The printing industry expects Mr Prime Minister 

As the post election dust settles, it is clear that the country will gain some much needed stability for the next few years. It may be hard, it may not be to your liking, but we can anticipate some logic and consistency to policy making rather than the wild swings that have occurred in the last few years. The City has already welcomed the prospect of calm – there was no adverse reaction to the election of a Labour government as might once have been the case. Indeed with expectations that planning legislation is either to be loosened or amended in favour of faster decision making and development, investors can only applaud.

And that goes beyond house building companies. A vast amount of money has been accumulating in the last couple of years and needs to be invested somewhere. There is the risk of too much money chasing too few assets and causing inflation, but also the hope that longer term projects will find support. The prospect of an industrial strategy will help guide investment, hopefully not to ‘winners’ as had been the case in the past as this risks promoting complacency. This industry needs innovation and that needs some longer term visibility and an environment that enables investment for growth to take place.

The feedback from Drupa seems to be that companies are ready to invest after the inertia of the post Covid period. That applies to this country as much as anywhere else. The readiness and the willingness to invest are in place. The industry knows that for it to thrive properly into the next decade it needs to innovate, to adopt more sustainable working practices, to invest in automation and no doubt robotics and in development of those that work in the industry. This is only possible when there is confidence  and when there is visibility. If the new Government can provide the stability, the printing industry has shown in the past that it can do the rest.