TODAY, Unite’s policy conference in Brighton will be debating the key issue of industrial and manufacturing strategy.

Unite believes that an incoming Labour government must put manufacturing at the heart of the economy.

When the Prime Minister created her first Cabinet, she announced the creation of the Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy Department.  

This was music to our ears as Unite has long campaigned to lift the profile of manufacturing and industrial strategy, not just to defend jobs but to create decent jobs for the future.

Sadly, the reality is that the Tories have created an industrial strategy in name only. The launch of their document just prior to Christmas 2017 proved to be a damp squib and was roundly criticised by industry, academia and trade unions.

The government’s defence of manufacturing in the UK has been lamentable.

We saw ministers wave the white flag when Bombardier was attacked by US corporation Boeing, with a potential loss of thousands of skilled jobs in Northern Ireland.

The unwanted takeover of GKN, one of the UK’s oldest engineering companies, by Melrose was roundly opposed by the workforce, the aerospace and automotive industries and Labour, but it took BEIS Minister Greg Clark 57 days before he publicly pulled Melrose into a meeting to seek assurances about jobs and future investment.

The most recent abdication of responsibility for industrial strategy has been the government decision not to back the eco-friendly Swansea Tidal Lagoon, a project supported by the EU that would have created thousands of skilled jobs in construction, engineering and energy.

Unite’s industrial strategy launched prior to the government’s document, in contrast, was well received by industry, workforces, academia and politicians. 

In it we set out a 10-point plan for manufacturing, including the defence of our foundation industries such as steel, reshoring of manufacturing jobs, positive procurement to ensure that public-sector budget is used to support industries and communities, a strategic investment bank, promotion of science and engineering in education, more high-quality apprenticeships; a strategic plan to deal with Industry 4.0 and digitalisation; support for medium-sized supply chain companies; legislation to give workers in the industry a voice and sectoral collective bargaining and a minister for manufacturing with a seat in the Cabinet to champion the industrial strategy in partnership with trade unions.

This strategy also informed the Labour Party’s manifesto For the Many, not the Few and our ideas for manufacturing were included in Labour’s manifesto.

It has been heartening to have Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell, Rebecca Long Bailey and others join Unite in calling for a robust industrial strategy and speaking at our events on such vital issues such as the development of electric vehicles and, most recently, our campaign to ensure that the three new frigates currently out to tender are built here in Britain, using British steel.

Contrast this with the dithering by the Conservative government, which is exhausted and transfixed by infighting over Brexit.

Manufacturing workers in Britain will have been as astonished as I was when Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who is supposed to promote British exports and industry across the world, was heard saying: “Fuck business” — in effect, “fuck British manufacturing workers, decent skilled jobs and communities.

Working with Labour, Unite will continue to promote industry and manufacturing based on our strategy to shape the future and create employment with investment in infrastructure projects that will benefit for generations to come.
 
Tony Burke is assistant general secretary of Unite.