Business groups welcomed yesterday a shift in attitude towards industry from the Conservatives after the party announced that key politicians would spend time at Rolls-Royce, one of Britain's best-known manufacturers. The move will be followed by a manufacturing summit this year.

The move came as data yesterday showed an abrupt drop in manufacturing output in March, dealing a blow to hopes that industrial activity might hold up in the face of weakening economic conditions at home and abroad and offset some of the effects of a looming consumer-driven downturn.

Output from Britain's factories suffered a 0.5 per cent tumble, much worse than expected. The surprise decline in the official figures cut the annual growth rate of the battered sector to only 0.6 per cent, sharply down from 1.9 per cent in February.

Alan Duncan, Shadow Minister for Business, said that the point of the exercise was to ensure that Britain has “all the ingredients that are necessary for a successful manufacturing base. We're going to go in there with an open mind and see what they tell us and then use that to feed into our policy.”

A Conservative spokesman said Charles Hendry, Shadow Minister for Energy, Industry and Postal Affairs, and Justine Greening and David Gauke, shadow Treasury ministers, would visit the company for a few days at a time throughout June.

Sir John Rose, chief executive of Rolls, has served on government advisory panels and industry forums. He has said that the engineering giant had to seek many middle-ranking managers from overseas because the manufacturing base in Britain had shrunk too far to provide an adequate talent pool. However, he has been criticised for building manufacturing capacity overseas and closing facilities in Britain.

Rolls said that it does not make political donations, although Simon Robertson, its chairman, has made personal donations to the Tories.

A spokesman for the EEF manufacturers' organisation said: “The tie-up is the culmination of a significant shift in approach towards industry and a genuine attempt to understand the dynamics of the issues and changes which are affecting manufacturers in a fast-moving global economy. The next stage is to see this translated into firm policies.”

Richard Lambert, Director-General of the CBI, said: “It is encouraging to see a political party seeking to learn from business on the ground. Rolls- Royce is a great example of a research intensive, high value-added manufacturing success story. We hope the policies that emerge reflect the real-life challenges facing companies, as well as the kind of fresh thinking for which Rolls-Royce is renowned.”

A spokesman for Unite, Britain's biggest union, said: “In view of the catastrophic collapse in manufacturing the last time the Conservatives held office, there will be a good deal of scepticism about this plan.”

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