Electric Vehicle Battery Production

Richard Graham Excerpts

Wednesday 18th January 2023 Commons Chamber

[Graham Stuart]

We are engaging with the Department for International Trade—as I hope the presence in the Chamber of my right hon. Friend the Minister for Trade Policy indicates—to make that case to investors. We have the green finance strategy, as I say, and our response to the Climate Change Committee and to the judicial review are coming up in the coming weeks, sending a real signal of the investability of the UK in the green sectors. I know that the hon. Gentleman, perhaps unlike the right hon. Member for East Antrim (Sammy Wilson), is an enthusiast because he can see the economic opportunity; if the hon. Gentleman can use the few feet between the two of them to educate his right hon. Friend, he will be an even greater politician than I thought he was already.

[Richard Graham (Gloucester) (Con)]

Last month, I spoke at the launch in London of the Indo-Pacific Net-zero Battery-materials Consortium, which brings together British and far eastern businesses, working with the support of the British and Indonesian Governments, to secure materials essential for battery production, such as nickel. Some politicians here today have talked about sprouting battery factories in the UK as if they were mushrooms, but the reality is that they depend on sources of materials. That is precisely what our Government are helping to facilitate.

[Graham Stuart]

My hon. Friend is a shining example of how the trade envoy programme can allow Members of this House to gain a deep understanding of other countries, engage with their Governments, and see in context how engagement with another country and its industries can contribute to the success of our own, to the mutual benefit of both countries concerned.