Engineering industry organisations are calling on the Chancellor of the Exchequer to use his autumn pre-budget statement on government finances next month to give a boost to manufacturing. A group of 17 trade bodies, led by the Engineering Employers' Federation, called for short-term measures to cut the tax burden on manufacturers. But at the same time, said EEF director general Martin Temple, industry wants the chancellor Gordon Brown to look beyond present economic difficulties and invest in measures that would improve productivity in the medium term.
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