JUNE 26, 2003

Scheele warns Britain of "industrial flight"

Sir Nick Scheele, the chief operating officer of the Ford Motor Company, gave a speech at the Royal Society in Birmingham this week and warned that Britain faces "stagnation and decay" if it does not do more to curtail "industrial flight" to other countries which either have better technology or lower costs.

Scheele said that manufacturing in the UK should not be protected from competition but that the British government should do more to nurture young engineers. This cry has been heard a lot in recent months as the automotive sector has been hit by the recession with large numbers of job losses in small precision-engineering businesses, many of which have been involved in motor racing.