Lord Soley
Main Page: Lord Soley (Labour - Life peer)
Baroness Wilcox
My noble friend Lord Roberts makes a very fine point and, yes, of course, I can support the facts that he has read out. Last week’s report that the purchasing managers index for manufacturing rose to 58 in November is absolutely right. The most recent Office for National Statistics data show that manufacturing output in the three months to October 2010 was more than 1 per cent higher than in the previous three months and 5 per cent higher than in the same period a year ago. That growth is evident in the innovative SME Brompton Bicycles, for example, which has grown in recent years from producing 5,000 bikes a year to 30,000 this year.
Lord Soley
Bearing in mind that there is already growth in the economy from the actions of the previous Government following the international recession, and as I have pointed out many times before, that Britain is the sixth largest manufacturing country in the world and we are at the cutting edge of aerospace, sub-sea platforms and other areas, how can the Minister guarantee that the defence cuts affecting the aerospace industry and the 80 per cent cut in the university grant will not put our manufacturing sector at severe risk in the future?
Baroness Wilcox
We are looking across the whole of the manufacturing sector and, in the next few days, we shall bring out a manufacturing strategy to ensure that we are taking our country forward in all areas and at all levels. Of course, the previous Government had some great successes—they should have done; they were in power long enough.