As tariffs bite, where next for the UK’s growth-driving industries?
BP plc and more to be questioned on the business and economics of the clean energy transition
Meeting details
On Tuesday 22 April, three weeks from President Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs upended global trade systems (and drove down the oil price), the BTC will question senior executives from the automotive, advanced manufacturing and clean energy sectors on the action they need from Government to address the most pressing barriers to growth they currently face. What are the key costs and factors hurting their competitivity, now and into the future?
After a dramatic recall of Parliament to keep Britain’s last sovereign steel-making furnaces lit, the Committee will question three interconnected sectors heavily dependent on steel - but also increasingly on critical minerals, where supply is dominated by China and also caught in the emerging global trade and tech war.
Rt Hon Liam Byrne, Chair of the BTC, said: “President Trump’s trade war is slamming the brakes on global growth — and British businesses, jobs, and pay packets are squarely in the firing line. That’s why we urgently need to hear from the industries taking the hardest hits: not just how they can weather the storm, but how they can come out stronger on the other side.”
“But just as Britain powers forward toward a greener future, BP seems to be shifting into reverse — doubling down on the carbon emissions driving extreme weather and climate chaos costs. As ministers are putting the final touches on an industrial strategy to make the UK a green energy superpower, we’re left asking: what will it take to get one of our biggest energy giants off the sidelines and onto Team Green Britain?”
The CBI recently reported, pre-tariffs, that the UK’s green energy sector was growing at 3 times the rate of the wider economy. But there have been mixed signals from successive Governments on everything from fostering the electric vehicle market to supply chain security.
Leading oil major BP plc, giving evidence in this session, has famously pivoted away from its high-profile green energy strategy and the Trump administration has set about dismantling massive public investment in clean energy programmes.
How big is the risk to UK jobs and businesses, and conversely how fast could these three “growth-driving sectors” drive UK productivity gains - given the right policies and support from Government? What does Government need to do now to drive the UK’s transition to the clean, secure, cheaper energy its industries, business and households desperately need?
This inquiry is examining what the “right support” from Government looks like – the policy changes and support needed now and to shape Government proposals for a 10-year 'modern industrial strategy'.
Bill Esterson, Chair of the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee, will guest at this session.