Proposal
made to Kent County Council in June 2013.
Receipt
of this proposal was acknowledged.
By
way of this letter I wish to present the following proposal to
improve Kent’s economy.
Textile
Production in Kent
The
establishment of a textile industry in Kent producing clothes and
footwear would create local employment within the County, offering
the retail market products made at fair prices.
At
present, retail sales of textile products in Kent are almost entirely
reliant on cheap-labour import from the Far East, with High-Street
brands charging unreasonable profits. Shoes made in India are sold at
prices that do not reflect the factory wages paid in that country,
for example £50 to £80 a pair; clothes made in China are sold at
prices significantly above that which one would expect to pay for the
standard Chinese factory wage, for example trousers at £25 a pair.
Clearly
there is a High-Street policy of making large profits on manufactured
goods produced in the Far East at very low wages, normally calculated
at around £30 to £60 a month. These items could be produced in
Britain at standard UK wages - even above minimum wage - and still be
sold cheaper than the current retail prices, while leaving reasonable
profits for manufacturer and retailer.
Manufacturers
and High-Street retail chains have progressively closed down
industrial production in Britain and transferred it to the Far East
at wages that are fractional compared to those of the UK. However,
they are earning large profits by selling the products at a cost many
times higher than when purchased from the factories of origin in
countries such as India, China and Bangladesh.
This
policy, which has contributed to widespread unemployment in Britain,
is also in complete disregard of the carbon footprint concerning
transport over long distances, going against the spirit of Britain’s
carbon emission laws.
Fair
Trade and the Right to Employment
As
fair trade, combined with the right to employment for local people at
honest and fair wages, is the objective of this presentation, I
propose that the County Council assess the introduction of skills and
training facilities in Kent where local people can learn the basic
skills required to produce textiles, clothes and footwear, and also
the establishment of factories at district level where production
could take place.
The
same idea could also apply to other sectors of industrial production
which have been almost entirely transferred to the Far East and in
particular to China, such as electronics. Indeed, the list of
industrial production transferred abroad to cheap-labour factories is
long and covers a wide range of manufacture.
By
following this proposal even in its initial phase, namely the
establishment of a textile industry in Kent, many thousands of
permanent jobs could be created, ensuring a decent income for local
workers and their families, reducing the burden on the benefit system
and contributing to a steady income of revenues.
The
purchase of clothes and footwear made locally at fair wages – and
sold with reasonable profit margins – could also become part of a
future awareness among many people, in particular as the current
ongoing financial crisis is partly a result of the dismantling of
traditional production and its systematic outsourcing to cheap-labour
economies.
Such
items could be sold cheaper than the products made in India and China
that evidently have huge corporate profit-margins attached to them.
In
the sincere hope this presentation will be of interest to the County
Council, I look forward to hearing from you.
The reply from Kent County Council did not accept the proposal. Yet it is a fundamental part of economic Prosperity. British Party is the only one that offers Prosperity, as no other party in Britain will. This is quite evident, as councils are elected along party lines and clearly the proposal for sane economy is not accepted by other parties.
Written by D. Alexander
