Business and Trade Committee

Small business is very big business in the UK.  Covering the range from sole entrepreneurs to enterprises with up to 250 employees, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) make up 99.8% of all UK businesses. 

The House of Commons Business and Trade Committee warns that a “once in a century” opportunity for the British economy will be lost unless the Industrial Strategy is ‘funded to work’.

Ahead of the landmark "EU reset” summit on Monday 19 May the BTC is publishing its three pillars for negotiation to kickstart new, security and growth-driving relations with the European Union.  

Rt Hon Liam Byrne Chair of the Business and Trade Committee statement on reports of US-UK Deal

The Business & Trade Committee will this week throw new light on the threat to UK economic security with hearings that convene some of the country’s top security experts from the public, private and investment sectors.  

In widely reported evidence to the BTC’s ongoing inquiry into the UK’s industrial strategy, auto executives warned that Donald Trump’s tariffs could lead to thousands of British manufacturing layoffs within “weeks rather than months”, as they called for a major intervention from Government to support the industry.

BP plc and more to be questioned on the business and economics of the clean energy transition

As President Trump sets out sweeping global tariff barriers and ahead of the May summit between Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen aimed at resetting UK-EU relations, the BTC is publishing a draft ‘Green Paper’ setting out twenty ways the UK and the EU can reset their relationship for mutual benefit. 

The Committee has written urgently to Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds to set out 5 tests for a strategy to support the UK steel industry ahead of Donald Trump’s self-styled “Liberation Day” potentially imposing widespread tariff barriers to global trade.

The Business and Trade Committee is today taking the unusual step of asking the Government to ‘reflect and revise’ its response to its January 1st report on finally achieving long-delayed justice and redress for victims of the Post Office Horizon IT scandal – described as the greatest miscarriage of justice in UK history. 

MPs on the Business and Trade Sub-Committee on Economic Security, Arms and Export Controls will hear evidence on efforts to clamp down on the criminal abuse of the UK’s register of companies

The Chair of the influential Business and Trade Committee has urged the Government to push to secure tariff exceptions after the US began enforcing higher tariffs across the board on steel.

The Business and Trade Committee launches a Sub-Committee on Economic Security, Arms and Export Controls with the remit to assess whether the Government’s economic security arrangements are fit for purpose in today’s geopolitical climate.

In a report today the BTC calls for the Employment Rights Bill, currently heading to report stage in its passage through Parliament, to close once and for all the loopholes that have allowed some companies to exploit work insecurity and undercut Britain’s outstanding employers.  

In the weeks running up to Christmas the newly reformed Business and Trade Committee undertook a unique national engagement programme. 

The Committee is immediately publishing an exchange of correspondence with Ticketmaster regarding its requested appearance in Parliament next week. 

Ahead of the upcoming Spending Review, the BTC is today launching the first inquiry in a programme of work over this Parliament on the Industrial Strategy, seeking views on the best mix of public investment and the basis for Government investment decisions. 

The Business and Trade Committee is making a quick call for evidence on variable pricing - practices like the ‘dynamic’ pricing that recently came to major public attention when fans queued online for hours to secure Oasis concert tickets, only to find the price had rocketed out of reach while they waited.

As leader of the Opposition Kemi Badenoch states that the former Government did not have a plan for growth outside the EU, BTC will question trade and Cabinet Office ministers on the UK-EU trade reset.

On Tuesday the BTC will hold the final evidence session in its current inquiry Making Work Pay: The Employment Rights Bill, with a look at the reality of employment status, the gig economy and zero-hours contracts.