Put manufacturing on the political agenda

I had the privilege to work at Longbridge for MG Rover for seven years before entering politics. During this time, I was able to see for myself how manufacturing works and the challenges that the industry faces in our globalised economy. We are fortunate in this country, and particularly in the West Midlands, to have such iconic brands and a proud heritage – but we are going to need more than this if we are to see our economy rebalanced and jobs return to the industry. When I was elected to parliament, therefore, I was keen to do what I could to raise the profile of the industry and to create a debate about how we can best support and promote manufacturing. I was fortunate enough to be able to work with Barry Sheerman, who is a very experienced parliamentarian and together we have helped to restart the Associate Parliamentary Manufacturing Group (APMG) once again. The APMG had its first formal discussion last session on financing for small and medium-sized manufacturing businesses. We were pleased to be joined by officials from DBIS and the Technology Strategy Board as well as the managing director of Lombard, the asset finance business. The meeting was clear that more information needed to be given to businesses about the types of financing on offer and the APMG will be producing a guidebook for MPs on the range of financing options available to their local businesses. There was agreement on all sides that asset financing could provide a model for helping manufacturing SMEs to gain investment. There is a long way to go, and I hope to engage through this column with members of the industry – please feel free to email me on chris.white.mp@parliament.uk about the APMG – on how we can move forward and what issues we should be addressing.