29 May 2023 , 14:57
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The Tories today stand accused of the “murder” of British manufacturing amid the Government’s ongoing refusal to publish an industrial strategy.
Unions, MPs and trade bodies are increasingly worried about the lack of a plan from the Conservatives.
Rishi Sunak stripped the words “industrial strategy” from the Business Department when he carried out a Whitehall shake-up in February.
The move prompted fears the Government was signalling a retreat from competing with other industrial nations.
Last week, Labour leader Keir Starmer attacked the Prime Minister for “suggesting that an active industrial strategy is not the British way”.
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Mr Sunak hit back against “subsidy races”, claiming: “We do not believe that the way to drive economic success and prosperity is to subsidise the most.”
Labour MP Stephen Kinnock, whose Aberavon constituency is home to Britain’s biggest steelworks at Port Talbot, said today: “The mask has slipped and only now are the Prime Minister and the Chancellor admitting that the Conservatives are ideologically and actively opposed to investing in the critical sectors that form the backbone or our economy.”
Labour MP Stephen Kinnock outside the Tata steelworks in Port Talbot (WalesOnline/Rob Browne)Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves has outlined plans for “a modern supply side programme” to provide “economic security of a nation” - an approach she called “securonomics”.
Speaking at the Peterson Institute, Washington DC, she said: “It sets out how a new industrial strategy can identify the areas where the UK can, and must, thrive.
“It shows how an active, strategic, state will work in harmony with vibrant and open markets - and it shows how we can build the industries and create the jobs of the future in the industrial heartlands of the past.”
Unions the Mirror spoke to highlighted the scale of the challenge Labour could inherit.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said “‘obliterated’ isn’t too strong a word” for what the Tories have done to UK industry.
Unite union general secretary Sharon Graham said the Government had "obliterated" manufacturing (Coventry Live/Tristan Potter)“What was once the workshop of the world has been obliterated by this Government’s worship at the altar of market forces,” she said.
“This Government stands accused of the murder of British manufacturing; what an indictment.”
GMB general secretary Gary Smith said: “They’ve no ideas for the industrial strategy our country so desperately needs.”
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GMB union general secretary Gary Smith said Britain "desperately needs" an industrial strategy (Humphrey Nemar)The steel industry - which the Mirror has been campaigning to save since 2015 - has been crying out for an industrial strategy to help the sector switch to less polluting production.
Community steelworkers’ union assistant general secretary Alasdair McDiarmid: “For years we have campaigned for an enduring industrial strategy with a strong steel industry at its core.
“This Government just doesn’t get it, but through an industrial strategy they should be creating the conditions for massive investment in the industries of the future.”
Community union assistant general secretary Alasdair McDiarmid said the "Government just doesn’t get it" (Community union)UK Steel director-general Gareth Stace said: “The future of UK steel production is of critical strategic importance to the country.
“The steel sector faces many challenges in the years ahead, from complete decarbonisation in little more than a decade to handling rising energy costs.
"We face a choice in the next decade to either build the UK's industrial capacity or let it wither on the vine.”
Manufacturers’ organisation Make UK said the sector employs about 2.6 million people and last year generated £206billion for Britain’s economy.
UK Steel director-general Gareth Stace feared the sector could "wither on the vine" (Edward Moss Photography)It published a report - ‘Industrial strategy: A manufacturing ambition’ - last November showing 56% of firms "don’t feel like there has ever been a robust Government vision for UK manufacturing in the UK”, while 87% said an industrial strategy “would give their business a long-term vision”.
Make UK policy chief Verity Davidge told the Mirror today: “A lack of a proper, planned, industrial strategy is the UK’s Achilles heel.
“Every other major economy - from Germany, to China, to the US - has a long-term, national manufacturing plan, underlying the importance of an industrial base to the success of its wider economy.
“The UK is the only country to not have one. If we are to not only tackle our regional inequality, but also compete on a global stage, we need a national industrial strategy as a matter of urgency.”
A government spokeswoman said: “The Government has shown a clear strategy for UK manufacturing with a variety of schemes that ensure sectors from auto, to aerospace, to low-carbon technologies have access to the funding, talent and infrastructure they need.
"We are focusing on providing a competitive business environment to stimulate growth, including through generous tax incentives like full expensing and the lowest corporation tax in the G7, as well as reducing red-tape and investing millions in new government funding to help manufacturing SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) increase productivity.”
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