Parliament needs to focus on rebuilding our manufacturing capabilities - Yorkshire Post Letters

Andy Brown makes excellent points in his analysis of how Britain failed to invest in industry but he does not go far enough.

He refers to industrial heritage, while Britain has plenty worth seeing I think what he means is present day industry.

Manufacturing was diminished by Government decisions and our old friend "market forces". Going back 20 years or so I recall several articles in Conservative leaning newspapers arguing that Britain should specialise in areas where it led, like finance, whilst mass production should be hived off to low income countries where workers needed the employment.

That thinking severely damaged the ready to wear garment industry and others, creating deserts of unemployment, particularly in the North. The then chairman of the Stock Exchange, Sir Nicholas Goodison, and other city figures, persuaded MrsThatcher that as Britain had Europe's leading financial services industry she should press for a single market in goods and services. The City would clean up. Mrs Thatcher obliged and lobbied Brussels quite effectively to establish the Single Market in the EU.

That's why we had the Single European Act and other measures. Britain's financial sector benefited though not industry.

Even that success is under threat. Boris Johnson's claims of "getting Brexit done" were misleading. There is now no agreement with the EU on access to the European market for financial services and there was little serious effort to get one after the Leave vote.

So what had become Britain's major industry was hit by badly handled leave negotiations. No apology from those responsible of course. There never is.

Andy Brown is right to emphasise the positive aspects of British society that could lead to a quality manufacturing revival. But he's equally right to show how other Government decisions are hampering that recovery.

Whilst ideas of a Yorkshire Parliament sound attractive even better would be a UK Parliament that can start to focus on rebuilding manufacturing. It can be done but it will need to avoid the gimmicks of Freeports and other publicity catching schemes.