Vauxhall at Ellesmere Port and Battery Manufacturing Strategy Debate
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Matt Western
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Vauxhall at Ellesmere Port and Battery Manufacturing Strategy
Matt Western Excerpts(3 years, 1 month ago)
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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.
Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab) [V]
As chair of the all-party parliamentary motor group and the APPG on electric vehicles, I am afraid I have to say that the Government have been slow to move on this, particularly by comparison with the Governments of Germany and France, in attracting investment in battery gigafactories. In addition, through the pandemic, vehicle manufacturers have received consumer support to encourage sales in those countries.
My right hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill (Liam Byrne) is leading the charge to attract private sector investment in a gigafactory in Coventry. Does the Secretary of State not see and support that move? It would supply both Luton and Ellesmere Port, but also Halewood and the Jaguar Land Rover factories in the midlands. Would that not be a great outcome?
Kwasi Kwarteng
It would be a great outcome, and I am not going to make a partisan point about it. There are MPs of different political stripes across the hon. Gentleman’s region, as we have seen in these questions, who are very keen to develop this kind of technology.
I am always very happy to engage with colleagues across the House in order to get the right outcomes. It is not just a question of the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill (Liam Byrne); there are MPs in his area across the House representing midlands seats very ably, and I am very happy to engage with them on this.