Emma has condemned plans revealed by a Vote Leave economist to destroy UK manufacturing if Britain votes to leave the EU. Prof Patrick Minford contributed to the Economists for Brexit report. Manufacturing is significant to the West Midlands economy, directly employing over 320,000 people.

Commenting upon his plans to completely remove all tariffs should Britain leave the EU, Prof Minford recently wrote: “Over time, if we left the EU, it seems likely that we would mostly eliminate manufacturing, leaving mainly industries such as design, marketing and hi-tech.”

Emma said: “The Vote Leave campaign are finally beginning to show their true colours. If Britain leaves the EU, they will allow our manufacturing sector to be completely decimated. Engineering and industrial production are a vital part of the Black Country economy.”

“The West Midlands has the second highest proportion of manufacturing jobs in the country, at 320,000 or 11.4% of the total workforce. If we vote to leave the EU these jobs will be at risk. We will lose vital skills from our economy which we may never be able to get back. A vote to leave the EU will make the West Midlands much less prosperous.”

“Vote Leave seem to think the entire economy can be based solely on services with no manufacturing at all. This is a fallacy. We need a diversified economy. The financial crisis showed how dangerous it can be for the economy to be over reliant on one sector. The Leave campaign’s short sighted and ideological policies are putting our economic future at risk.”