Armstrong supports Northern Ireland Manufacturers
Speaking after addressing the Northern Ireland Manufacturing Focus Group’s (NIMFG) ‘Decision Time’ campaign at Keystone premises at the Derryloran Industrial Estate, Cookstown, Billy Armstrong of the Ulster Unionist Party in Mid-Ulster has called for a Strategy for Northern Ireland’s Manufacturing Sector to ensure that the sector’s high-quality skilled jobs, R&D capabilities and global reputation make an even greater contribution to Northern Ireland’s economy.
Billy said: “In today’s competitive global marketplace, any government that imposes hefty tax increases on any of Northern Irelands business especially those with the potential to export world wide are declaring that it does not care about job-creation or wealth-creation.
“This is exactly the message I received from DETI Minister David Pearson at a meeting I requested with him back in September 2003 that the Direct Rule Administration then signaled its intention to impose industrial rates on Northern Ireland’s manufacturing sector. Threatening over 30,000 jobs and significantly increasing the tax burden on over 5,000 Northern Ireland firms, the removal of industrial de-rating fundamentally undermines the potential of Northern Ireland’s manufacturing sector. That is why the Ulster Unionist Party Manifesto supports the NIMFG call to cap industrial rates at 25%.
“Under the Direct Rule Ministers, a DETI-commissioned report in 2005 suggested that the policy aim for Northern Ireland’s manufacturing sector should be ‘the management of decline’.
“This stands in stark contrast to the commitment of the Scottish Executive that the manufacturing sector ‘can continue to be a powerhouse of the knowledge-driven Scottish economy of the future’. We in Ulster Unionist Party are calling for a Strategy for Northern Ireland’s Manufacturing Sector, to ensure that the sector’s high-quality skilled jobs, R&D capabilities and global reputation make an even greater contribution to Northern Ireland’s economy.”
Concluding, Billy said: “Our Manifesto also strongly endorses the suggestion by NIMFG that, if industrial rates are frozen at 25%, the sector could contribute on a levy-basis to an industry-led training and apprenticeship scheme.
“This progressive proposal illustrates how a devolved Executive - committed to the future of manufacturing - can work in partnership with the sector to promote the competitiveness and skills-base of Northern Ireland PLC.
“Remote, unaccountable Direct Rule for the last 35 years offers nothing but decline and high taxes for our manufacturing sector. Manufacturing - like the rest of Northern Ireland - needs a working devolved Executive.”