Growing concerns about the economy, planning and the burden on UK business has prompted producers of essential construction materials to write to Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves.
In a frank letter to the Chancellor, the Mineral Products Association (MPA) has spelled out what the Government needs to do to “kickstart economic growth” by tackling the UK’s globally uncompetitive business environment, pushing through mineral planning reforms and streamlining regulation.
Representing the £22 billion UK mineral products sector that employs 80,000 people nationwide, the MPA has implored the Chancellor not to heap further financial or regulatory burden on a foundation industry supplying the essential materials that literally underpin the Government’s ambitions to build and grow the economy.
The letter, penned by Chair of the MPA’s Executive Management Committee Chris Leese, asks the Government to boost business confidence, and maintain an unwavering focus on growth, by rapidly accelerating key infrastructure, essential public facilities and housebuilding. The MPA is also calling on the Government to commit to using domestically produced materials like cement and concrete to support UK jobs and regional economies.
Chris Leese said: “Since the election business confidence, already under pressure from high energy costs and an increasing burden of regulation, has been badly affected by the budget measures and cancellation of key infrastructure projects. As a result, business confidence is extremely low, impacting negatively on investment and stifling growth.”
Between them, MPA members supply over 400 million tonnes of materials every year for the construction of the foundations and fabric of our infrastructure and built environment – the biggest flow of materials in the economy. That includes key construction products such as cement, concrete, asphalt and mortar and the raw materials needed to produce them like sand, gravel, crushed rock and recycled aggregates – plus industrial minerals like lime and silica sand.
Key policy issues where MPA is reiterating its calls for change include:
Competitiveness: The long-term future of the UK cement and lime sectors depend on investment in carbon capture, use and storage (CCUS) so it’s vital to make the UK a more attractive place to do business in order to attract that investment. This includes getting the detail right on the UK’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) creating a level playing field with international competition to restore confidence and encourage growth.
Planning: The MPA letter emphasises the need to fix the mineral planning system to make sure the industry can sustainably deliver the materials for construction. That’s the best route to avoid a planning-induced shortage of domestic construction materials that would constrain growth.
Regulation: The UK mineral products industry is recognised globally as operating to the highest standards, and whilst operators accept being held to those standards, the MPA letter calls for the regulatory system to be faster, better value for money and better resourced.
Chris Leese continued: “Our members are telling us about their mounting frustration with the cumulative impact of the additional tax burden that will hit businesses from April on top of the Government’s failure thus far to get to grips with the levers that will unleash growth. The first rule of growth is ‘don’t shrink’ but we have yet to see tangible policy shifts that will boost confidence, protect long-standing domestic heavy industry sectors and actively encourage growth.
“The recent announcement that Heathrow will look to support domestic steel production could usefully be mirrored elsewhere, with more explicit Government support to ensure domestic cement and concrete production will be used to deliver ambitions around the delivery of floating offshore wind and new-build nuclear.”
MPA Director of Economics Aurelie Delannoy added: “As economists might say, delivery isn’t everything, but in the long run, it’s almost everything. Our members are clear on the importance of infrastructure to boost growth, but we need to see better delivery to inspire confidence to invest.”
Last week, MPA put in a submission to the Comprehensive Spending Review, which will set out the UK Government’s spending plans from 2026-28. MPA’s document calls for investments to support out industry as it underpins the Government’s first mission of Kickstarting Economic Growth, much of which related to public spending on infrastructure projects and support for industrial decarbonisation.
