Vince Cable speech on Made By Britain and why 'manufacturing matters'

6 July 2011

(This speech was given at the APMG's Made By Britain launch event, at 13:15 on Wednesday 6th July)

“Can I thank the All Party Group for getting this moving. Barry very modestly said this was not a MP thing, but actually if it hadn't been for him, and Chris White and the other MPs, this particular thing would not have been started. It was a really good idea and they've run with it. You know, it's struck a chord in the media and outside.

And, you know, the basic message, I think that this is managing to communicate, is reversing the old stereotype - Britain doesn't make things anymore. I hear so much of that negativity, you know, we've given up on manufacturing, can't do it, it's all made in China. That is totally and utterly wrong. I mean one of the things I've discovered in my job - I travel around the country a lot - enormous numbers of really, really good British companies have been through bad times, that have innovated, dominate their markets with classic design, innovation, good management, good manufacturing, it's all there.

Just a few examples: one of the first things I encountered, going out on a day visit was actually about a mile from where I live in West London under the arches of the M4 approach. There was a bicycle factory employing a 100 people exporting bicycles to China. You know, get your head around that. Brilliant ideas, constant innovation, improvement and they're expanding like a bomb.

And then a few days later I went off to Birmingham and there's a company there which has been operating 130 years, I think. Difficult times. And they're the first people who actually manufactured pen nibs, and are now doing the components of toy trains –extraordinary finicky innards of devices, which they export all over the world, including to these markets in the far east which we are often told are completely impenetrable.

And one of the things that caught my imagination, one of them actually turned up today – Steelite from Stoke. They showed me a bus. Just like an ordinary London bus. And then they pointed out that under the wheels there were cups. And the bus was stood up on these remarkable small pieces of advanced ceramics that can take many tonnes of weight. They're a company – British innovation. And that's what's happening all over the place. And we must celebrate it and do what we can to encourage it.

When you look at the big picture, manufacturing is now about 12% of the GD - much shrunk - but it's about the same as France or the United States. So we have a large number of companies.

Manufacturing matters, that's the key message I think, because it's over half our exports. Most of our productivity drivers come from the manufacturing sector, and the lead services, because these days it's very difficult to draw compartments between, say design and manufacturing - merges into each other. But it's an absolutely crucial part of the economy.

And I recognise in my job that we've got to do what we can to support it. Quite a few of you have come up to me already and said “why aren't you doing more”. Perfectly good question. Can't go round the country with a cheque book - would love to do so, would love to be Father Christmas, but we can't operate like that. But there are things we can do and are doing.

One is putting a lot more resource into apprenticeships. That's booming at the moment. 50% growth over the last year, lots of companies taking it up, kids getting really interested in this as career. It's taking off. And I hope you will get behind that, encourage young people to come into your companies.

Setting up technology innovation centres that provide that connecting point between original ideas - a lot of them coming out of academics, and the world of business, getting that link made at a practical level. Through institutions like the Regional Growth Fund helping particular companies who we want to expand and stay in this country. Can't help everybody - limited resource - but we are very much focused on the need to support British manufacturing.

Just one final thing: Where do we go from here in terms of the project that Barry and Chris have started? I hope that all the 600 MPs will pitch in. And we've got 40 so far - we need really good ideas that can really make this great exhibition happen. And I think there are other things that we can all do as MPs and members of the community in promoting manufacturing.

One other idea that's just got off the ground in the last two weeks is something we call 'See inside Manufacturing'. Opening up factories so that school kids can come in and see that the modern factory is not like the image of 50 years ago. It is a very pleasant, very often, and exciting environment to operate. I launched this in Oxford at the Mini plant. Very different from most people's ideas of an old style production line. Actually a third I think or something of the workers on the production line were women, very different from the old picture. So getting the younger generation to see inside industry, to value it, to identify with it, to have ambitions about it - those are the kind of perceptions we need to change.

So I think what Barry and Chris and his colleagues have done is a really great start in changing this public mood. And I think we are indebted to them and we are particularly indebted to the companies who have participated in this. Thank you all.”

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