Time to help the real wealth creators - manufacturers.

This week I visited two very different businesses with one thing in common; they both operate in the manufacturing sector.

D F Smith Ltd, which has a factory in New Road, Sheerness, make cardboard packaging. The company is part of a UK based group that includes the St Regis paper mill in Kemsley.

Thamesteel, which is also based in Sheerness, is part of the hard pressed British steel making industry that this week saw the loss of yet another 1700 jobs when Corus decided to mothball its Redcar plant.

Both these local companies are very important to our local economy and you would have thought that the Government would be going out of its way to help them get through the recession. Not so, Labour appears to have turned its back on Britain’s manufacturers.

The Government has poured billions into saving the banking industry, yet has lifted not a finger to help save manufacturing jobs. It seems that in the eyes of ministers the service industry is God.

Recently the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills issued a document which listed its investment program priorities as: 1) Low Carbon. 2) Bioscience. 3) Social Care. 4) Leisure. 5) Hospitality.

Think about that list. As worthy as those industries might be, why was there no mention of our existing manufacturing base, such as steel making and car making? These are the real wealth creating industries and the Government seems to be ignoring them. That is very short sighted.

What we need to do is revitalise British manufacturing, not bury it. We need to encourage our steel makes, help drive forward our car makers and refloat our ship building industry. That is a challenge that the next government faces, whatever its political colour.

If I am lucky enough to be elected as the MP for Sittingbourne and Sheppey helping our local manufacuring businesses will certainly be one of my priorities.