‘Shake off complacency’

The performance of the UK’s manufacturing sector would be below the lowest level seen during the 2008 recession if not for four key industries which are now also struggling, damning Office for National Statistics (ONS) analysis released today (April 2) shows.

The ONS charted UK manufacturing performance over the ten years to 2018 and found that its recovery from the financial crisis has been heavily dependent upon four out of the sector’s 24 industries and is still below pre-2008 levels.

Food, motor vehicles, other transport equipment and repair of machinery accounted for 86 per cent of industry growth over the decade despite making up just 30 per cent of total industries.

The automotive industry emerged as the standout sector in the analysis – contributing as much growth as the next five best performing industries combined between 2012 and 2016.

The five weakest industries, which together make up 28 per cent of UK manufacturing, provided 68 per cent of all negative contributions to the sector’s headline total from 2008 to 2018.

The report stated that eight of nine industries at the bottom and the top of manufacturing “have seen a marked downturn in performance in 2018 compared with the second half of 2016 and 2017, pointing to a weakening in the sector at the end of the decade”.

Unite assistant general secretary for manufacturing Steve Turner said, “These latest figures, showing that UK manufacturing is smaller than before the financial crash, are a damning indictment of the government’s industrial strategy.

“Key industries, such as steel, have gone into reverse during the period while the government did little to tackle the dumping of cheap foreign steel and the sky high energy costs UK steel producers face.”

“During the same time the UK’s car and aerospace industries have kept the sector afloat, but all that hard work now risks being undone thanks to the government’s Brexit chaos, which comes amid weakening global car sales and the demonisation of diesel by ministers.”

Turner said the country is now in the middle of a manufacturing emergency “with 130 manufacturing jobs being lost every day in the UK”.

He added, “The government needs to shake off its complacency by delivering on its fine words about its industrial strategy with practical support and action for UK manufacturing and the car industry.

“This must include buying UK steel for infrastructure projects and utilising the talents of UK manufacturing communities to build major assets, such as the Royal Navy’s solid support vessels, here in the UK.”