Good piece because it avoids the usual extremes: either “Britain makes nothing anymore” or “we just need to bring back the 1950s.”
The more useful point is that British manufacturing has not disappeared - it has become thinner, more specialised, and more fragile. The UK still has serious capability in aerospace, defence, chemicals and precision engineering.
The problem is not that there is no base to build from but that the base is operating in a hostile environment with expensive energy, weak investment, poor planning etc.
That makes reindustrialisation less of a fantasy than people assume, but also not something that happens through slogans. Britain probably will not compete on mass, cheap manufacturing. But it can compete in advanced manufacturing if the basics are fixed.
This was really great - thanks Rian
This is such a valuable contribution. Thankyou
Good piece because it avoids the usual extremes: either “Britain makes nothing anymore” or “we just need to bring back the 1950s.”
The more useful point is that British manufacturing has not disappeared - it has become thinner, more specialised, and more fragile. The UK still has serious capability in aerospace, defence, chemicals and precision engineering.
The problem is not that there is no base to build from but that the base is operating in a hostile environment with expensive energy, weak investment, poor planning etc.
That makes reindustrialisation less of a fantasy than people assume, but also not something that happens through slogans. Britain probably will not compete on mass, cheap manufacturing. But it can compete in advanced manufacturing if the basics are fixed.
A great read - thank you for sharing.