Ford chief backs Cable's industrial strategy plea

Sustained sector wide growth will only be attained through a detailed blueprint, the Ford boss told WM Manufacturing Summit delegates at the IMechE. Greenwell said: "If we are to achieve the manufacturing led recovery and the much heralded rebalancing of our economy that we all agree is necessary then we're going to require a targeted, more focussed industrial strategy." The industrial strategy must be properly articulated at a national and European level Greenwell told the WM Manufacturing Summit- held to debate what we must do to make UK manufacturing more internationally competitive. The comments come after business secretary Cable accused Downing Street of lacking a coherent industrial vision in a leaked letter. Cable claimed Downing Street had become too hands off in its approach to manufacturing growth. In the letter, Cable said: "The term 'industry policy' has acquired a bad reputation in the UK as a result of misguided and clumsy interventionism in the 1970's... One of the messages I hear from business .. is that we have swung too far in the opposite direction." The government had to think beyond electoral cycles when dictating economic policy, Cable stressed. The business secretary said: "I sense however that there is still something important missing - a compelling vision of where the country is heading beyond sorting out the fiscal mess; and a clear and confident message about how we will earn our living in future." Read the letter in full by clicking the link below: