Reynolds

    I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising those points, because housing is another area that we heard very little about in the Budget yesterday. Perhaps that was because of the mortgage premium that many people in this country are paying as a result of the last Conservative mini-Budget, if we are still able to call it that—the impact certainly was not mini. My hon. Friend makes some very good points about what that means for her constituents.

    We have seen the lowest business investment of any G7 nation, and wages are at the same level as they were in 2008. I spend pretty much all my time talking to businesses, and I often genuinely find myself thinking, “With all the brilliant things in this country, how have this Government managed to do so badly?” The big story of the Budget is the same as ever: low growth, high taxes and poor public services. To truly realise the ambition of this country, we have to change course from that. Half measures on childcare, which will take years to come to fruition and just pile more costs on to providers and parents, will not cut it. Saying we want to be a science superpower or a leader on clean energy is not the same as delivering the measures to actually do it, and spending millions of pounds on a handful of very wealthy people getting even bigger pensions will not drive the kind of dynamic labour market we need. The big, bold and radical ambition for this country will come only from a Labour Government.

    Crucially, the Budget comes at a time when we can no longer put off the major decisions on net zero, because our competitors are pulling ahead. The Inflation Reduction Act in the United States and the Net-Zero Industry Act in the EU have radically affected the relative competitiveness of the UK, which is a point that my hon. Friend the Member for Stockton North (Alex Cunningham) made particularly well. When it comes to climate change and the chance to reindustrialise parts of Britain, we are presented with the fierce urgency of now.

    This year, we have already had bad news from Ford, which is cutting jobs in Essex. We have had bad news from British Steel, which is cutting jobs in Scunthorpe. We have had bad news from AstraZeneca, which has chosen Ireland over Cheshire. This is the challenge that I wanted the Budget to rise to, because I want to see the Government put up a fight for Britain. After 13 years, I am sick of austerity, poor public services and stagnation. If, like us, people want hope, optimism and change, it should be clear by now that it will not come from doing more of the same.

    We all know that the Government have a poor record on crime, but perhaps even we did not expect them to be so brazen as to commit an act of burglary themselves by taking so many of Labour’s ideas for the Budget. Indeed, we have heard many speeches today extol the benefits of childcare reform, keeping the energy price freeze and ending the injustice of prepayment meters. I say to Ministers that they are very welcome, as we are more than happy to share our ideas with a Government who have seemingly run out of their own. But rather than have the half-fat versions of our plans, why not go the whole way and bring the fundamental change that this country needs with a full Labour Government?

    At the top of that list is that Labour believes that this country needs an industrial strategy, one that is not about picking winners; an industrial strategy means having a plan to keep Britain competitive in the global race. This Government have a curious mix of big state, top-down targets and a kind of total libertarianism in how to deliver them. For example, it is Government policy to force residential and commercial property to meet higher standards in just four years’ time or be removed from the market; to decarbonise home heating; and to phase out petrol and diesel vehicle sales in just seven years’ time. But the Government are not on track to meet any of those targets because there is no plan to deliver any of them. Just to retain our existing automotive industry we will need 10 battery gigafactories, but we have one. Germany has 10 times that capacity, and every day we fall further behind, more jobs and industries go elsewhere.

    Only private investment and public investment pulling in the same direction can deliver the wall of money we need to renew this country. We accept that we cannot possibly equal the awesome fiscal firepower of the United States, but we can make the UK more competitive, we can target funding where it will make a difference and we can make markets deliver what we need. Let us consider a sector such as steel. We know that we must make the transition to green steel or face the likely end of the UK steel industry. Governments from across the world—Sweden, Austria, Canada, Germany—are partnering with their steel sectors to go green. We know that there is market demand for that here in the UK, but we have not got a Government willing to be the partner that industry needs. So Labour’s industrial strategy will work in partnership with industry to keep Britain competitive, not with random pots of money with no return to the taxpayer or endless changes to the corporation tax and investment regime, but with a long-term plan to make Britain investable again.

