HIGH-value products and services are the way ahead for British industry.

In his New Year message to the Institute of Director's 55,000 members, director general George Cox set out the challenges and opportunities ahead.

"It has long been recognised as inevitable that certain lesser-skilled jobs would move to countries with far lower labour costs," said Mr Cox. "But that is not today's danger.

"High-skilled areas are now at risk. We need to compete on innovation, technology, design, flair, speed to market, and quality. There is nowhere else to go unless we want to become a cheap labour economy or a theme park."