Ethos Public Relations Manchester

Made in the UK – I wish

by Sean

Finally, my 14 year old Pioneer CD player has given up the ghost. I am a bit of a gadget geek, but I’ve never been too fussed about my music system as I mostly listen to music in the background.

I can’t even really remember buying this ‘hi-fi’ system but as I was taking it out of the cabinet to consign it to the municipal electrical recycling skip, I noticed on the back a small plate with the words ‘Made in the UK’.

Now, I must confess that I do try and support products made in the UK, although that is becoming increasingly difficult. I don’t do it for any nationalistic or xenophobic reasons, purely from the point of view that if I buy stuff made here, I am more likely to be helping to keep jobs in the UK.

Don’t get me wrong, it isn't always made in the UK for me. I am more than happy to buy products from elsewhere in the world – pasta has to come from Italy and paella rice needs to come from Spain – but I am never (knowingly) going to buy apples imported from China, for example.

I think it is important that key manufacturing skills are kept in the UK. Until recently, I thought that the exodus of manufacturing to the Far East was driven by consumers demanding cheaper and cheaper products, but when looking around for a new CD player – yes I know that it now has to include a docking station and DAB radio (told you I liked gadgets) – products made in China can be as expensive as those made in Europe.

I am assuming that there are two possible reasons for this. Firstly, that some companies manufacture their products cheaply in China and sell at a high price to maximise their profits, without thinking through the knock-on effects on local communities in this country, or that China (and other countries) now have the skills that are sadly lacking in the UK so can justify the higher prices, as we can’t make the things here.

Obviously there are some important exceptions to this, with very high end audio manufacturers still making excellent products in the UK, along with quality British made shoes, and clothing for example. Made in the UK still adorns by shoes and belt and cutlery.

Current Government policy (or rhetoric) is fully behind UK manufacturing, but I have yet to hear any broader discussion from them about the importance of consumers (and businesses) buying British. Clearly, in a free global market, and especially within the EU, there are issues about promoting one country over another, but surely consumers should spend in a way which keeps a large proportion of their money in the local economy?

As a Europhile, my default position is to purchase European products if I can’t find a suitable British one. So, I will soon be buying a Loewe Soundbox.

UK manufacturing’s loss is Germany’s economic gain.

Posted at 5:01pm on 29^th November 2011

Sean

Since I wrote this blog a couple of interesting things have happened, so I just wanted to update you. Firstly, if you are on Twitter you may have seen that Deborah Meaden, of Dragons’ Den fame, has raised the debate about UK manufactured goods - check out #buybritishhelpjobs. Secondly, like Deborah, I have been trying to buy UK made presents this year. One thing I have noticed is that you have to be careful to check if some of the British brand owners still make their goods in the UK. So if you want to be sure, check their websites or call their customer service departments.