    Labour also believes in a fundamentally different approach to our economy and our politics. We know what every good business leader knows: sustained growth comes from working people, and they are our biggest asset. So where is the employment Bill the Government pledged? Where is the promise, 12 months on, that there will be no more P&O Ferries ever tolerated again in the UK? Basic rights, such as sick pay, holiday pay and protection against unfair dismissal, should be for everyone. That is why we in the Labour party will always be the party of good work and good wages, and where this Government have failed to act, we will act, with our new deal for working people to do just that.

    I did welcome one part of the Budget: the trailblazer announcements on devolution to my area in Greater Manchester and to the west midlands. We believe that the country is too centralised, and too often that leads to poor public services and the inefficient use of public money. But why should only two parts of England get the chance to shake themselves free from the dead hand of this Conservative Government? Why can the remaining 90% of the country not have that option too? That is why we will give every community the power it needs to shape its own destiny.

    For all the talk of going for growth, at the core of this Budget is the same old Conservative malaise: the lack of ambition and vision that has turned us back into the sick man of Europe. I have sat through 13 years of Conservative Budgets, and as the years go on their claims get thinner and thinner. Last year, when inflation was rising, it was all down to global forces, but this year when it has peaked and it is set to fall, all of a sudden that is down to Conservative genius. Frankly, the British people are not fooled.

    Listening to Government Members today, it seems they want to congratulate themselves on a job well done because a Conservative Chancellor got to his feet and this time has not crashed the markets, because we narrowly and technically avoided a recession, and because the growth forecasts are bad but not quite as bad in the short term as last time. Is that what the Conservatives have come to? Is that the measure of success? Have we set a bar so low that we will trip over it as we leave the Chamber today? People are paying more than £1,000 more on their mortgages right now because of recent Conservative actions. Investment and jobs are leaving our shores because of those actions. Our constituents are stuck on waiting lists because of those actions. The lack of action on tackling that is unforgivable.

    We believe that Labour has the ambition to match Britain’s potential. We will take this country from the bottom of the G7 to the top. We will have the highest sustained growth of our competitor countries and deliver the public services that people can rely on. We will deliver more doctors and nurses to get waiting lists down; police officers back on the streets; higher wages and better jobs in industries that people will be proud to work in; and a plan to reindustrialise Britain, to give back our hope and our future. That is why it is clear that only a Labour Chancellor can deliver the change that our country so desperately needs.

  • Jonathan Reynolds – 2023 Speech on Electric Vehicle Battery Production

    Jonathan Reynolds – 2023 Speech on Electric Vehicle Battery Production

    The speech made by Jonathan Reynolds, the Labour MP for Stalybridge and Hyde, in the House of Commons on 18 January 2023.

    When the Britishvolt site was first announced in 2019, with the promise to deliver the UK’s second ever gigafactory and create 8,000 jobs in Northumberland, it was lauded by the Government as their flagship example of levelling up: the right hon. Member for Spelthorne (Kwasi Kwarteng), then Business Secretary, said that Britishvolt is

    “exactly what levelling up looks like”,

    and Government Ministers fell all over themselves to take the credit, so now they must also accept accountability for its failure, because, much like their levelling up strategy, all we have been left with is an empty space instead of what was promised.

    The collapse of Britishvolt into administration is in no uncertain terms a disaster for the UK car industry, but what is even more worrying is that this is a symptom of a much wider failure. The automotive manufacturing sector currently employs over 182,000 people, and if we are to continue to make cars in this country we must make electric batteries in the UK. The Faraday Institution says we need 10 factories by 2040 to sustain our automotive sector, so even if Britishvolt was going ahead we would still be nowhere near where we need to be. These factories are being built in competitor countries, and that is because they have Governments with the vision and commitment to be the partner that private firms need to turn these factories from plans on paper into a reality. Surely the Government must accept that we need an industrial strategy.

