The EEF (www.eef.org.uk) says that the Government’s Industrial Strategy must systematically tackle the UK’s long-term structural weaknesses with a bold, focused and specific set of policy measures.

It adds that manufacturers believe this can only be achieved if the Government sets itself measurable goals and creates a robust policy framework that forms the basis of future fiscal statements.

The call was made by the EEF in its submission to the Government’s consultation on its Industrial Strategy, which closed 18th April.

According to the EEF, “the challenges of unbalanced growth and weak productivity are long-standing and undisputed. As such, Government strategy should be bolder in its ambition to tackle three priority outcomes: reducing the productivity gap with our G7 competitors, increasing the contribution to GDP growth from net trade, and raising the UK’s innovation performance from follower to leader”.

EEF CEO Terry Scuoler said: “Successive governments have identified the UK’s weak productivity performance and resolved to tackle it, arguably with little success, but it can be different this time; we have a real opportunity to make a ‘step change’ in the UK’s economic performance.

The recent Green Paper is a positive first step in what will be an evolutionary process, but a successful strategy must be more than a list of policy ‘action points’.

It has to be a framework for ensuring that all policy decisions take the UK economy closer to its goal of higher productivity, increased exports and greater investment in innovation.

“Manufacturers in search of both a competitive and a predictable business environment need to be confident that future policy decisions will be anchored in the ambitions of industrial strategy and that Whitehall departments will not be allowed to ignore these.

“There should also be more emphasis on the cost of doing business in the UK, where recent policy decisions — especially on energy — have added to the cost burden for manufacturers.”

Meanwhile, commenting on the Prime Minister’s decision to call a General Election, Mr Scuoler said: “Industry welcomes the decision to seek a clear mandate. The last year has been one of considerable uncertainty, which would have risked hampering future investment, if it had gone on unchecked.”