Following the announcement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer that £350 million is to be allocated to a number of chemical companies, the industry’s key trade body has thanked the Government, but warned there is more to do to secure national resilience and a key foundation sector of the economy.
Following the Government’s announcement(Government steps in to back long-term resilience of UK’s chemicals and ceramics industries - GOV.UK), Steve Elliott Chief Executive of the Chemical Industries Association expanded on his welcoming of the investment:
“This is a good start as I have said in the Government communication, and I am pleased to see that Ministers also recognise the need to build on this by working with us to ensure the whole sector is more secure. Chemical businesses underpinning our critical national infrastructure and wider resilience stand to gain from this fund Critical Chemicals Resilience Fund, but they in turn are dependent on raw material suppliers and customers in the wider industry – all of whom are struggling to compete opposite uncompetitive energy, carbon reduction and wider regulatory burden costs. All of this we made clear to the Prime Minister back in March – so this is a welcome first step, but there remains much more to be done.”
Steve added: “In this increasingly uncertain world we should not be over-reliant on imports for essential raw materials to provide energy, water, telecommunications, transport, food supply and pharmaceuticals. We can deliver so much more of that through a robust, domestic chemical industry. I want us as a country to build on this latest announcement, with chemical businesses working in partnership with Government to make the UK a far more competitive trade and investment location”
ENDS
For any further information and/or to speak to Steve please contact Simon Marsh at MarshS@cia.org.uk, 07951 389197 or Tafadzwa Kahari, 07538 037317