    Will the Minister update the House on the Government’s plans to urgently increase UK battery-making capability? Can he tell us when the Government first had concerns about Britishvolt’s ability to deliver the factory, and why did these concerns not come to light when the Department conducted its extensive due diligence investigations into Britishvolt’s plans? What conversations has he had with other companies to secure the site and ensure the factory is built in Blyth? And will he now commit to Labour’s plans to build eight new gigafactories across the UK and expand the roll-out of charging points to support electric vehicle manufacturing?

    Wherever we look the Conservatives are failing this country, whether in public services or our iconic industries. Unless this Government wake up to the scale of the transition required, we will not only risk many of the good jobs that so many of our communities rely upon, but we will miss out on one of the greatest economic opportunities this country has ever had.

    Graham Stuart

    The hon. Gentleman is right about one thing: there is a tremendous opportunity. That is why we have the automotive transformation fund. That is why we did thorough due diligence on Britishvolt. It is because we set conditions around milestones that it had to meet that not a penny of that fund was dispensed to Britishvolt. However, I make no apology for supporting companies that are going to be part of that opportunity. The idea from the Labour party is that, if it were in power, it would build these factories. That is not how the economy works. That is why, in 2010, after 13 years of Labour Government, we saw youth unemployment up by more than 40%. That is the truth. We saw communities such as Blyth left behind and ignored. We saw an economic strategy that did not work for our young people and did not contribute to net zero in the way that it should. On the underpinning energy system, a bit more than 7% of our electricity came from renewables when Labour left power. Now it is more than 40%.

    The net zero strategy announced £350 million for the automotive transformation fund. That was in addition to the £500 million announced as part of the 10-point plan. That is why we are seeing investment. That is why we have nearly full employment. That is why we have factories and manufacturing going ahead in a way that would never happen under Labour.

  • Jonathan Reynolds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Jonathan Reynolds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Reynolds on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the effect of changes to the use of the Young Persons Railcard for peak time services on people holding that card.

    Claire Perry

    The administration of all the national cards, both mandatory and voluntary, is performed by a council, run as part of the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC). The council agrees the conditions of the schemes and any changes to the mandatory schemes have to be approved by the Secretary of State. All Train Operating Companies are obliged to participate in such schemes under the terms of their franchise agreements.

    As it is for ATOC to suggest any change to the schemes, it would be for them to make such an assessment when proposing any change which would be reviewed before approval by the Secretary of State.

  • Jonathan Reynolds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Jonathan Reynolds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Reynolds on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether her Department is assessing potential alternatives to the Microgeneration Certification Scheme to which the Renewable Heat Incentive is linked.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Department is in the process of working with the microgeneration industry to establish the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) as a legal entity that will operate independently of the Government. There is an established process for alternative schemes to MCS to come forward through the United Kingdom Accreditation Service and equivalent accreditation bodies in the EU. For example, through this process the Solar Keymark product scheme for solar thermal products has been recognised and treated as equivalent to MCS. In addition, the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) regulations give Ofgem the power to determine scheme equivalency; and they are currently finalising this process for equivalent schemes to be considered in specific reference to the RHI.

  • Jonathan Reynolds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jonathan Reynolds – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Reynolds on 2016-04-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her Department’s policy is on where a school’s deficit would be transferred at the point of its conversion to an academy.

    Edward Timpson

    Deficits for schools which convert to become sponsored academies remain with the local authority. These deficits remain with their local authority as these schools were the responsibility of the authority when they were found to be failing or underperforming and it is the authority’s responsibility for ensuring the school managed its expenditure satisfactorily. Deficits for voluntary converter academies will normally transfer with the school.

    Further information can be found in the Department’s guidance: “Treatment of surplus and deficit balances when maintained schools become academies” which can be found on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/416430/School_balances_on_conversion_submission.pdf

    “