Confidence in the coalition is falling

Manufacturers say they are now less confident about the future of the sector than before the election

The coalition government is performing badly on the economy and manufacturers are now less confident about the future of the sector than they were before the general election. These are the results of a survey of 1,000 manufacturers carried out by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers last month. 

The survey has polled members of the institution who work within the manufacturing sector on these topics and others for the past three years.

The percentage of respondents who said that the government is performing badly in the economy has jumped 19% since 2011. Over the same period, the percentage of respondents who said the government is performing well in this area dropped by 1%. Meanwhile, 35% of respondents said they were now less confident about the future of the sector than they were before the coalition came to power, up from 18% in 2011. More than 85% of respondents said that the coalition is more committed to the financial sector than to manufacturing, a rise of 13% over the 2011 figure. 

Members of the public are also losing faith in the government’s commitment to manufacturing, according to a survey of 2,000 people who were asked similar questions. The percentage who said that the coalition was committed to creating a balanced economy by growing manufacturing has fallen by half since 2011, and now stands at 24%.