Vauxhall at Ellesmere Port and Battery Manufacturing Strategy Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
Alexander Stafford
Main Page: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)Department Debates - View all Alexander Stafford's debates with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
Vauxhall at Ellesmere Port and Battery Manufacturing Strategy
Alexander Stafford Excerpts(3 years, 1 month ago)
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Kwasi Kwarteng
The hon. Lady is absolutely right. I pay tribute particularly to the hard work of her constituents to make the Vivaro vehicles; they have ensured that the Vauxhall plant in Luton has been a great success. It is exactly because of that, among other reasons, that we are keenly committed to making sure that Ellesmere Port enjoys equal support and success.
Alexander Stafford (Rother Valley) (Con) [V]
This Government have shown a welcome commitment to bringing electric vehicle production to the UK, with all the benefits to the economy and the environment that that entails, and I hope that we will have that in Rother Valley.
However, electric vehicle components are different from those of petrol and diesel cars and include rare minerals, such as cobalt, that are mined overseas. What discussions has the Secretary of State held about developing a strategy for sourcing rare minerals in an environmentally sustainable and ethical way, particularly by supporting domestic extraction and imports from our safe, reliable, democratic allies?
Kwasi Kwarteng
I commend my hon. Friend for that question, which is of great importance. As I have said in earlier answers, we are absolutely committed to exploring and developing lithium mining here in the UK. We fully understand the threats, or dangers, to the supply chain.
My hon. Friend will also appreciate that the Faraday battery challenge, which we have mentioned a number of times, is funding research to reduce our dependency on raw mineral supply and make better use of global resources. That obviously will involve looking at how we can reduce and replace critical raw materials.