An action plan to boost manufacturing supply chains, as announced by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg yesterday, could create up to 500,000 more jobs in the sector.

A statement from the minister’s office yesterday said the Department for Business Innovation and Skills would publish and implement an action plan from early next year, which would focus on tackling skills gaps and ensuring UK companies could source products from local companies rather than from abroad.

According to the statement, the CBI has estimated the UK could unlock around £30bn and generate up to 500,000 more jobs over the next decade by strengthening domestic supply chains.

Clegg said over the last 40 years, the UK’s manufacturing base has been increasingly forced to compete with low-cost economies for investment, jobs and growth. Now, over half the supplies used in British manufacturing come from overseas.

The deputy PM said: “This cannot go on. That’s why I’m acting now so we can get off this merry-go-round where a manufacturer shifts production overseas and the local companies that support them lose vital business. 

“These supply industries are huge, important sectors in their own right … all of which employ thousands of people and generate millions for our economy.”