Member News
1st December 2010
The government has been urged to provide more encouragement to entrepreneurs seeking to found manufacturing businesses.
With numerous industries once based in the United Kingdom now outsourcing work to other parts of the globe, senior manufacturers in the paper industry have called for a "manufacturing renaissance" to take place in Britain.
Speaking at the corrugated packaging industry parliamentary reception, Clive Bowers, the chair of the Confederation of Paper Industries Corrugated Sector, called for the government to create a more conducive environment for manufacturers.
"The government needs to provide more encouragement to home-made entrepreneurs to start manufacturing businesses, whilst also increasing the amount of effort being put into attracting overseas investors," Bowers said.
He added; "New attitudes in the workforce, combined with new technologies, skills and knowledge, means that UK manufacturing can compete internationally on quality, service and price."
Hosting the reception, an annual event for the organisers, the Confederation of Paper Industries and the Sheet Plant Association, was Liberal Democrat MP Dan Rogerson.
The MP for North Cornwall and chair of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) for the packaging manufacturing industry discussed the importance of promoting better understanding of the industry's work, and correcting misconceptions within Westminster.
"The packaging APPG is there to be an interface between those who work in the sector and MPs. It can make the case to government when they feel something has gone awry and to tell a positive story," Rogerson said.
And he emphasised the need to continue to press both the government and backbenchers from all parties on issues of importance to the corrugated packaging industry.
He said: "We have had a large new intake for all the parties since the election, so the battle starts again on informing MPs what packaging is all about."
Please view an ePolitix.com interview with Clive Bowers, chair of the CPI's corrugated sector.
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