Engineering Articles

September, 2001

Westminster Report, IEE Review

A summer is a long time in politics. Although Parliament has been in recess the Government has been confronted with the continued problems of the state of the public services, job losses in the manufacturing industry, and renewed outbreaks of foot and mouth disease. Meanwhile, the Conservatives have been frenetically engaged in a leadership contest following William Hague's resignation. By the time you read this, you will know who ordinary Conservative party members have chosen to lead Her Majesty's Opposition and have some indication as to whether British politics is about to take a significantly different course.

Every election has its casualties and I was sad to see the loss of some of my Labour and Conservative colleagues and the retirement of others. In my own constituency of Lichfield, I faced a tough fight but fortunately managed to increase my majority from being a wafer thin 238 (the fourth most marginal seat in the country) to around four and a half thousand. Thank you to local IEE members who may have voted for me!

Nevertheless, the new Parliament has seen the arrival of many new faces and the signs for engineering are encouraging. In their maiden speeches, a number of new MPs were keen to stress the engineering interests in their constituencies. Paul Holmes, newly elected for Chesterfield reminded the House that his constituency had been a great engineering town and that George Stevenson had made Chesterfield his home. David Wright MP highlighted the contribution made by engineering company Lillieshall in his Telford constituency.

But it was not all nostalgia. Andy Burnham, noting the engineering history in his constituency of Leigh, told MPs of a closure of a local compressor manufacturing plant and warned of the dangers for manufacturing from globalisation. Similarly, Annette Brook, the new MP for Mid Dorset & Poole reported to the Commons about the proposed closure of the Marconi plant in her constituency. Highlighting the research and development work done by highly skilled software engineers, she urged that the House debate the impact of the plant's closure on the country's manufacturing base.

In the Lords, Peers also expressed concern about the plight of manufacturing and the difficulties resulting from the climate change levy. Lord Campbell of Croy urged that the Government alleviate difficulties by reducing the burden that is imposed on energy intensive firms through the climate change levy. In answer, Science Minister Lord Sainsbury argued that the recent weakening of manufacturing output followed a previous period of growth. He added that the climate change levy was a key element in the national climate change programme and that the industry's competitiveness would be protected through the recycling of all revenues to business via the reduction in national insurance contributions and the 80% discount for energy intensive sectors that signed up to the delivery of energy savings targets. The Minister assured Peers that the Government are trying to create the right conditions for manufacturing industry to innovate and grow. He pledged that the Government will do all they can in terms of macro economic stability and the encouragement and application of science and technology.

Having won a second term, it is inevitable that the demands on the Government will be higher this time around. This was highlighted by Conservative MP Peter Bottomley, who set out the report card that the Institution of Civil Engineers had given the Government. He noted that the Civil Engineer magazine had urged that the huge number of policies and plans must continue to be converted into action and cash for new and improved infrastructure.

This has not gone unnoticed by the Department of Trade and Industry which has had a thorough reshuffle of Ministers.

Stephen Byers moves to the new Department of Local Government, Environment and Transport and is replaced by rising star (and Blair favourite) Patricia Hewitt MP as Trade and Industry Secretary. Ms Hewitt has been joined by Melanie Johnson MP who has been appointed as junior Minister and by Douglas Alexander MP who becomes DTI Minister of State. Whilst Ms Hewitt has taken overall responsibility for the Office of Science and Technology (which falls under the auspices of the DTI), junior Minister Lord Sainsbury retains his position as Minister for Science and Innovation. Ms Hewitt has real clout with Downing Street and it will be interesting to see what benefits that influence will bring for science and engineering.

Keen to stress their support for sciences, the DTI has set out the measures they have taken to ensure that Britain's scientific advances made in the UK are competitive internationally. Responding to a Commons Question from Doug Naysmith MP, junior Trade and Industry Minister Melanie Johnson stated that on top of the billions invested in the science base, there will be an additional £250 million in strengthening collaboration between universities and businesses to ensure that scientific breakthroughs were turned into commercial success.

Ms Johnson added that the Government are developing a number of initiatives that will give further momentum to entrepreneurial education for science and engineering students. A £15 million fund is also available for a further round of university challenge to enable good universities to access seed funds.

The DTI also revealed that five scientists will be rewarded in a five year £20 million scheme to attract and retain the best brains in the UK. This is needed as a new 'brain drain' is beginning to take its toll on the long term prospects for the economy.

Some other DTI awards also attracted my attention. The UK Foresight programme announced seven grants worth £12 million, aimed at putting Britain at the forefront of new technology. The projects are wide and varied and quite exciting. For example £1.4 million has been granted to develop new technology research for better working of mobile phone and broadcast networks. £1.7 million is also being given to research ways of reducing carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.

These Foresight awards should be welcomed. Not only does the technology behind these projects have the potential to bring advances in the quality of life, but they also bring industry and science together.

However, at the end of the day, all these initiatives will come to nought if the economy sinks into deep recession. Gordon Brown knows there are no easy fixes: a pre-emptive entry into the Eurozone would be disastrous if the British economy remains out of synch with the continental cycle. Instead, tax and other burdens on industry imposed over the last few years need to be lifted. Time is running out.