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Building Britain's Future

That was an admirable tour de force. In the very limited time that I have, I want to focus on just two things. First, the economy that will emerge at the other side of the recession will be very unlike what we had before. The banking sector will not be nearly as large as it was, and we certainly will not be able to rely on flogging mobile phones to each other in designer coffee shops as a major motivator for the economy. We will have to make things. As I said in an earlier question, 30 per cent. of the work force in south Derbyshire make things, with high-quality, leading-brand businesses at the leading edge of their sectors. How do we ensure that we retain and, indeed, increase that focus? Let me pick a small number of things from a shopping list. First, we need investment in infrastructure, and I do not mean huge new roads everywhere. One major step would be to move forward with rail freight interchanges to support industry. Interchanges are wanted and have been talked about, but we have seen no concrete action. Secondly, we must ensure that our major manufacturers have proper export support. The Government have gone through a process of supporting export credit guarantees in five different reviews, which has led to uncertainty among many of our major manufacturers. We need an export support system that is at least as competitive as those of other nations. Thirdly, we need to ensure that our procurement policy is aligned with industrial strategy. It was disappointing to talk about the acquisition of high-speed rail vehicles only to find that the Department for Transport viewed that as a purely price-led issue with no obvious linkage to industrial strategy. I hope that the Regional Minister will ensure that industrial strategy plays a proper part in the decision making that leads to the final conclusions about any bid, and I touched on that earlier. Finally, I join my hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham, South in saying that we need environmental policies that motivate industry to innovate and increase efficiency. There are examples of high technology being used to achieve effective environmental efficiencies—he generously acknowledged what is happening at Toyota, and we could also have picked some of the initiatives at Rolls-Royce—but we must have a regulatory framework and fiscal inducements to encourage further development, and that means support for R and D in industry. My second point is that south Derbyshire is the fastest-growing district in the east midlands, but, so far, it has received very little infrastructure investment to secure that growth in the longer term. As we have an opportunity to take free hits at Tory councils, I should add that the situation is not helped by the fact that South Derbyshire district council inexplicably decided not to bid for the housing support funding that we discussed earlier and which it certainly requires. Such investments must be linked to the growth in housing that is planned for our area. For example, with regard to the major development at Drakelow, which is currently being discussed and would provide 2,000 houses, joining up the thinking behind that rapidly and supporting the district council’s determination to decide on that application and proceed with it would also be welcome.