Angela Eagle MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, responding to the EEF Manufacturing Skills Survey, said:

The fact that three out of four manufacturing employers struggle to recruit the skilled staff they need just goes to demonstrate the scale of the skills emergency.

I have heard from manufacturing employers up and down the country who are unable to fill vacancies. It’s holding them back, it’s holding the country back, and it’s just not good enough. The skills emergency has contributed to the growing productivity crisis and the recession in manufacturing.

The Government are asleep at the wheel; they have failed to take the necessary action to address the skills emergency and, according to EEF, they have left manufacturing employers to face the challenge ‘on their own’. We need urgent action, including a modern industrial strategy to address skills gaps, support UK manufacturing and boost growth.