CIA Manifesto

As a key building block of the economy, we also believe that the UK chemical industry should be at the heart of that economic, environmental and social ambition. Our starting point is a strong one – the sector is the country’s largest manufacturing exporter; it has already reduced emissions by 80% over the past 30 years and thousands of highly skilled and well-rewarded jobs are located in parts of the country that really need them. Chemical businesses have also demonstrated their criticality to the country and society at times of national need – providing essential solutions such as hand sanitisers and COVID vaccine ingredients to help tackle the pandemic. In short, it is our view that every modern economy needs a chemical industry.

However, the clock is ticking if the UK is to secure its place as an attractive and competitive location for the investments and jobs of the future. The past five years has seen a significant fall in the nation’s year to year “flow” of inward investment, and other parts of the world – most notably the US, the EU and China – are moving decisively, through funding and policy stability around clean technology and infrastructure, to win that international capital. There is still time, and the autumn 2023 package of support to incentivise advanced manufacturing is a very welcome development, but so much more needs to be done – and urgently – if we are to arrest that fall down the investment league table. 

An agenda for the next government of our country 

We believe by taking the actions we propose our country will have the best route to achieving and retaining economic, social and environmental growth.