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Trade bodies state‘ immediate priorities’ in letter to Angela Rayner
THE Builders Merchants Federation has set out three‘ immediate priorities’ in a letter sent recently to new Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Angela Rayner.
The trade body’ s CEO, John Newcomb, is a joint signatory of the letter, along with Peter Caplehorn, CEO of the Construction Products Association.
Both leaders, whose trade associations are members of the Construction Leadership Council, are calling on the Government to accelerate the delivery of social, affordable, council and private housing to stimulate demand across the construction supply chain.
In the letter, they also call for faster delivery of committed infrastructure and public sector projects, and greater certainty over the long-term pipeline of work.
John Newcomb said:“ We are increasingly concerned that weak demand and fragile business confidence are placing significant pressure on firms across the sector.
“ While the building materials supply chain has demonstrated considerable resilience through recent economic and geopolitical challenges, businesses need greater confidence that there will be a sustained pipeline of work.
“ The consistent message we hear from across the sector is that the industry does not face a supply problem; rather, it faces a demand and confidence problem.”
Representing more than 1,020 merchant, supplier and service companies with combined sales of around £ 52 billion and employing almost 209,000 people, the BMF says confidence in the industry could be further undermined by recent reported changes to Trade Credit Insurance.
The trade body responded with grave concern to reports that the insurance cover, which enables the construction supply chain to trade with confidence, had been cut by up to 70 per cent for suppliers to one of the UK’ s largest housebuilders. 1
Falling customer confidence was also reflected in the BMF’ s Builders Merchants Building Index( BMBI) which found that after four years of continual decline,
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volume sales of building materials had plummeted by-10.5 % May and-10 % in June when compared to the same months in 2025.
John Newcomb added:“ The Government has already made several important commitments across housing, infrastructure and regional investment.
“ Our members’ priority is to see those commitments translated into action on the ground as we urgently need to see a boost in consumer confidence across the building materials supply chain.
“ The construction industry has the products, skills, manufacturing capacity and expertise needed to deliver the homes, schools, hospitals, infrastructure and energy projects the country requires.
“ Our shared challenge is to ensure that these capabilities are retained and strengthened during this period of subdued demand, so they are ready to respond when activity accelerates.
“ Protecting the capacity of the construction supply chain today is crucial to delivering the Government’ s ambitions for tomorrow.”
1 https:// www. insurancebusinessmag. com / uk / news / construction-engineering / allianz-trade-slashes-cover-for-vistry-suppliers-by-up-to-70-585440. aspx
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