Diversification is the key to economic success. A diverse national economy provides more sustainable growth and is less vulnerable to the vagaries of the global economy. Balanced economies are more resistant to exaggerated boom-and-bust cycles (though I certainly wouldn’t go so far as to claim that they abolish boom-and-bust), whereas those economies inordinately dependent on one particular sector increase their risk of calamity.
This is why we need to strengthen British industry. Although the UK remains the world’s sixth largest manufacturer (measured by output), this masks an alarming decline over successive decades and governments. In 1979, manufacturing accounted for 25.8% of the UK’s economy. In 1997, this proportion was 20.3%. By 2009, manufacturing made up just over 11% of the economy.