MANUFACTURING must be at the heart of post-pandemic plans to rebuild Britain’s economy, union and business leaders told the Prime Minister today.

A joint letter from the Unite union and Britain’s key industrial trade federations urged Boris Johnson to ensure that the creation of jobs in the sector was central to the roadmap to recovery he is expected to announce later this month.

The union, together with trade federations in the motor, chemical and aerospace, defence, security and space industries pointed to the “tremendous opportunities” that manufacturing presents for increased trade, job and skills creation.

Pointing out that the economy is now at its weakest in over 300 years, they set out the sector’s potential to deliver on the government’s “levelling up” promise and the urgent need to green the economy.

Highlighting the need for stability in the sector, they urged an extension of the job retention scheme, support for industrial research and development, and the creation of a competitive business environment for jobs and skills. 

“The Covid-19 pandemic and our changing trading relationship with the rest of the world remind us that a robust, home-grown UK manufacturing sector really does matter,” the letter said.
 
“To deliver this, we need to build new markets, but so too we must build on these shores, able to provide our own componentry and investing proudly in our UK technology, reducing the reliance on imports and the fragility of the UK-based supply chain exposed by Covid-19.”

Pointing out that 2020 “was the year that destroyed jobs,” Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said that workers across the country were “desperate to hear that the government has a plan to make 2021 a year to save and create jobs. 

“We urge the Prime Minister and his Cabinet team to heed the calls from unions and business alike to work with us as partners to recover the economy,” he said.
 
Assistant general secretary Steve Turner said that the manufacturing sector “needs stability while it adapts to the new supply chain realities that come with our exit from the EU and the suppressed demand caused by this health and economic crisis.”

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy have been asked to comment.