The 3,000 redundancies planned by BAE come as a bitter blow to
the firm's employees and to perhaps, the 6,000 subcontractors who
supply the firm. But what does it say about manufacturing in
general in the UK? As someone who trained as an Engineer but
is now a Partner at a chartered accountancy firm I believe that
unless some real action is taken to fundamentally shift the balance
of our economy, these redundancies and more like them will change
nothing. Whether we are talking about BAE or Bombardier
(1,400 jobs lost at the train manufacturer in July 2011) or
numerous other examples down the years, what seems obvious is that
as a nation we continue to lie back whilst our engineering and
manufacturing skill-base is inexorably eroded.
For more than 30 years manufacturing has been written off as a
mainstay of the economy. We've blamed foreign competition,
trade unionism, poor management and a lack of investment for the
decline in our manufacturing fortunes but the truth is we haven't
as a nation stepped up to the plate. If the same care had
been taken to protect and nurture manufacturing as has been put
into promoting the UK as a major global financial centre we would
have a strong and vibrant manufacturing base keeping people
employed, paying valuable taxes and selling the products we are so
good at inventing and developing for other nations. Imagine
the engineering equivalent of the redeveloped square mile and
Canary Wharf and you start to understand the analogy. I'm not for a
minutes suggesting that we abandon our banking and services
industry, but what I am saying is that we should recognise that the
balance has swung too far away from creating tangible wealth.
We've come to depend far too much on the intangible wealth
associated with city.
In the words of George Osborne, wrapping up his last budget
speech;
'We are only going to raise the living standards of families if
we have an economy that can compete in the modern age. So this is
our plan for growth.
We want the words: 'Made in Britain' 'Created in Britain'
'Designed in Britain' 'Invented in Britain' To drive our nation
forward. A Britain carried aloft by the march of the makers. That
is how we will create jobs and support families. We have put fuel
into the tank of the British economy.'
Sadly the present government, despite its own words, has still
not woken up to the fact that manufacturing should be the linchpin
of the economy rather than the poor relation of the banking and the
business service sector. To put manufacturing back into
centre stage will take billions in investment and a long term
structural shift, but it has to be the future. Now is the
time for the government to stop talking and to start to take
action.
Chris Coopey is a Partner with Carpenter Box LLP, Chartered
Accountants and Chartered Tax Advisers. He originally trained
with a subsidiary of Simon Engineering in Gloucester, qualifying as
a design draftsman. In 1979 he moved to the
telecommunications industry where he worked for 10 years.
Chris subsequently went to Exeter University before qualifying as a
solicitor. He joined Carpenter Box as Practice Director in
2005.
