Fashion and textile group releases manifesto ahead of UK election
Ahead of this week’s general election in the United Kingdom, the UK Fashion & Textile Association (UKFT) has released a manifesto outlining what the organisation feels is needed from a new government to ensure the industry’s continued growth.
According to UKFT, the UK exports £9.7 billion worth of fashion and textiles around the world, and 76% of fashion and textile exports go to the European Union (EU).
Regarding Brexit, the manifesto says, the fashion and textile industry needs "both a transition period and a rapid conclusion of a free trade deal with the EU that delivers tariff-free trade with as little disruption as possible.”
Because UK companies selling into the EU will continue to have to meet EU regulations, the manifesto continues, “industry needs the regulatory environment to remain as close as possible.”
To help the sector’s international expansion, the manifesto adds, the government must ensure new free-trade deals with markets such as the US and Japan are concluded as quickly as possible.
The eight key priorities in the UK Fashion & Textile Industry Manifesto are:
- Minimise disruption to trade
- Increase support for exporters
- Fix the skills and training landscape
- Increase targeted support for UK manufacturing businesses
- Ensure UK immigration policy reflects the needs of SMEs
- Develop and foster innovation
- Boost sustainability
- Support entrepreneurship and encourage business growth
UKFT outlines the need for more targeted support for UK manufacturing, describing it as an area with great potential for expansion.
Using local manufacturing can help reduce the industry’s carbon footprint while providing meaningful long-term employment, according to the manifesto: “The government needs to rapidly change the support available for manufacturing. SME manufacturers should be given tax relief to encourage them to invest in new capabilities and training people.”
To this end, the manifesto calls for a new capital investment programme to help the sector develop new, highly-productive manufacturing capacity.
The full manifesto can be downloaded from the UKFT website.
