More manufacturing concern

I'm not sure that the number of times a phrase crops up is directly related to a party's concern, though: after all, manifestos aren't written so that Google ranks them high. But let's see what turns up for 'manufacturing'. Well, in order of occurrences, we have Labour, the Conservatives and the Lib Dems. That's four, three and two occurrences, with one of the Lib Dem instances being in the index. But that's being a bit trite. In their 110-page manifesto, the Lib Dems talk about boosting green jobs, including a £400 million investment in shipyards to build offshore wind turbines. It talks about reforming the City – hard – and creating more diverse sources of finance that will "provide the funding needed to develop innovative new products and reverse the decline in the UK's manufacturing base". But it will cut nuclear power plans and Eurofighter tranche 3B. The Conservatives want a more balanced economy, saying that "a sustainable recovery must be driven by growth in exports and business investment, and through a better environment for wealth creation". Its 128-page manifesto adds also that it will implement key recommendations from the Conservative-prompted Sir James Dyson review into how to achieve the goal of making Britain Europe's leading hi-tech exporter. It wants a "safer" banking system, too. As for Labour, to say it did nothing in its 13 years to support manufacturing would not be true. It was the first party ever to issue a manufacturing strategy, after all, and the regional development agencies, especially in the North and West Midlands, have had a positive effect. It talks about helping Britain to become "a leader in the emerging industries of the future" in its 78-page tome, with emphasis on 'green' jobs. Yet it has to live down the UK element of the global debt bubble, over which it presided. But, writing this ahead of May 6, whatever the outcome, a more manufacturing-friendly disposition is likely, which should mean that manufacturers will, more so than for many years, have the ear of government. First published in Machinery, May 2010