‘Weak Budget fails to support manufacturers’
LABOUR has accused the Government of failing to support manufacturing in the Budget, claiming steel was not mentioned once in its plan for the future.
Other areas of the sector, such as automotive and aerospace, also missed out on investment measures, the party added.
Labour said there should have been support announced to boost the electric battery supply chain because of the need for new “gigafactories”.
The UK is falling behind France and Germany, which have provided tens of billions of pounds towards a green recovery, said Labour.
Shadow business secretary Ed Miliband said: “Our manufacturers should be at the heart of our economic recovery but the Budget left them out in the cold.
“No mention of steel, no new support for aerospace, no new help for our automotive sector.
“Manufacturing industries are crucial to communities across the country, providing highly-paid, highly-skilled jobs in Yorkshire, the North East, the Midlands and South Wales. To truly rebalance our economy away from London we need to invest in these leading industries. We are falling behind other countries in the support our Government is providing and we will all pay the price.”
Mr Miliband added that the Government’s new infrastructure bank will have no effect on growth and is 147 times smaller than Germany’s.
He said: “The Government’s smoke and mirrors cannot distract from the fact we have been left without the green investment we need. We needed climate leadership from Government but we got climate failure.
“We needed the Chancellor to put a green stimulus at the centre of the Budget. He totally failed to do so. A £1bn cut to the green homes grant, a refusal to help our manufacturers make the green transition and an investment bank that lacks anything like the ambition we need.”