UK ‘home of world class manufacturing’
Britain can meet the challenges of globalisation and be the “home of world class manufacturing”, the chancellor has said.
Gordon Brown was speaking at the official launch of the production of BMW’s second-generation Mini, a project that will create 200 jobs at the Cowley plant.
“The new jobs that will be created by the new Mini show the strength of our manufacturing industry,” the chancellor said.
The Labour government came under fire from unions at this week’s TUC in Brighton for failing to address the “massacring of manufacturing” in Britain, which has seen 1.5 million manufacturing jobs lost since they came to power in 1997.
But today Mr Brown said BMW’s decision to choose the UK for the production of the new Mini – and to switch building the car’s petrol engines from Brazil to Warwickshire – proved the country’s manufacturing industry was alive and well.
It comes after Nissan last week announced it would be building its new Qashqai car at its plant in Sunderland.
“I believe that Britain can meet the challenges of globalisation and be the home of world class manufacturing,” the chancellor said this morning
Speaking from the BMW factory in Oxfordshire, Mr Brown stressed that in a globalised market, manufacturing need not lose out as long as it were modernised.
And he indicated that this year’s pre-Budget report would include measures to “remove all the barriers to a flexible workforce” – something which unions say means workers will be easier to sack, but economists insist is vital to attracting business.
The chancellor also pledged to continue supporting manufacturing apprenticeships, which have grown from 20,000 in 1997 to 70,000 today.
In addition, he stressed the importance of European cooperation in boosting the UK’s economy, saying: “BMW’s relationship with Oxford and the UK reminds us that Britain works best as part of a strong European union where all of us work together.”
