Govt accused over NI manufacturing crisis

The British government was today accused of actively contributing to the destruction of manufacturing industries in Northern Ireland.

The sector is facing the biggest crisis in a generation as a result of the imposition of industrial rating at a time when it is fighting harder than ever to ensure a sustainable future for business, claimed the Northern Ireland Manufacturing Focus Group (NIMFG).

Industrial rates are currently being phased in across the North. Last year, the manufacturing industry had to pay 15% for the projected bill. This year it will be 25% and next year more again.

An adjournment debate at Westminster, calling on the government to recognise the crisis that is in store for Northern Irish manufacturing, was today due to be tabled by the Democratic Unionist Party.

The manufacturing group said it had received support for its campaign against industrial rating from the rest of the North’s political parties and was planning a major rally later in the spring to mobilise support.

Basil McCrea of the NIMFG said the North’s manufacturing base was in a fight for survival as a result of the British government’s decision to scrap industrial de-rating.

He said: “The ending of industrial de-rating will devastate the economy of Northern Ireland. The competitive advantage of doing business has tilted dramatically in favour of the south.

“There are no saving graces. We will lose jobs, tax revenues and entrepreneurial talent.

"Companies may not close down immediately but all future investment plans will be directed away from Northern Ireland.

“Over a relatively short period of time we will lose much of the manufacturing base.”

Mr McCrea said the manufacturing sector was working hard to provide jobs, stay competitive and put money back into the local economy and the government’s plans for ending industrial de-rating were quite simply the wrong policy at the wrong time.

Mr McCrea added: “This disastrous state of affairs is not brought about by international competition but by the ill-considered actions of a government, which has been misinformed.

“The ending of industrial de-rating is not inevitable. The situation can be reversed by changing government policy. The rate can be set at a more reasonable level by either Westminster or the Assembly.”

He said the group was expanding rapidly and included some of the North’s biggest companies and other small to medium-sized enterprises, which employed up to 250 people and formed the backbone of the economy.

Opposition to what it saw as a bad tax was being ramped up.

“We will not take this tax lying down and plan to oppose it at every turn,” he said.