Entrepreneur John Elliott has called for the Government to take action after figures revealed that exports in June had decreased by £1.7bn.
John Elliott, founder of the County Durham-based Ebac Group Ltd, fears that without action the UK will ‘end up like Greece’ and be forced into austerity measures.
The latest trade figures showed a 13.1% decrease in exports in June, with a slight rise in imports (0.8%). Figures that Mr Elliott finds deeply disturbing.
He explained: “Consuming billions more than we produce every month is unsustainable and we have to get back to basics, manufacturing the basic things that we and the rest of the world need. We have the ability and manpower to make things like clothing and white goods, but instead we turn to foreign markets and import them. Like Greece we pay for these imports by borrowing and like Greece, we’ll run out of people prepared to lend to us.”
He sees the imbalance in export and import figures as crucial to the nation’s financial health. “It is no surprise that countries with a trade surplus based upon industrial scale manufacturing, such as China, Brazil and Poland, are doing well. When the UK was a nation of manufacturers, the country was thriving.”
Mr Elliott’s solution is to invest into employment within manufacturing; something he believes would be the simplest way to stimulate the flagging economy.
He is also campaigning for a greater focus on the trade deficit, more details on his campaign can be found at www.stopgapuk.com.
