What Does Britain Do?
What does Britain do? It’s a question commentators come back to time after time, scratching their heads about what this country actually produces. We import much of our food, our electronic goods come from Asia, we all buy clothes with labels proclaiming they were made abroad – so what does our country actually do? Two of the most frequent answers point to our financial sector and the ‘services’ industry. Neither of these strike me as long-term solutions to our problems – they rely on external factors and, as we have seen, in times of severe economic hardship the sector that explodes most painfully is the retail sector. The smaller companies are shedding jobs faster than McDonald’s and Asda can create them. I’m not suggesting that hundreds of smaller companies across the country aren’t doing something and doing it well. What I’m concerned about is that we’re not really known for anything apart from money and service. We don’t do anything so how can we hope to survive?
One industry which is bucking this trend appears to be the car manufacturing industry. Last year car production in the UK rose by 5.8%, despite car sales in Britain falling by 4.4%. We’re exporting cars very well apparently, with companies such as Jaguar Land Rover, Toyota and Vauxhall announcing new lines at their plants. The companies may not reside completely in Britain but they are investing in us, creating jobs and wealth for the country. We need more of that but how to encourage it?
As 2020UK guest blogger, G.P. Wayne, pointed out yesterday, no business can choose more expensive suppliers simply to be seen as ethical or to boost the interests of a company based in this country. Our companies have to become more competitive, offering a good product but good service alongside it. Perhaps that’s where our experience in the services sector comes into play. We need innovation, we need to create more of our own products. Yes, to then export them, but also to consume/buy ourselves. We hear a lot about promoting this from successive governments yet we still rely on the safety net of the financial sector and the services industry. However, that safety net has more than a few holes in it. Another way is needed and the sooner the better.
Lucy Brown
Posted on January 25, 2012, in Politics. Bookmark the permalink. 2 Comments.
2020UK 
Dyson was happy to offshore manufacturing yet is constantly going on about the need for qualified engineers, as long as Universities do the training and someone else pays the bill for the training.
Germany have a higher wage / social costs than UK yet seem to be getting it right. Main problem is a laissez faire attitude to UK manufacturing and business enabling international conglomerates to opt out of anything it doesn’t fancy paying for.
I agree with everything you have said. We were once at the forefront of manufacturing, most of the processes used through out the world were invented here.
So why aren’t we doing that now? We’ve given away our industry – or sold it off and I can remember the phrase “Brain Drain” back in the 1960s, so we’ve said goodbye to our inventors.
We’ve got a few now, Dyson etc; but we just let it all go – now we need it back to bail out our sinking ship, but how?
Innovative small businesses and inventors would be a start, as would be the governments acknowledgement of the fact that we need home grown businesses to manufacture the basic goods that are needed the world over.
Too many international conglomerates are asset stripping and the UK with its high cost of living present a prime target compared with the lower costs elsewhere. Not sure how we are going to do it – but it is desperately needed.