One of Britain’s largest unions has slammed ministers over Britain’s newly unveiled industrial competitiveness program, accusing Whitehall of turning its back on the very manufacturers that have long dominated the country’s industrial heartland.
The GMB, which represents tens of thousands of workers on Britain’s factory floors, said its members in gas-intensive sectors had been “shamefully ignored” by a package the government had seen as a lifeline for domestic industry. The union’s ruling will cause unease in Downing Street, where ministers have staked considerable political capital on reviving the fortunes of British industry and narrowing the competitive gap with rivals in Europe, North America and Asia.
Gary Smith, GMB general secretary, didn’t mince his words. “Gas intensive industries in the UK have been shamefully ignored by the government in this announcement, it is an absolute disgrace,” he said. Mr Smith further warned that members working in the country’s world-famous ceramics industry, as well as those who make the bricks that form the basis of the UK’s construction supply chain, were “outraged by the lack of support”. “Workers in manufacturing businesses across the UK need urgent help,” he added. “That’s not it.”
The intervention throws a sharp spotlight on the concept of the project. The Stoke-on-Trent-based ceramics cluster, along with the brickworks that supply housebuilding and infrastructure projects across the country, rely heavily on natural gas to fuel kilns at the extreme temperatures their products require. High wholesale energy prices, combined with the cumulative burden of climate charges and network charges, have resulted in these small and medium-sized producers paying significantly more for electricity than their continental competitors – a long-standing issue that industry groups have had to address under successive governments.
For owners and managers in the potteries and brick belts of the Midlands and North, the omission will be painful. Many of these companies are typical British SMEs: privately owned, deeply rooted in their communities and exporting historic products that still matter on the world stage. Their plea was consistent that any credible competitive strategy must start with energy costs, without which no amount of capital grants or skills support can make the difference.
Whether the government decides to reopen the scope of the scheme or whether a separate package for energy-intensive industries is now inevitable will be closely watched in the coming weeks. There is no doubt that today’s announcement fell well short of the mark in the eyes of the GMB.
