UK not doing enough to keep "world class" engineers
Harris said UK must do more to retain its world-class talent
Tata Technologies' Warren Harris cites "not well managed" Brexit as cause for workers pull to Europe and USA
The UK isn’t doing enough to keep hold of its “world-class” engineers, who are being poached by overseas firms at the detriment to the country’s fading automotive industry, the global head of Tata Technologies has told Autocar.
Also lamenting the difficulties the “not very well managed” Brexit has played within the sector – which has seen car production fall from near-1.6m in 2016 to 775,000 last year – Warren Harris says that workers are now looking abroad as firms choose to set up shop away from the UK.
One of the main reasons for this is the lack of incentives here compared to what is being offered in other countries.
He said: “When you look at incentives for things, like battery factories and giga factories, [what is being offered in] mainland Europe, and what the US has done with the Inflation Reduction Act, the amount of capital that's being deployed to encourage businesses to invest in other parts of the world far exceeds what the UK has done.”
He added: “I think the UK government has not managed Brexit very well. I think that the lack of clarity that we had for such a long time prompted investment decisions that have seen organisations, like Honda, move out of the country.
“And that’s what's wrong with the UK manufacturing industry, not just the automotive industry. I just don't think it has been given the importance that it deserves [by the government].”
“The UK in terms of innovation is as good as anywhere in the world. We've mentioned before the capabilities and the quality of engineers and I think that we have resources that are the match of anywhere. And yet when you look at Incentives, you look at the relationships between academia and businesses, we're not as progressive as other parts of the world.”
Harris was speaking after 350 new jobs were created at Tata Technologies’ European HQ in the West Midlands, which the firm said reinforces the region’s status as a global hub for the automotive industry.
The Leamington Spa site, which houses engineering support services, two advanced engineering labs and an R&D centre, develops next-generation tech “expected to shape the future” of mobility, the firm says.
As part of the undisclosed investment, the firm will also focus on developing a workforce for the future, with a Centre of Excellence ‘talent hub’ created through local university partnerships.
“In terms of supply to the global market, the UK will continue to be an important region,” said Harris. “We want to tap into the resource pool that exists here.”