End seen for U.K. industry

Press, 5 December 1978, Page 26

End seen for U.K. industry

British manufacturing was on its way out, said the leader of a British trade mission, Mr L. G. Marshall, in Christchurch. Britain had already lost the radio and motor-cycle industry to Japan and was well on the way to losing the car industry, he said. Because- of industrial unrest, insufficient capital had been invested in British industry. This meant “a lack of success” for Britain in competitive markets. Trade unions had not given the manufacturing industry a “fair crack of the whip,” Mr Marshall said. Although machinery had been modernised for the sake of efficiency, the unions had resisted redundancy, he said. This was true even if it took' one man to use a machine where previously five had been needed. Within the next 10 years, British industry would move towards the “innovative” side of manufacturing, such as design. This would leave the mass production area to countries with “good industrial discipline” such as Japan and India, said Mr Marshall.