Finance Bill

Baroness Kennedy of Cradley Excerpts

2nd reading & Committee negatived & 3rd reading & 2nd reading (Hansard) & 2nd reading (Hansard): House of Lords & 3rd reading (Hansard) & 3rd reading (Hansard): House of Lords & Committee negatived (Hansard) & Committee negatived (Hansard): House of Lords
Friday 17th July 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Non-Afl) [V]]

My Lords, growing up in the Midlands, and the Black Country in particular, I know how much pride there is in this country’s manufacturing tradition and its industries. The Black Country is the home of the Industrial Revolution and I am delighted that it recently received the recognition it deserves by being awarded UNESCO Global Geopark status. It is an area that makes things, where small and medium-sized enterprises and large manufacturers are working hard, creating wealth and selling their products, at home and abroad. They employ thousands of local people. This is why the Government, local government, businesses and academics come together and talk about support for the Midlands engine. This is why the Government must do more now to support manufacturing in this country.

As others have noted, our manufacturing sector faces what many employers are privately warning is a tsunami of job losses. It is tragic to read that, because of the economic shock of Covid-19, many in the manufacturing industries now expect their recovery to take 12 to 24 months. Across the West Midlands, nearly 300,000 people in manufacturing, construction and the car trade are furloughed. To put this into perspective, this is equivalent to the entire population of Dudley borough not being at work. Across the country, nearly 8,000 manufacturing jobs losses have already been announced by world-leading companies such as Rolls-Royce, McLaren, Aston Martin, Jaguar Land Rover and Arlington Automotive. The Government need to do more and act now to save our manufacturing base.

Why are the Government reluctant to consider extending the furlough scheme to different sectors of our economy that need extra support? Will they consider emergency measures to stimulate market demand, particularly in our car industry? What are the Government doing to ensure that the banks are doing their bit to help save our manufacturing sector? The need for flexible access to finance and support for firms attempting to restructure and reshape themselves to adapt to the new economic environment is vital.

For the last 300 years and more, my family has been working in iron and steel in the Midlands. Like many Black Country families, they worked hard, and now they need more action to protect their jobs and their wages if we are to save this country’s manufacturing jobs and tradition. I look forward to the Minister’s reply.