Economy

On Wednesday I joined the Prime Minister on a visit to the impressive Rolls-Royce factory near Chichester.

It took place on the day that the company announced that they will produce a new SUV model.

Rolls-Royce has been a British success story since BMW bought the marque, expanding production every year, exporting cars all around the world and creating local jobs.

The PM’s visit also coincided with the latest figures showing that unemployment continues to fall and employment is at record levels.

There are now 1.85 million more people in work than in 2010 and wages are rising significantly faster than inflation.

In a question and answer session with the Rolls-Royce workforce, David Cameron pointed out that 1,000 jobs have been created every day since Government took office.

And he noted that in the last four years Britain has created more jobs than the rest of the EU put together.

The PM met apprentices at Rolls-Royce and spoke about the Government’s record in providing 2 million new apprenticeships and his plan to provide 3 million in the next Parliament.

There were 800 young people on the apprenticeship programme in my constituency alone last year.

The PM was warmly applauded when he visited Rolls Royce.

I believe this in part reflected the positive news which he was able to bring to his audience.

The Government’s long term economic plan has delivered the fastest economic growth of all the major countries and record employment.

It has enabled new investment infrastructure, as we know from the announcement on the A27.

And while the deficit has been halved, the NHS budget has been protected and the state pension has been increased by £800.

There have been reductions in fuel duty, an income tax reduction worth £700 to the average family, and freezes in council tax.  And with inflation this week falling to a record low, real wages are now rising. 

A year and a half ago, I wrote in this column that UK car production was on track to overtake France by 2018. 

But as the PM pointed out, we have done that already.  We are now the third largest car producer in Europe, after Germany and Spain.

Perhaps those who so readily urge that we should adopt the same policies as socialist France, with higher taxes on businesses and individuals, might like to reflect on that