Osborne aims Budget at supporting manufacturing

In his Spring Budget, chancellor George Osborne targeted energy, finance, infrastructure and skills as areas where government intervention will assist Britain’s manufacturers in rebalancing the economy.

‘We’ve got to support our manufacturers if we want to see more growth in our regions,’ Osborne told Parliament today. ‘We’re going to do this by investing in new sources of energy: new nuclear power, renewables, and a shale gas revolution. We’re going to do this by promoting energy efficiency.’

To achieve this, the government is introducing a £7bn package to cut energy bills for British manufacturers, which includes capping the Carbon Price Support rate at £18 per ton of CO₂ from 2016-17 for the rest of the decade.

‘This will save a mid-sized manufacturer almost £50,000 on their annual energy bill’ said Osborne. ‘Second, I’m extending the existing compensation scheme for energy intensive industries for a further four years to 2019-20.

‘Our steel makers, chemical plants, paper mills and other heavy energy users make up 35 per cent of our manufacturing exports and employ half a million people. This scheme helps the companies most at risk of leaving to remain in the UK.