I come from a family of several generations of engineers; my grandfather helped build planes for World War 2. It is in my blood, and up until recently I helped my dad run his small engineering business.
Manufacturing needs help - particularly in the North East. The papers are keen to point out the importance but continue to trumpet Labour's alleged achievements, notwithstanding the demises of Kraft, Rover and Corus.
Consider 3 facts:
- When Labour won power in 1997 they had a trade surplus of £1.8 billion
- The trade deficit is now over £7 billion
- Manufacturing has declined under Labour by well over 10%
Ask any businessman and they will tell you why:
- excessive tax and regulation
- paperwork that needs to be seen to be believed
- a government always telling them how to run a business
- excessive NI and corporation tax
Cure these simple issues and free business up to invest and grow and we will turn this around.
It is not rocket science
And all the businessmen cannot be wrong; only today Richard Branson tells the papers: "I believe the UK's record budget deficit does pose a serious risk to our recovery".
