Bim Afolami: The importance of community

07/27/23 • 24 min

For this episode, we took to Parliament to meet with MP for Hitchin and Harpenden, Bim Afolami. Delving right into the heart of the sector, Brendan and Bim discuss why community is so important for manufacturing and how the people and places have always been so tightly connected. They also discuss the more technical side of the issues at hand, including how the sector can provide the workers needed for new green jobs, and how we can incentivise more long-term equity finance for British manufacturing.

Previous Episode

Bryan Gould: Lowering the exchange rate

Joining us all the way from New Zealand is former Member of Parliament and member of the Labour Party’s Shadow Cabinet, Bryan Gould. The exchange rate has been a contentious economic issue for decades and has been argued to affect the manufacturing sector significantly. Bryan and Brendan discuss the state of the sector, the balance of payments problem, and weigh up the UK against other economies including China and Japan.

Talking Manufacturing - Bim Afolami: The importance of community

Transcript

Brendan (BC): Hello and welcome to the JMI Podcast. My name is Brendan Chilton and I'm the director of the John Mills Institute for Prosperity, and in this series, we're going to be discussing the issues at the heart of the Institute, working through each of our manifesto pledges and inviting guests to bring their unique perspective on the place manufacturing takes in the UK economy, and in our society as a whole.

Today we'll be focusing on the impact of manufacturing o