{"id":11203,"date":"2017-01-23T17:36:45","date_gmt":"2017-01-23T17:36:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=11203"},"modified":"2017-01-23T17:36:45","modified_gmt":"2017-01-23T17:36:45","slug":"inadequate-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=11203","title":{"rendered":"Inadequate \u00e2\u20ac\u0098strategy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Theresa May unveiled her new industrial strategy today (January 23) to a chorus of criticisms that the plan is inadequate and does not offer commitment to the single market or the kind of skills investment needed to safely see the UK through Brexit<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe greatest support the government could provide UK jobs and business is to commit to access to the single market and the customs union. Without this access, manufacturing is going to be seriously hobbled,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Unite general secretary, Len McCluskey.<\/p>\n

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The Prime Minister named five sectors that may receive targeting government support: the creative sector, nuclear industry<\/a>, low-carbon vehicles, industrial digitalisation and life sciences.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

May said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe modern industrial strategy will be underpinned by a new approach to government, not just stepping back but stepping up to a new, active role that backs business and ensures more people in all corners of the country share in the benefits of its success.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

May said the government is prepared to create institutions to generate skills or research, loosen regulation or assist with trade deals, if a sector can show that they measure would help solve specific issues. However any deals will only be on the basis that sectors self-organised and approached the government with their cases.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Twisting in the wind<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Unite assistant general secretary Tony Burke said the government was not \u00e2\u20ac\u015bstepping up\u00e2\u20ac\u0165, but rather taking a hands off approach would leave employers twisting in the wind at a critical time.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Burke said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis strategy isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t robust or joined up. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s too much left to employers, when we need clear involvement from government. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no strategy in just letting employers get on with it themselves.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The strategy also earmarked \u00c2\u0141170m to be spent on setting up new institutes of technology to close the technical skills gap<\/a>. The policy was rubbished by the University and College Union as a \u00e2\u20ac\u015brelaunched skills strategy\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 that was a \u00e2\u20ac\u015bdrop in the ocean.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

According to the non-profit Engineering UK advocacy group, 182,000 skilled workers are needed every year until 2022 to remedy skills shortages.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

McCluskey said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe promised \u00c2\u0141170m for skills training is\u00c2\u00a0nowhere near enough to address the chronic skills shortages, and\u00c2\u00a0delivering these programmes will be a tall order for an education sector hollowed out by successive Conservative cuts.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Serious plan needed <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe need a serious plan to address the hundreds of thousands of engineering\u00c2\u00a0jobs\u00c2\u00a0we need by 2020, assisting employers with decent apprenticeships to over-train to fill to gaps.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

An Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, that will support areas such as smart energy, robotics, artificial intelligence and the 5G mobile network, was announced. However, the fund is being drawn from \u00c2\u01414.7bn promised for research and development, which was announced last November.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

May also pledged \u00c2\u0141556m worth of investments for the so-called \u00e2\u20ac\u015bnorthern powerhouse\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Labour\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s shadow business secretary, Clive Lewis, said the current funding figures are not enough.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe await further detail, but what’s been announced so far will fall far short of getting us back to where we were in 2010, let alone equip our economy for the challenges of the 21st Century.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

McCluskey added that the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s failure to bring forward a package of support for business in last year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s autumn statement<\/a> had sent a worrying signal that May did not grasp the full seriousness of the issues facing the economy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s core industries.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe tests Unite will be setting are simple ones. The government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s purchasing must mean UK firms, products and supply chains are supported. And there must be substantial efforts to improve the infrastructure across this country, better connecting our cities and investing in affordable housing,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 McCluskey said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bNo more of what has gone before, PR-heavy gimmicks like the ‘March of the Makers’ which promised much and delivered nothing.\u00c2\u00a0More than ever we need action, investment and the coalition of all our talents \u00e2\u20ac\u201c including the engagement of unions such as Unite who are on the workplace frontline \u00e2\u20ac\u201c to deliver our new economy.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Theresa May unveiled her new industrial strategy today (January 23) to a chorus of criticisms that the plan is inadequate and does not offer commitment to the single market or the kind of skills investment needed to safely see the UK through Brexit.   \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe greatest support the government could provide UK jobs and business […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11206,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[670,44],"wps_subtitle":"Govt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0098new approach\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 slammed by Unite","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11203"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11203"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11207,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11203\/revisions\/11207"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}