Government Indifference To Manufacturing Decline Is Shocking

1.14.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 14th Jul 2004

Official figures from the Government today show that unemployment has risen for the first time in almost a year and that the Government is presiding over the worst ever decline in manufacturing.

According to the Office for National Statistics, manufacturing jobs have hit the lowest point since records began in 1978. Today's figures from the Office for National Statistics show that manufacturing jobs have more than halved since 1978. (From 6,892,000 manufacturing jobs in 1978 to 3,366,000 in May 2004).

Commenting, Paul Holmes MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow Minister for Work, said: "Manufacturing job losses strike at the heart of local communities and small scale factory closures can have as detrimental an effect as the high-profile collapses that make news headlines.

"More must be done to help the real economy of our towns and rural areas, rather than allowing manufacturing jobs to continue to haemorrhage.

"The Government's indifference to the thousands of jobs going to the wall is shocking."

ENDS

Notes

1. Figures compiled by the House of Commons Library and commissioned by the Liberal Democrats. The records as set out in Table 6 of the ONS First Release Labour Market Statistics date back to June 1978. Figures for May 2004 from today's ONS Labour Market Statistics. For a copy of the table, please call Sally Burnell for a word version - 020 7227 1240