| Comment from Dr Peter Hughes Chief Executive of Scottish Engineering on today’s Pre-Budget Statement |
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The Chancellor in his Pre-Budget statement decided not to make substantial cutbacks in the public sector as the way out of recession. His pledge to secure the country's recovery by promoting long-term growth sounds like an excellent proposition but the public sector continues to represent a huge cost and we believe that it needs to be trimmed. His decision to look to growth to bring us out of the present recession is commendable as there are a number of infrastructure projects that are asking to be put in motion - and none of them would cost as much as has already been spent bailing out the banks.
Our manufacturing sector would be delighted to start the replacement of the national grid. That is not a luxury, it is an essential project which is needed as the next stage in the continuing development of sustainable energy provision.
The introduction of ‘smart grids' would provide us with the flexibility to handle the wide range of energy resources which will need to be in place if we are to have a balanced, sustainable, affordable and secure energy supply for the foreseeable future.
What about upgrading the rail networks to make them more freight friendly? Greater use of the railways would take freight off the roads, bringing two immediate benefits. Firstly the roads would not be in such poor condition with less heavy duty use and secondly there would be an immediate decrease in CO2 emissions, given that road transport accounts for almost a third of such pollution.
Manufacturing has been for a long time the poor relation when it comes to government support. Perhaps now is the time to give manufacturing a chance to make a difference and let the services and the financial sector fend for themselves for a change.
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