On the 23 March, The Napit Group chief executive, John Andrews, joined other senior members of the construction industry to discuss issues and concerns around the construction industry with representative MP's from each of the three main political parties with a view to influencing their respective Manifesto commitments.
Chief executive John Andrews said of the meeting: "Having the chance to talk to all three parties about changes we would like to see from them all, irrespective of who wins the forthcoming election was very useful. Among the things we called for were more investment in training and apprenticeships; developing the ‘green' building agenda, dropping the vat rate to 5% on construction activities and labour rates and creating a business environment that reduces bureaucracy and unnecessary cost to business."
He added: "During the meeting I had the chance to talk personally to Mark Prisk MP (Con), Lorely Burt MP (Lib) and Gordon Banks MP (Lab) and found them all to be very supportive of my ideas, let us hope that that same support can be encouraged within government – whomever that may be."
Andrews went on to say "The construction industry and the trades within it have been particularly badly affected by the current recession (brought about I might add by another sector entirely) and it is imperative that whoever forms the next government invests in this critical sector to the UK economy.
Research has shown for every £1 that is invested in construction, the UK benefits by around £2.84 of net benefit, so investment in the construction is really a no brainer for the next chancellor"
