[1] The unanimous view of the committee, as expressed in its Report (published on 15 October 1985), was that unless there was a change in attitude towards manufacturing industry Britain faced a political, economic and social crisis.
[1] The Report warned that Britain needed to expand its declining manufacturing base to combat the fall in revenue from North Sea oil.
[1] If there were no change in economic policy a growing balance of payments deficit would lead to harsh deflationary measures along with lower tax revenues, meaning less spent on public services and defence.
[3] They also warned that there was no reason to expect an "automatic" revival of manufacturing to compensate for the decline of the oil surplus because lost export markets would be difficult to recover.
[5] In his Mansion House speech for 1985 the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Nigel Lawson, dismissed the Report: "The Government...wholly rejects the mixture of special pleading dressed up as analysis and assertion masquerading as evidence which leads the Committee to its doom-laden conclusion".