Angela Rayner tables question about criteria for launching investigation into potential breach of ministerial code

And here are some of the lines from what Rishi Sunak has been saying at the London defence conference.

Sunak said the challenge posed by China should not lead to a “blanket descent into protectionism”. He said that China’s rise represented an “epoch-defining challenge”. He explained:

It is a country that has both the means and the intent to reshape the global order.

Its behaviour is increasingly authoritarian at home and assertive abroad and in light of that we do need to take the steps to protect ourselves.

There are a limited number of very sensitive sectors of our economy, or types of technology, where we want to take a particularly robust approach: semiconductors, for example, dual-use technologies, quantum, etc.

But this is not an excuse for a blanket descent into protectionism.

He said that G7 countries should not be engaged in subsidy competition. Asked whether the UK needed an industrial strategy, he replied:

That means different things to different people. If that means we should just be focusing on who can subsidise industries the most, then my answer is no.

We discussed that at the G7 and actually you will see in the G7 communique very specific language acknowledging that subsidy races that essentially just shift industrial capacity between allies in some kind of zero-sum competition are not appropriate.