Committee room 10 at the House of Commons was packed on Thursday 10^th February 2011 for the CRESC and NPEN co-organised debate on ‘How shall We Rebuild the British Economy’. CRESC co-director Karel Williams joined Brendan Barber (General Secretary, TUC), John Denham (Shadow Secretary of State for Business Innovation and Skills), Paul Everitt (Chief Executive, The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders) and Sir Alan Rudge (Chairman, ERA Foundation) in a stimulating debate chaired by John Cruddas MP.

During a lively discussion with important contributions from the floor there was a broad consensus among the participants that ‘rebalancing’ was an empty trope and that manufacturing is still important because of its role in producing internationally traded goods.

While all the speakers differed on ‘problem definitions’ they agreed that Britain’s manufacturing sector problems were serious and required government intervention to arrest decline, rebuild supply chains and build capacity. The key difference amongst the speakers was on policy where Karel Williams argued for specific not generic interventions that privileged the manufacturing sector by offering targeted (and earned) corporate tax cuts in return for increasing capacity, apprenticeships, employment and behaving in a socially useful way.

Karel Williams spoke to CRESC's new report on Rebalancing the Economy (or Buyer's Remorse). For further details see the press release on the report, and a related Guardian podcast.