Gloomy News For Manufacturing

4.22.02pm UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 11th Feb 2004

West Midlands Euro-MP Liz Lynne has called on the Government to act to boost the manufacturing industry in the West Midlands.

Liz was commenting after the CBI's Regional Trends Survey, revealed the confidence amongst businesses in the West Midlands has ebbed to the lowest in Britain.

This survey follows today's news of redundancy at the Goodyear plant in Wolverhampton and figures by the National Statistics Office showing there are 37000 fewer jobs in the West Midlands today than there were a year ago.

The Liberal Democrat MEP said:

"This surveys out today together with the news of further job losses at Goodyear's plant in Wolverhampton shows the manufacturing sector in the West Midlands in serious decline. The 84 Job losses now means the plant has cut its workforce by over 75% since Labour came to power.

"The problems at Goodyear have been repeated throughout the West Midlands in the last 7 years and the Government seems to have given up the fight to save manufacturing jobs and has left in the lurch the families dependent on those jobs to survive.

"They must now act to stop the manufacturing decline, which weakens our ability to export and draws in more imports. This cannot be resolved by the Bank of England alone. The Government must also offer those who have lost jobs help and allow them the chance to retrain so they can find work quickly."

ENDS

For more information or to arrange an interview, please telephone Liz Lynne MEP on 0033388177521(Strasbourg) or 07764 452725 (Mobile) or Press Officer Stuart Ritchie on 01789 266354 or 07833668158