Peter Aldous highlights the importance of investment in research and development to enable coastal areas like Lowestoft to make the most of the opportunities emerging in low carbon and life sciences sectors, and calls on the Government to remove Suffolk and Norfolk from the area designated in the Budget Red Book where R&D investment is discouraged.
Peter Aldous (Waveney) (Con)
In Suffolk and Norfolk, investment in research and development is vital to making the most of the opportunities emerging in such sectors as low carbon and life sciences, as well as to tackling pockets of deprivation, particularly in coastal areas. It is thus concerning that, in the Budget Red Book, the east of England is coupled with London and the south-east as an area from which spending on R&D will be diverted and in which it will be discouraged. Will my right hon. Friend work with his colleagues across Government to ensure that this discrimination against Suffolk and Norfolk is removed and is not included in the levelling-up White Paper?
Kwasi Kwarteng (The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy)
I pay tribute to the fantastic work that my hon. Friend has done representing his constituents over 11 and a half years. He will know that I personally, as a Minister, have always been committed to the east of England. I have visited him in Lowestoft, I have visited offshore wind projects, and I would be very happy to speak to him about how we can drive the R&D programme and how East Anglia and his constituents can benefit from the UK’s science superpower status.