Labour vows to fight for a “manufacturing renaissance” in Brexit
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell will today vow to put the UK's manufacturers at the heart of Labour's Brexit planning.
Speaking at the national conference of manufacturer's association EEF in London, McDonnell will promise to develop a “British Mittelstand”, in reference to the mid-sized businesses sometimes held up as the core of Europe's economy.
The shadow chancellor will commit Labour to boosting “high-investment, high-productivity smaller firms".
McDonnell will say that the sector can provide "high-quality employment in those sectors where we have the greatest potential like high-value added manufacturing”.
“There is the potential here, as the fourth industrial revolution gets underway, for a manufacturing renaissance that can transform the potential not of those places and regions already succeeding, but of those areas that have been left behind for too long," he is expected to say.
It comes after CBI figures showed that demand for UK manufactured goods reached a two-year high in the three months to February.
And earlier this month, after a report by accountancy BDO reported that manufacturing confidence had reached a 20-month high.