British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme

Dave Doogan Excerpts

Thursday 16th April 2026 Commons Chamber

[Peter Kyle]

I am grateful for my hon. Friend’s thoughtful words. I can assure her that the ceramics sector and the subsectors she mentions are in my mind. I said in my statement that the Chancellor will set out in the near future the approach that we will take for industries that have been put into distress as a result of the action in the middle east—a war that we did not start, but a war that we are having to respond to. I am happy to stay closely in touch with her and the industries for which she is being a magnificent voice to ensure that we get any response right.

[Dave Doogan (Angus and Perthshire Glens) (SNP)]

We were promised a statement on the British industrial competitiveness scheme; we got the Secretary of State talking about foutering around with the energy bills of less than 1% of UK companies and compensating them to some undetermined extent at some period in the next year. That will come as the coldest of comfort for industries across the UK, such as the ScanStone industrial equipment manufacturers in my constituency, which is already burdened with extraordinary energy bills but is not an “intensive” energy user, so it will get no help from this. It will be similarly encumbered by the same Secretary of State’s quotas on steel imports, which stockholders and manufacturers are already saying will risk output. Will he meet me to discuss my constituents’ concerns about his plans? We support the supporting of British steel in theory, but British manufacturing cannot be put out of work in the process.

[Peter Kyle]

The scheme we have designed is aimed at manufacturing. The figure the hon. Member quotes is for all businesses in the UK, whereas this is one scheme aimed at competitiveness within the manufacturing sector. I hope that when he reflects on his comments, he does not expect us to announce a scheme for every business in all circumstances. That is what Liz Truss did, wasting enormous amounts of money—a third of those billions went into the pockets of high earners. We need to be targeted and growth orientated and support the great businesses out there.

I have invested £2.5 billion into steel. I am modernising steel and protecting it where I have to. I am proud of the strategy we have. There has never been a steel strategy or a quality piece of strategic thinking from the previous Government, which is why the strategy I announced was universally welcomed by the sector.