Spending Review : BPF on the Air
Tuesday, 26 October 2010
The BPF participated in a BBC Radio 5 Live panel, representative of business and society, commenting on the impact of the Spending Review on manufacturing. Director General, Peter Davis, was able to voice support for the allocation of monies for export promotion and questioned Alastair Darling on the former government’s record.
In its analysis of the Review the BPF makes the point that cuts in the public sector, as in private companies, are relatively easy to make. ‘’The difficult thing is to create positively the conditions for growth and what the plastics industry is now looking for is a cohesive programme of business support which gives some emphasis to the needs of the manufacturing sector’’ said Davis. ‘’An important plank in this is the minimisation of unnecessary regulations both from EU and UK sources, an aspect not touched upon yesterday’’.
The BPF believes that some of the building blocks for this much needed programme were put in place yesterday such as the strengthening of UKTI’s role with its greater responsibility for inward investment and the continuing support for Science and Innovation with the ring-fencing of the £4.6 billion research budget,
‘’Additionally, the announcement that up to 75,000 people will be given ‘on the job’ training through an expansion of apprenticeships is an extremely useful move,’’ said Peter Davis. ‘’As the UK economy recovers one key factor holding back its recovery could be the shortage of available skills’’.
Equally, the BPF believes that the increase in NHS spending should safeguard the procurement of health care equipment which has been, in recent years, a growth sector for the Plastics Industry. The programme to build the 150,000 affordable homes should also give a boost to the hard pressed construction sector as should the £ 30 billion committed to transport over four years but the essential next step is for the government to turn its attention to stimulating private house building.
“Using these disparate elements as the foundation stones, a positive programme of industrial support should now be developed and marketed abroad”, concluded
Davis, “Business needs to be attracted to the UK and we are not just talking here about having a smaller public sector. The whole regulatory atmosphere needs to be reviewed as well. Government needs to set the overall tone for a country that is welcoming of business and entrepreneurship”.
ENDS
For all media enquiries, BPF logos and images, please contact Rita Ogole, Senior Public Affairs Executive on 0207 457 5043 or email [email protected]
Notes to Editor
The British Plastics Federation (BPF) is the UK trade association for the plastics industry – representing the whole supply chain including polymer producers, distributors, additives suppliers, machinery manufacturers, processors and recyclers.
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