The UK must urgently resurrect its ‘hollowed out’ manufacturing base if the Government wants to use Britain’s expertise in science and research to boost growth, a senior executive has warned.
Peter Williams, the group technology director at energy conglomerate Ineos, the UK’s largest private company, said high energy prices for industry, taxes on carbon emissions and ‘misguided’ policy were fuelling the decline of manufacturing at a time when it was needed most.
Williams said that while Britain had ‘world class’ research capabilities, the country was falling short in turning these ideas into economic value due to a lack of manufacturing power.
‘The country’s manufacturing base has been hollowed out, and without it, innovation struggles to get off the ground,’ Williams said.
Urgent: The UK must resurrect its ‘hollowed out’ manufacturing base if the Government wants to use Britain’s expertise in science and research to boost growth, says Ineos boss
He added: ‘Over the past three decades, Britain has quietly de-industrialised. The manufacturing sector’s contribution to GDP has dropped from around 16 per cent in 1990 to just 8 per cent today – more than in any other G7 economy.’
Williams also said Government policies such as the net-zero agenda were removing existing manufacturing operations without a ‘serious plan’ to replace them. ‘This approach is threatening the economic resilience of the UK. When industries close, we also lose the people and knowledge.’
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