Engineering’s election

The closer we get to the general election, the messier it looks.

Unless all of the pre-election polls are phenomenally inaccurate, the UK is heading for a hung parliament in Westminster next week.

Engineering has indeed been the winner of this general election campaign

While there is a great deal of uncertainty over which parties will form the next government – either as a coalition or minority government – what is certain is that there are a number of key issues for engineers and others working in the process industries that look likely to gain support no matter the colour of the party in charge.

This election has of course been fought on some of the traditional fault lines – the economy, the NHS etc – but there are also several engineering specific issues that have generally garnered support and promises from every party.

Most prominent of all has been the issue of skills.

The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have essentially acknowledged that they failed in their bid to rebalance the economy over the past five years, and both have committed to boosting investment in technical disciplines through initiatives such as Degree Apprenticeships.

Labour and the Scottish National Party (SNP) likewise support the degree apprenticeships concept, even if they claim in their manifestos that they would introduce Technical Degrees – this would essentially just be a renaming exercise to make the degree apprenticeships concept their own.

Equally, all parties are making noise about boosting the teaching of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) subjects in schools.

If there is one positive to come out of this election campaign, it is that UK’s engineering skills crisis has finally gone mainstream and is receiving recognition and support at the highest levels of politics.

Elsewhere, the controversial issue of shale gas development has garnered support with all but the SNP and Green Party. The majority of parties have also supported new nuclear power as part of the energy mix and also pledge continued support for North Sea Oil & Gas.

There have also been multiple pledges for continued and increased investment in the Catapult innovation and technology centres.

Indeed, many areas that have a direct impact on engineers and the process industries look set to receive improved or at the very least the same level of support in the next parliament no matter what shade of government the UK ends up with.

Engineering has indeed been the winner of this general election campaign.