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Mr. Richard Burden (Birmingham, Northfield): If that is the calibre that we could expect of a Conservative Government, would it be different from that when the Conservatives were in government? They sold off Rover to British Aerospace in a deal that was found subsequently to be illegal under European law. They laid the foundation for the company to be sold on to BMW without any guarantees for the future, thereby putting the knife in the very hands of those who stabbed Rover in the back.
Mrs. Browning: The hon. Gentleman is reinventing history. As someone who has tried to take a constructive role in the history of Rover for obvious reasons, and who I respect at least for his background in engineering, I would have hoped for rather a better question from the hon. Gentleman. If Labour Members have some sensible questions, I shall be happy to take them. However, I hope that the calibre of their questions will improve.
Mr. John Bercow (Buckingham): Is it not entirely typical of the Government's arrogant and incompetent approach that having agreed in principle to the part-time workers directive as long ago as April 1998, Ministers took 21 months before issuing their proposals to business for the incorporation of the directive? They then gold-plated its contents, and finally had the brass neck to demand a response from hard-pressed businesses throughout the country in less than six weeks.
Mrs. Browning: My hon. Friend makes a pertinent point. On Thursday morning, we shall deal in Committee with part-time work regulations. I look forward to that, because my hon. Friend has rightly observed that despite all the rhetoric, we are faced with yet another burden on business. It has been gold plated but the application and administration of it will be as cack-handed as everything else that the Government have introduced. It is bad enough that they keep adding to the regulations that bear on business, but they do so in such a way that businesses are punished even more severely. That is the inept way in which the Department of Trade and Industry goes about things.
We are looking for a commitment from the Secretary of State that he will learn from the way in which he introduced the working-time directive, for example. My hon. Friend the Member for Buckingham (Mr. Bercow) may not know, but I followed the right hon. Gentleman as a speaker on this very subject when he told a large audience of personnel directors that the Government had learned lessons. Clearly they have learned nothing. Alternatively, perhaps like the Prime Minister this
morning, they now find that business constitutes such an irritating lobby group that they really do not care to listen to its concerns.
Mr. Denis MacShane (Rotherham): The protest from business that I hear most about from south Yorkshire concerns the strong pound--the over-valuation of sterling. If a Conservative Government were to take office, what does the hon. Lady think that the value of the pound should be against the European currency, and what would she do to reduce the value of the pound?
Mrs. Browning: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the Prime Minister's statement this morning. He made it clear that those who are suffering from the difference in the value of the pound from that of the euro should recognise that the problem lies with the weak euro. When there is a difference in value that imposes a great deal of pressure and pain on business, especially manufacturing companies, those firms at the edge that are cutting margins should be able to rely on the Government to set an economic backdrop of low taxation and low regulatory costs, and not to add to their problems. That is the difference between enabling such companies to hang on, or not.
I understand that the hon. Gentleman is an advocate of the failed euro. I hope that rather than asking me questions about what a Conservative Government would do to rescue a currency to which he has so clearly signed up, he will think again and ask himself why he thinks that the euro is so weak. When it was introduced with much acclaim, it was meant to be a world reserve currency.
I sympathise with Labour Back Benchers, but it is ironic that they sign up to policies that fail and then look to Conservatives to solve the problems. It is flattering, but some problem solving would not go amiss on the part of Department of Trade and Industry Ministers. Many of their policies have caused the problems that are affecting business. Mercifully, business will have only about another year, we hope, to last out under the present Administration.
Unlike new Labour, we do not regard manufacturing as old industry and IT as the new industry. I understand that, in the glittery, bauble-like world in which Labour Members exist, everything new and modern is good and everything older or traditional is bad. We believe, for example, that e-commerce has an integral part to play in all industries, and especially in manufacturing, for both sales and sourcing.
The Government talk manufacturing down as an old industry that can now be discarded. They fail to understand the importance of the manufacturing base in this country, the true role of the new technologies being introduced, and the important part that they will play in the future or manufacturing.
Mr. Andrew Miller (Ellesmere Port and Neston): If the previous Conservative Government had listened to the wise words of the hon. Member for Esher and Walton (Mr. Taylor), they might have something to say about IT, but I have a simple question for the hon. Lady. If what she says is true, will she explain why Vauxhall, which has facilities in my constituency and in Luton, has faith in
investing in Britain? That faith is shared by the Quin Glass company in my constituency, which has just announced the creation of 500 manufacturing jobs.
Mrs. Browning: Only this month, Vauxhall publicly voiced its concern about UK competitiveness, specifically because of the burden of regulation imposed by the Government. The hon. Gentleman has Vauxhall factories in his constituency, and I am sorry that he appears to be unaware of that--perhaps he should set up a meeting with the company on Friday morning.
Mr. Miller: Answer the question.
Mrs. Browning: We need no lectures from Labour Members about e-commerce or anything dot.com, as there are enough dotty coms on the Government Front Bench as it is. The Labour Government put the Electronic Communications Bill in a Queen's Speech but then forgot to introduce it for nearly a year. Three weeks before the end of term last summer, the Secretary of State asked the Opposition to nod it through, and we refused. We said that it should be put out to consultation, as it imposed too much regulation and was not what the IT companies wanted.
The Secretary of State followed our advice, and I am glad that he did. We gave the Bill fair passage in all good faith when it returned after the summer recess. We are happy to help out the Secretary of State if he does not know what to do about e-commerce, but we will take no lectures about IT from any Labour Member.
Mr. Miller: The hon. Lady did not answer the question.
Mr. Deputy Speaker: Order. I am sorry to interrupt the hon. Lady, but I have given the hon. Member for Ellesmere Port and Neston (Mr. Miller) enough licence in terms of sedentary comments. I do not want any more.
Mrs. Browning: I want to make a little progress, and then I will try to take more interventions in a moment. I note that we are hearing today from the massed ranks of Labour Members who have no connection with business and industry but who form the collective of lecturers and media people.
The Government also appear to be unaware that global location has become less important. Today, the multinationals can switch manufacturing abroad and still guarantee quality and continuity of supply. Gone are the days when countries in the far east and south America relied on outdated machine tools from western countries. They are well equipped and competitive--and they are competing with us, now.
Directly as a result of new Labour policies, there is now a dangerous haemorrhaging of UK businesses to other countries. The Government have sent more businesses offshore than the hon. Member for Coventry, North-West (Mr. Robinson). Road haulage is just one example of that, and it has been driven out by the highest road taxes in Europe. Before he took his business abroad, Eddie Stobbart stated:
- We had no alternative--it does not make sense for UK hauliers or the UK economy as less revenue will be raised by the Treasury.
Petrochemical companies and banks are moving out their international information technology processing to Ireland, the USA and Singapore as a result of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Bill. As Computer Weekly reported:
- They are not trying to fight any more. They are just going. They fear the UK simply isn't a safe place for confidential data.
The British Plastics Federation wrote to me saying:
- The Levy, which will cost our industry over £60 million based on electrical energy consumption alone, is a serious threat to our competitiveness.
The Government face judicial review on the matter of IR35. IT specialists, who develop cutting-edge software, have been forced offshore, while the Chancellor gives tax breaks on hardware. Where is the common sense in that? We will have the hardware, but not the software to go in it. One such gentleman from Yeovil in Somerset wrote to me:
- We will move to pastures greener very easily and quickly--suddenly money will leak out of the nation, with barely a whisper of warning.
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