Today, I attended a stimulating fringe debate on the importance of engineering to the future British economy. In particular, it was argued by the well-informed panel that Britain needed to develop a dynamic, high-end engineering sector to compete on the global stage for business. Britain has a long and rich history of engineering excellence, the former Racal firm in Bracknell being just one example locally of that past pre-eminence. Undeniably, over the last decade, the British economy has come to rely too heavily upon the financial services sector. The challenge for British governments over the next decade is to provide the economic environment to allow that imbalance to be addressed. Clearly, it is not the role of government to decide which industrial sector to support and financial services will undoubtedly remain important. It is, however, clear in my mind that the field of high-end engineering is one area in which Britain has a proud history of success and hence should hope to strengthen its global position once more. I see no reason why a new Racal cannot be created in Bracknell in the future.
