Support for LDV

Just in case it drops out of the news: Over 800 people at LDV + up to 2000 in the supply chain have lost their jobs because this country is more inclined to support profligate bankers than our hard working and strategically important manufacturing industry. It is incredible that a Labour government can allow so many working people to be thrown out of work, adding to benefits costs whilst losing tax income. There are also the social and personal costs of unemployment to the families of those affected. There are too few politicians who have any experience of, or concern for the UK manufacturing sector. Is this because it doesn’t pay high enough wages?

Politics before People

Managers and workers at Birmingham van maker LDV have been forced to cancel a lobby of parliament because of the cabinet reshuffle. They were told there would be no ministers to meet them because of events at Westminster. A classic example of politicians putting politics before people.

Not Angry Enough - Perhaps.

I know that I can rightly be accused of being an angry old man but I just can't help seeing the faces behind the numbers. The jobs at threat at LDV and Vauxhall with the allied services and supply chain must amount to over 20,000. Every single one represents a man or woman with a family, mortgage, responsibilities and aspirations. It is impossible to describe the gut wrenching feeling that the workers and their families are going through right now. They have done nothing wrong and they feel powerless to act.

If they end up on the dole – and it looks like most of them will, the exchequer looses their tax income and then has to pay out in benefits. That is only a small part of the equation; people loose the dignity of work, families are broken up, Britain looses more skills and another significant part of what is left of our manufacturing industry – and those whose role it was to plan for the future of this country and its people loose even more credibility.

This country needs to put a line in the ground right now and begin to defend our manufacturing sector. To have a properly operating mixed economy without a viable or even thriving manufacturing sector is simply politically illiterate.

Manufacturing may not be fashionable but it is valuable and necessary for the livelihoods of millions of people in the UK. The problem seems to be that very few of our politicians have any knowledge or understanding of this strategically vital sector.