The Construction Products Association (CPA), which represents manufacturers of building products, has produced its own manifesto – a six-page wish-list called Our priorities for the next government.
Among the CPA’s policy demands are for it to be made easier to export British products and harder to import cheaper foreign ones.
The CPA manifesto does not mention that in 2013 the government set a target of halving the trade gap in building products by 2025 from £6bn to £3bn.
But leaving the European single market, and continuing to source products on the basis of lowest cost available, means that the trade gap has doubled, not halved.
In 2021 the UK imported £20.5bn worth of construction materials and exported £7.3bn – a trade gap of £13.2bn.
So that’s working. Not.
Potential remedies proposed in the CPA’s Priorities pamphlet include “a resolution to outstanding Brexit issues, particularly around UKCA marking, testing and regulatory divergence”.
It says: “The emerging complexity is creating barriers to growth and investment. Construction product manufacturers require a smoother, less costly regulatory framework for trading with the EU to free up money to invest in new products that drive higher standards in building safety and improve performance and sustainability credentials for projects.”
The CPA also proposes that it would be of benefit to its members if public sector purchasers considered “the whole life value” of products in procurement – by which it does not mean their design life (a specific technical metric) but more nebulous socio-political metrics.
“Public Sector procurement contracts should include social, environmental and labour clauses in their design,” the CPA says. “UK construction product manufacturers invest significant resources into reducing the environmental impact of their products, providing third party accreditation and undertaking local hiring, training and supply chain initiatives that have a meaningful impact on their communities. This should be rewarded in the public procurement process and encouraged in the private sector also.”
The word ‘China’ does not specifically appear but the inference is clear.
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