Politicians from all parties and construction industry representatives have united to help kick start the ailing construction industry which is suffering its worst recession since 1980 with eight firms going bust every day and house building at its lowest level since 1924.

'Get Britain Building', the biggest coalition in the building industry's history, launched in the House of Commons on Tuesday and is now campaigning to help the construction industry survive.

The 'Get Britain Building' coalition spearheaded by British Precast, the Builders Merchants Federation, the Federation of Master Builders (FMB), and the Modern Masonry Alliance is demanding that the Government supports its Ten Point Manifesto to get Britain building again and save hundreds of thousands of jobs in the construction industry.

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The Get Britain Building Manifesto wants the Government to create a new business environment framework in which the construction companies can work. The Manifesto includes a plea to get banks lending to small businesses again; a government strategy to refurbish the country's 26 million homes to make them more energy efficient; a cut in VAT to five per cent for property maintenance; a major increase in new social housing and a defined timetable to complete the Government’s planned investment in new schools and hospitals.

Speaking at a rally in Parliament Square that followed the launch, Richard Diment Director-General of the FMB said: "During the last recession the UK construction industry lost over 500,000 skilled jobs and we simply cannot allow that to happen again. The Government needs to heed the calls from both politicians and industry and start delivering policies that will help the construction industry survive this recession. A skilled force work will be essential to the long term recovery of the UK and we cannot afford to repeat the mistakes of the past by allowing skilled jobs to disappear because when they have gone they tend to be gone for good."

(CD/JM)