Exports fall behind domestic orders, study suggests

EXPORTS have fallen behind domestic orders for manufacturing firms for the first time since 2016 amid continued uncertainty over Brexit, according to a new study.

Research by Make UK and business advisers BDO LLP suggested that firms were stockpiling goods, which was driving part of their production.

Exports have been unable to pick up since a drop last year, said the report, adding that Europe continued to be the main market for manufacturers.

Employment plans have picked up, indicating that manufacturers could be opting to hire a flexible workforce in the short term rather than make long-term investments, said Make UK. Chief executive Stephen Phipson said: “While it is good news that output remains stable, it is no surprise that all the economic forecasts indicate that this will not last.

“Manufacturing needs certainty over Brexit to boost orders and exports and to protect the jobs of nearly three million people.” ACTION to tackle youth violence in Coventry and stop children from slipping into “the grip of gangs” should be taken as a matter of urgency, it has been warned.

Councillor David Kershaw (Lab) said the local authority and schools were not doing enough to protect young children from being groomed by gangs in the city.

His comments come as a national report warns the same mistakes that led to child sexual exploitation failings are being repeated with gangs.

Citing the report at an education and children’s services scrutiny board, he called for politicians, schools and police to work together on a solution.

“We must get more information to produce a local plan to protect these young people who are being desperately influenced by these young gangs,” he said.

“At the moment we are a million miles from getting the information we need, and there’s going to be more deaths if we are not careful.”

Knife violence has been at the forefront of Coventry’s serious crime problems.

A 16-year-old boy and a 15-year-old boy were stabbed in January and February, while a schoolboy Jaydon James, 16, died after he was stabbed last November.

Fidel Glasgow, 21, was also stabbed to death outside Club M last September.

Cllr Kershaw said he personally witnessed “the grip of gangs” on school children.

He said: “I’m on a couple of secondary school governing bodies and was on a meeting with two schools to permanently exclude two youngsters. It was heartbreaking - horrible.

“This just so happens to be two young men who were in the grip of gangs - literally - being met outside of school in a posh car, taken out for meals, that’s what’s happening.

“What are we doing as a public service where schools and the authority did everything they could to try and avoid these two young men being groomed and couldn’t do it?”

He added another student has recently been stabbed after walking down a road and refusing to carry drugs.

“We have a matter of urgency in Coventry to do something about this,” he added.

Councillors agreed to