Member

I have a broader point about not only the new clause but some of the wider discussion of the Bill. At the heart of new clause 5 sits a slight misunderstanding of what nationalisation means. To give a local example, I was proud to work with the Defence Secretary to secure the nationalisation—or the “strategic acquisition”, as the civil service preferred to call it—of a semiconductor plant in Newton Aycliffe in my constituency. The process was designed to protect the sovereign supply of the semiconductor chips that are vital to the UK-Italy-Japan global combat air programme. There was a risk of that sovereign supply being lost from NATO soil.