Business Secretary Peter Kyle makes first appearance at BTC
In his first appearance before the Committee since being appointed Secretary of State for Business and Trade, Rt Hon Peter Kyle will face MPs’ questions on his Department’s contribution to the Government’s key mission of attaining the fastest economic growth in the G7 by the end of this Parliament.
Meeting details
As the Committee wraps up its roadshow listening to hundreds of businesses, trade unions and consumer groups about their priorities for growth MPs will be listening hard to the Secretary of State’s ambitions for the Budget.
In a wide-ranging session, the Committee will probe the Secretary of State’s plan for delivering on the Department’s strategies and commitments.
Areas of questioning will include:
- Costs of doing business
- Energy costs
- Implementation of the Employment Rights Bill
- Business access to finance
- Tariffs and the benefits of the much-touted US-UK Economic Prosperity Deal?
- The slow pace of the EU-UK trade reset
- The Post Office Horizon scandal, including accountability from Fujitsu
- Plans to cut red tape
Rt Hon Liam Byrne MP, Chair of the Committee, said:
“Across Britain the spirit of invention is alive and well — but the economic engine that turns the fuel of new ideas into the reality of new wealth isn’t yet working as we want it.
“On the road we’ve heard the same message from hundreds of firms: the ingenuity is there, the ambition is there, the will to grow is there - but the machinery of growth is out of date.
“We need certainty to invest, a bold plan to mobilise finance, and better use of public procurement to help new firms grow large. The skills pipeline needs fixing and costs like energy and red tape have got to come down fast. If we get that right and accelerate the speed of opening new markets, Britain will once again turn its ingenuity into prosperity.”