EEF calls for a commitment to devolution
THE GOVERNMENT’S proposed industrial strategy must include a commitment to devolution, according to the EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation.
The EEF is calling on the Government to reduce the UK’s productivity gap with its major competitors, increase the contribution to GDP growth from net trade and raise “the UK’s innovation performance from follower to leader”.
Andy Tuscher, the director of the EEF in Yorkshire and the Humber, said yesterday: “Successive governments have identified the UK’s weak productivity performance and set plans to tackle it, arguably with little success.
“This time it can be different, however, and we have a real opportunity to make a step change in the UK’s economic performance.
“Manufacturers in search of both a competitive and predictable business environment will need to be confident that future government policy decisions... are anchored in the ambitions of industrial strategy and that Whitehall departments are not allowed to ignore them.”
In its submission, the EEF urges the Government to extend devolution deals more widely, so that decisions on transport and infrastructure link up with national and local investment priorities.
The EEF wants the Government to examine how the tax system can play a “much stronger role” in accelerating the investment in new technology.
The shift to a low carbon economy should also be clearly integrated with an industrial strategy, the EEF’s report argues.
Manufacturing firms want to see measures that will support a skilled workforce and an investment in reliable infrastructure, the EEF said. The EEF is seeking “world class” support for companies that are planning to innovate and export.
The EEF believes that a number of recent policy decisions have been a first step in addressing these issue.
These decisions have included support for new technical colleges and commitments to major infrastructure projects such as the Heathrow Airport expansion, according to the EEF.
The EEF represents 20,000 companies of all sizes, from startups to multinationals. It has offices in London, Brussels and around the UK regions.
We have a real opportunity to make a step change in economic performance Andy Tuscher, director of the EEF in Yorkshire and the Humber