JCB to create 2,500 jobs as Osborne praises 'strong' manufacturing investment

Vehicle manufacturing giant JCB is set to create 2500 new jobs by 2018 as part of a £150 million expansion plan.

The company is set to build a factory in Uttoxeter, replacing a site at Rugeley, and an excavator manufacturing plant in Cheadle.

Visiting JCB’s Staffordshire factory, George Osborne said: “I am the first to say that although the economic plan is working, the job isn’t done and we have to work through that plan.

The risk is abandoning the plan that has got us this far, but we have got to make sure we have a responsible recovery, a more balanced recovery.”

Its chairman and major Tory party donor Lord Bamford said: “The Chancellor’s decision to invest in the regional infrastructure means JCB can continue to invest locally, which is good for Staffordshire and good for Britain, especially given the wider benefits to our UK supply chain.”

Osborne said that JCB’s investment was a “sign that there are very strong things" happening in the British manufacturing sector, but also warned that the recovery needs to be "more balanced".

His comments come after the Office for Budget Responsibility signalled that improvements to the fiscal outlook were “cyclical rather than structural”.

It added that higher-than-expected growth this year has been driven by consumer spending and rising house prices, rather than business investment and trade.

JCB also plans to introduce a graduate scheme and a new apprenticeship programme to be run in partnership with UK universities.