Two British manufacturers have called on Chancellor John Healey to bring down energy and employment costs in his first Budget, which he delivers tomorrow, saying rising costs are making it harder for UK factories to compete.
Phoenox Textiles, the Huddersfield company behind the Hug Rug brand, and Everhot, a Gloucestershire maker of electric range cookers, set out their requests ahead of the statement.
Healey has said the Budget will look at cutting “the cost of business”. He confirmed the date in a Treasury announcement on 31 July, saying it would give businesses and families “some of the stability they need to plan for the future”.
Charles Mosley, co-managing director and joint owner of Phoenox Textiles, said the company employs around 180 people in Yorkshire and has invested millions in its manufacturing capabilities, technology and distribution infrastructure.
He said “the reality is that rising employment costs, energy prices and the increasing cost of doing business are making it harder for British manufacturers to compete.”
“We don’t want Government handouts,” Mosley said. “We want a fair and competitive environment that encourages investment, rewards innovation and makes employing people in Britain an attractive proposition.”
“My message to the Chancellor is simple: stop making it harder for businesses to manufacture in Britain. Give us the right conditions to grow, and we will invest, create jobs and deliver.”
Phoenox was founded in Huddersfield in 1954 and remains family-owned. It says Hug Rug created the first washable rug in 1970 and that all of the brand’s products are still made at the Yorkshire mill.
The company said it had recently made a £4m investment in its manufacturing process. According to Phoenox, the new machinery improves quality and efficiency, cuts errors and waste, and uses less gas and electricity per metre of product made.
“We have the ambition, the skills and the determination. What we need now is a government that matches that ambition,” Mosley said.
Guy Goring, managing director of Cotswolds-based Everhot, which makes electric heat storage range cookers, said: “UK energy costs are among the highest in the world. As a carbon-negative manufacturer, we welcome the transition to renewable energy; however, the government needs to help UK manufacturers remain competitive by driving down energy costs and enhancing energy security.”
“We would also like to see incentives for long-term investment, which would not only help grow the economy but also enable manufacturers to employ more staff,” he said.
Everhot hand-builds its cookers at a factory near Dursley in Gloucestershire, about three miles from Coaley Mill, the 13th-century water-powered mill where the business started more than 40 years ago and where its showroom remains.
Goring said the company sources as many components as possible from UK suppliers and does not outsource production. “We have invested heavily in solar and batteries over the last few years, cementing our commitment to staying a carbon-negative company as we grow, and shielding us from ever higher energy costs,” he said.
He added that demand for its products depends on the property market. “Sales of products in our market are reliant on a buoyant housing market, so a high-tax environment and increasing interest rates are headwinds to growth.”
The two companies are adding to representations made by business groups before the Budget. In a September report, the CBI told Healey that business costs were holding back investment, and said UK non-domestic electricity prices were about 45 per cent above the G7 median in 2023 and 2024.
Make UK, the manufacturers’ trade body, reported in a July study on industrial energy that 90 per cent of manufacturers had seen their energy bills rise since 2022, with more than half naming energy as their biggest business challenge. Its quarterly survey in March found that domestic orders had fallen sharply while manufacturers raised prices at the fastest pace since spring 2023.
Healey said in July, shortly after taking office, that he was as concerned about the cost of business as about the cost of living, naming tax, energy, supply chain costs and labour as the pressures on firms.
