Tag: manufacturing

Doug Nicholls: import less, reskill and make more of the goods we need

December 17, 2020

Nick O’Gorman asked a vitally important crucial question recently: “How much manufacturing should be based here rather than our over-relying on imports?” He points out that:

  • In 20 years, British goods exports to the EU have risen 70%,
  • imports from the EU rose 140%,
  • and this led to a huge goods deficit of £96 billion in 2016.

Doug Nicholls, General Secretary of the General Federation of Trade Unions, in a recent article, insists that our commitments to the planet and to the construction of stronger national economy should be grounded in making, buying and selling as much as we can on this island.

Summary

We need a green industrial revolution to rebuild after the Covid-19 pandemic, building up a strong domestic manufacturing base and – in the process – creating full employment.

In order to build back better after the pandemic, Britain will need to favour British-based manufacturing investment again and be able to procure from suppliers and manufacturers as we see fit. From an environmental perspective, Britain needs to import less and make more goods that we need here. We need urgently to improve diet and create more sustainable agricultural and fishing industries.

In a detailed critique of the EU, he notes, “The EU is trying to continue with its globalising, free trade agenda with German car corporations and French food and drink companies foremost in its mind. Just-in-time production methods and the endless flow of goods backwards and forwards is hardly helping climate change”.

The ability to invest and provide state aid to an integrated British economy — Scotland, Wales, England — with no region left behind, is greatly needed and cannot be achieved within the EU’s rules that have already put huge parts of our economy in the hands of EU companies and state agencies who now own British water, gas, electricity, fishing grounds, rail networks and food chains while the British people pay higher prices for worse utilities, food and services.

For four years debates have been dominated by talk of trade — it’s time to start talking again about production.

We should be employing our skills and developing new ones to supply products we all need and high-tech infrastructure and communications systems.

Kevin Rowan, the TUC’s Head of Learning and Skills, agrees, advocating a retraining programme to combat rising unemployment and developing new skills to prepare for disruption from automation, the move to net zero emissions and new ways of working after the pandemic.

Doug Nicholls adds that gearing agriculture and fishing to the domestic market and healthier eating and deploying the latest science in these areas, would make a tremendous contribution to the planet and lifestyle.

 

 

 

 

 

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NEF: LOCALISE RENEWABLES MANUFACTURING IN SCOTLAND

November 23, 2019

Summarising ‘Re-energising Manufacturing’, a report by  David Powell, Aidan Harper and Margaret Welsh (New Economics Foundation) 

Scotland has seen rapid growth in renewable energy over the last decade, principally from onshore wind. Approximately 4,500 full-time equivalent manufacturing jobs are supported by the low-carbon and renewable sectors in Scotland.

The coming decades will see demand for electricity continue to grow while existing renewable energy sites will need to be upgraded and replaced. Scotland could cement its position as a net exporter of clean energy to the rest of the UK, and the Scottish Government’s support for a Green New Deal – which would use the full levers of the state to deliver public investment in green jobs – could be a major boon to the country’s domestic manufacturing sector.

But far more of the economic value of the supply chains of renewable energy installed in Scotland could be retained in Scotland.

The UK’s historic approach to both energy policy and industrial strategy more broadly has undermined domestic supply chains. Scottish industry is competing with companies based where energy skills and renewable supply chain development have been taken seriously for years, or are competing against overseas state-backed companies. Unions point to an overall trade deficit in Scotland’s low carbon and renewable sector.

The Scottish Government should act to keep domestic demand high and also to support supply chains from Scottish industry

The Scottish Government should match its aspirations to be a world leader on climate action with more direct support for domestic manufacturing for its future renewables growth. This means acting both to keep domestic demand high and also to support supply chains from Scottish industry. Business as usual will not suffice; no matter what type of manufacturing the government might seek to support, it is going against the headwinds of the UK’s economic model over the last 40 years, where laissez-faire economic policy, many decades of a lack of genuine industrial strategy, and the retreat of the state from directly supporting keystone industries, is coming home to roost. 

RECOMMENDATIONS

Establish a new Scottish Energy Development Agency (SEDA).

This would help to implement the Green New Deal, ensuring institutional alignment on supporting Scottish green jobs across the public sector, from skills to procurement, subsidy to grant investment – working with the National Investment Bank.

Support domestic demand for renewables for the long-term.

Scotland’s domestic renewable energy target should be expanded from the current 100% to 200% of its needs by 2030. This target should be supported by sub-targets for specific sectors such as tidal and marine energy (ie, 1GW installed capacity of tidal energy by 2030) with grant funding provided to support deployment to that level. As Scotland does not control the subsidy (Contracts for Difference) regime it must continue to pressure Westminster to ensure the regime does not discriminate against small-scale renewables or onshore wind, and to attach local content requirements as a condition for the receipt of national subsidy.

Stimulate local supply of domestic content

Conditions should be set for local content in all areas that the Scottish Government controls – for example, the operation of the Crown Estate, which licenses the sea bed for offshore wind, is devolved to Scotland. Ministers should establish a centre of excellence skills programme for manufacturing, and extend and strengthen the remit of the planned Publicly Owned Energy Company to enable it to directly support energy supply, generation, and distribution, as well as supporting local cooperatives and smaller companies.

Localise industrial strategy

More powers should be given to regions and localities to set out financed plans for local industrial transformation, via processes that are more democratic than those led by Local Economic Partnerships.

Provide supportive finance

The Scottish National Investment Bank must be given a coherent ​ ‘Green New Deal’ mission that aligns it to the work of the SEDA. Its mandate must specifically ensure it can support the development of Scottish supply chains in low-carbon industry and that its lending is consistent with delivering a ​ ‘just transition’. Representatives of manufacturing, including trade unions, should form part of the Bank’s board.

Embed a Just Transition for workers into industrial strategy

A Just Transition Fund should be created which would provide the time and resources workers need to proactively engage with the realities of the low carbon transition, and the principles of the Just Transition should be central to the remit of all agencies including a SEDA.

Finally, the existing Just Transition Commission should be placed on a statutory footing within the Climate Change Bill.

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Their report may be downloaded here.

 

 

 

 

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