The UK’s forthcoming industrial strategy will be “key for growth” and should look to trade as a lever for improving the UK’s economic prosperity, according to Lord McNicol of West Kilbride, a former shadow spokesperson for business and trade.
The Labour peer was speaking at a fringe event hosted by the Chartered Institute of Export & International Trade at the party’s annual conference in Liverpool yesterday (23 September).
Hosted in partnership with the New Statesman, the panel discussion was titled ‘A new industrial strategy: How to make trade a catalyst for growth’.
The panel came shortly after chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed that the government intends to publish initial plans for its industrial strategy alongside the Autumn Budget on 30 October.
Stability first
Lord McNicol said the importance of the new government’s approach to trade, as part of a new industrial strategy, was a key reason for him wanting to speak on the panel.
He said the strategy needed to be delivered through trade, “especially exports”, and that it needed to cover all sectors, including services and emerging tech.
‘Unique opportunity’
The Chartered Institute’s director general, Marco Forgione MCIEx, spoke of the importance of industry-government partnership in both shaping and delivering the industrial strategy.
Citing a 2023 report from the Chartered Institute into regional disparities in export performance in the services sector, he said that “it is essential that growth is spread to every nation and region”.
Part of achieving this distributed growth would be ensuring that commercial diplomacy is used to protect and grow the UK’s strongest sectors, including education.
“We are world-leading in what we do, but we are hindering ourselves by turning away foreign students,” Forgione said.
‘Trusted trade’
He also said that the new industrial strategy gave the UK an opportunity to empower international trade by taking a lead in a multilateral move towards a new global ‘trusted trade’ model. He said that this new framework should be developed on the principles of transparency, inclusivity, and integrity.
In his concluding remarks, Forgione added that the UK needed to look at trade digitalisation as part of this approach, adding that this was also needed to better facilitate trade between the UK and EU.
The panel’s recommendations
Forgione and Lord McNicol were joined by John Godfrey, managing director, public affairs, policy and research at TheCityUK, and by moderator Victoria Barlow, co-director of Agenda.
Godfrey agreed with Forgione about the need for the new industrial strategy to have a regional focus, also saying that it should focus on vertical sectors where the UK has a strategic advantage, as well as how technology could better support the financial ecosystem.
Forgione also highlighted the recent paper from the E-Commerce Trade Commission – which the Chartered Institute chairs – saying it raised emerging markets, trade tech adoption and supporting female-led businesses as three areas the government should focus on in order to stimulate trade.
Labour Party conference
As well as co-hosting the panel with the New Statesman, the Chartered Institute also hosted a dinner with leading businesses, industry representatives and thought leaders from across the international trade landscape. Gareth Thomas, the minister for services, small businesses and exports also attended the event.
Forgione also participated in a roundtable on ‘how can international trade policy promote growth and investment across the nations and regions of the UK’.
The session was hosted by Airbus and featuring two Welsh Labour MPs – Jo Stevens, the Welsh secretary, and Nick Thomas-Symonds, the paymaster general and minister for the constitution and European relations.
