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Manufacturing and Employment

I cannot disagree. There is a big question for all parties when people are driven to the fringes in voting. I will not go into that political issue, but I agree that it involves jobs. We must tune in to people and ensure that they have opportunities. They must not be frozen out, or frustration will result. I agree totally. We have touched on the importance of LDV vans. It is not too late. Yes, people are being made redundant as we speak, but there is a mothballed factory for which there is still hope and opportunity, because it has invested heavily in electric vehicles. Some LDV vans are being trialled by a leading supermarket. LDV is a world leader. If it were in France or Germany, would those countries allow it to close? No. They would put in investment to drive it forward, because the future is in electric vehicles. We should be investing to save the company. That is where we should start. It is bad news. Household names such as Jaguar and Vauxhall, which I thank the Minister for mentioning, as well as other, smaller manufacturing companies are facing an uncertain future. There is good news out there—the market is experiencing a bit of an upturn—but the credit crunch is beginning to ripple far beyond the financial sector, where it started, and is having a devastating effect on manufacturing. It has exposed our overdependence on financial services and highlighted the need to restructure our economy for the future. We need a vibrant manufacturing base. It is essential for the prosperity of the UK economy. We must not make the same mistakes that were made in the past. Manufacturing matters, not only to the 3 million people that it employs directly but to the further 2.4 million employed indirectly in supply chains and related services, as the hon. Member for Mid-Worcestershire (Peter Luff) rightly said. We must look after the components sector and protect it better. Manufacturing helps the wider economy. Many of our towns, cities and communities rely on it as their main economic driver, and 50 per cent. of our exports come from the manufacturing sector. These are difficult times for manufacturing. The pressure of operating in an ever-increasing global economy has been compounded by the global recession. Most notably, the automotive sector has been severely affected since 1997. More than 1 million manufacturing jobs have disappeared, and that trend is due to continue to the end of the year.