Former Trade Minister Lord Jones has sounded alarm bells ringing with his concerns about the number of foreign-sourced components being used in UK manufacturing and a warning that government should make the future of manufacturing sector a main priority.

According to Lord Jones, action is urgently required to ensure continued investment and maintain skills levels if the sector is to be sustainable in the long term. He argues that all efforts should be made to avoid iconic brands such as JCB from becoming British-based companies simply assembling parts made in other parts of the world.

In 1979 96% of JCB components were UK sourced, but this has now shrunk to 36%. While the highly successful company strives to source as many parts as it could locally, this was declining because the supplying firms were no longer in existence. If this was allowed to continue , Lord Jones fears that UK manufacturing industry might decline altogether, leaving companies like JCB British in name only.

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