McCluskey: The single market should be at the heart of an industrial strategy – not corporate welfare and bribes to business

This is the full statement published by Unite general secretary Len McCluskey as Theresa May announced the Tory industrial strategy and chaired a regional cabinet meeting in the north-west of England.

The prime minister’s industrial strategy will reveal just how ready the government is for Brexit.

The UK’s exit from the EU has the potential to administer a seismic economic shock to our jobs and prosperity, but the response of the government so far has been very concerning – relinquishing our access to the single market, plus corporate welfare and tax cuts as bribes to business are not the ways to build a sustainable economy for all.

Our economy is too reliant on the City of London. Too many of our towns and communities have been left behind. Too many service sector jobs are simply too low paid to sustain family life. Then there is the further disruption of automation, imperilling the skills and jobs that are the backbone of today’s economy, which needs to be planned for now, not tomorrow.

That is why we must hear the prime minister set out a bold, strategic vision for industry in Britain, re-balancing our economy with the resources committed to see it through. The promised £170m for skills training is nowhere near enough to address the chronic skills shortages, and delivering these programmes will be a tall order for an education sector hollowed out by successive Conservative cuts.

The tests Unite will be setting are simple ones. The government’s purchasing must mean UK firms, products and supply chains are supported. We need a serious plan to address the tens of thousands of engineering jobs we need by 2020, assisting employers with decent apprenticeships to over-train to fill to gaps. And there must be substantial efforts to improve the infrastructure across this country, better connecting our cities and investing in affordable housing.

Above all, the greatest support the government could provide UK jobs and business is to commit to access to the single market and the customs union. Without this access, manufacturing is going to be seriously hobbled.

No more of what has gone before, PR-heavy gimmicks like the “March of the Makers” which promised much and delivered nothing. More than ever we need action, investment and the coalition of all our talents – including the engagement of unions such as Unite who are on the workplace frontline – to deliver our new economy.