An open door, at last ?

He was responding to criticism by France's president Nicolas Sarkozy who said that the UK didn't make anything anymore. But you don't need to go that far to hear the same phrase over and over again from the general public. Manufacturing's only 13-14-15 per cent of GDP, it is lamented, as if its shrinking share of GDP means that manufacturing output is itself shrinking. Well, it doesn't, as Machinery has often highlighted. So it was heartening to read it in the mainstream press. "Until the global collapse in output triggered by the financial crisis in late 2008, manufacturing output in the UK was higher than it had ever been," Mr Whyte wrote. "In 2007, it was two-and-a-half times higher in real terms than it was in 1950. And despite the surge in imports from China, production was 7.1 per cent higher in 2007 than it was in 1995." Manufacturing is coming under the spotlight because the finance sector, so long lauded by government, has been fatally damaged, with belief in that sector as a goose able to lay golden eggs indefinitely now terminated. We need a balanced economy and, as Manufacturing Technologies Association (MTA) president Bob Hunt said at a recent gala dinner, "manufacturing is key to a future balanced economy". Not a new call, but with the current backdrop, this message is more likely to be heard and looked upon more favourably. Mr Hunt highlighted that the Association had already been involved with the development of the government's updated manufacturing strategy launched last September; that it is also in discussion with Mark Prisk, the Shadow Small Business Minister, who reports directly to Shadow Business Secretary Ken Clarke; that MTA director general Graham Dewhurst has written to Secretary of State for Business Peter Mandelson, asking that he and his colleagues engage with the Association; while the MTA is currently asking its members to write to their members of Parliament to highlight their business situation. It is clearly continuing to lobby those in the seat of power and is calling for a variety of interventions, such as a re-introduction of the Short Time Working Subsidy as an alternative to unemployment benefits to help retain skilled workers. Something that JCB's chairman Sir Antony Bamford echoed on 23 March and which the TUC and Forum for Small Business have similarly requested. We're a long way from manufacturing being prominent, positive daily news fodder, but The Times article is a welcome break with 'Fleet Street' tradition. And with the City tarnished and politicians casting around for a rock to cling to, manufacturers must continue to make their case now that the door is, apparently, ajar. Article first published in Machinery April 2009