T&G slams Government’s lack of interest in manufacturing

Parliament
is ignoring manufacturing, the Transport and General Workers Union claims.

Figures
released by the T&G show that MPs place manufacturing a long way down the
political agenda.

In
an analysis of parliamentary questions and early day motions in the current
parliamentary session, manufacturing came last on every count.

Not
one MP raised manufacturing through an early day motion.

Speaking
at the T&G conference in Brighton, T&G general secretary Sir Bill
Morris said: "Between June 2001 and March 2003 273,000 manufacturing jobs
were lost.

"Every
sector is affected, from textiles to tin plate and from engineering to
electronics, yet our politicians say ‘Crisis in manufacturing? What crisis?’

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"We
say the Government has a role to play. The DTI should take a lead in promoting
the link between public procurement and public expenditure in favour of UK
manufacturing. MPs should be pressing the DTI to take the state of our
manufacturing industry seriously not stand helplessly by."

By Quentin Reade