Member

I am announcing today that BICS will benefit 10,000 electricity-intensive manufacturing businesses—those best equipped to drive growth in our economy. Those 10,000 businesses will save up to £40 per megawatt-hour from next year. They will be exempt from paying the indirect costs of three other schemes: the renewables obligation, feed-in tariffs, and the capacity market. BICS is designed to support eligible businesses across all regions of Great Britain. The eligible sectors collectively employ 900,000 people, of whom 700,000 live outside London and the south-east. That is a real advantage for working families and communities around the country, and it gives British businesses a real competitive advantage in the global economy. That is the difference that a Labour Government with an activist industrial strategy makes. This is not just about high hopes or warm words; it is real action to reduce energy costs and increase industrial competitiveness.