So now we have confirmation of what everyone has been expecting for months - the General Election will be held on the 6th May.
Arguably (and quite understandably, given recent events) this will be the first election since 1992 where the economy will be the dominating issue. And all of the political parties are bending over backwards to say how critical they believe manufacturing will be to the UK's economic future.
We've already heard some proposals about how each Party would support our sector (whether it's the current Government's New Industry, New Jobs Agenda, or the Opposition's suggestions in the Dyson Review) but over the next few weeks manufacturers are likely to be listening intently to see which of them has a real vision for placing manufacturing at the heart of a better-balanced economy. Hopefully this is something that will feature in the televised Leaders' debate on the economy (taking place in the week beginning, 26 April), rather than just a debate about the timing of deficit reduction (as important as this is).
We will be blogging on relevant issues throughout the campaign and you can read more about what we would like to see from the next government by downloading our manufacturing manifesto, which has been sent to candidates in all of the major parties.