28th January 2009 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Lord Mandelson's comment that the car industry has fallen “further and faster” comes at at time when small construction firms are struggling to survive and the house building industry is on its knees, warns the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) in response to yesterday's announcement to provide a £2.3 billion bailout for the car industry.
Brian Berry, Director of External Affairs at the FMB said:
“No one doubts that the car industry is going through a difficult period but small building firms are struggling too in the current economic climate. It sometimes feels that the interests of small businesses are being overlooked. Today we are building fewer houses than at any time since 1924 and this is happening at a time when we have 1.6 million people on council house waiting lists and a staggering 90,000 families living in temporary accommodation.”
Berry continued:
“What is alarming is the fact that over 50 per cent of FMB building companies expect to make redundancies over the next three months. The Government could, and should, be doing more to help the building industry not by injecting yet more public money but by creating a business framework in which small businesses can survive the recession. Cutting VAT to 5 per cent on all building repair and maintenance work would be a start, as would abandoning the proposed Community Infrastructure Levy which is a further tax on housing development at a time when it is least needed. The Government needs to be aware that the CIL will only serve to act as a potential barrier to the provision of much needed affordable housing. It’s about time the Government supported the small businesses that are real backbone of the UK economy.”
