Member Article

Cross-party MPs call for 10 year pro-manufacturing fiscal framework

UK manufacturing is being prevented from becoming “wholly competitive” by a national industrial culture that discourages long-term investment, according to a group of cross-party MPs.

A report, published by the All-Party Parliamentary Manufacturing Group (APMG), urges the Government to lead a cross-party initiative, in consultation with industry, to establish a ten-year fiscal framework designed to encourage manufacturing businesses to adopt more ambitious growth strategies based on longer-term investment.

Crucially, the group calls for all political parties to honour this framework - regardless of the outcome of the next general election.

Analysis within the report highlights many firms’ reluctance to engage with available support packages and business development programmes as further evidence of manufacturing businesses disinclination to seek advice and collaborate in order to grow.

The report is the product of a six-month inquiry by the APMG, chaired by Conservative MP Chris White and Labour’s Jonathan Reynolds MP.

It calls on government to do more to create and foster a pro-investment culture in UK manufacturing, and also restructure key interactions between manufacturing businesses and policymakers and take steps to build competitive business practices into manufacturers’ strategic thinking.

The report further calls for the Department for Business Innovation and Skills to radically restructure its civil service manufacturing team, with vertical teams to better mirror and support supply chain sectors and ensure growth and stability of OEMs, with horizontal teams focused on size of company, rather than sector.

Other recommendations include:

• Commitment from all parties to protect funding for the Technology Strategy Board, Catapult Centres and The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.
• A national myth-busting campaign for automation which highlights the potential for job creation
• Expansion of the Manufacturing Advisory Service’s remit to encompass work with business schools, trade associations and chambers of commerce.

Inquiry co-chair Chris White MP commented: “We know there are clear links between industrial culture and industrial competitiveness. If UK manufacturing is to be truly competitive in global markets we need a manufacturing sector brimming with outward-facing, confident businesses constantly looking to reinvest and innovate.

“This report lays out clear proposals for how the Government can bring about exactly that environment.”

Fellow inquiry co-chair Jonathan Reynolds also added: “The important question this report addresses – and the question we have asked throughout this entire inquiry process – is what more can government do to create a culture of competitiveness in which UK manufacturing businesses can grow.

“Recommendations within this report - around fiscal stability, business support, sector collaboration, awareness campaigning and funding protection and more – provide a map for how government can create precisely the industrial culture the UK needs to compete at the top of global manufacturing.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .