The chancellor and the business and trade secretary have today (14 October) launched the government’s much-anticipated Industrial Strategy, saying it will “create a pro-business environment and play to the UK’s strengths”.
The announcement came ahead of the government’s International Investment Summit this week, at which prime minister Sir Keir Starmer will pledge to get rid of regulation that "needlessly holds back investment", according to the BBC.
An interim Industrial Strategy Advisory Council has also been established, with Clare Barclay, the CEO of Microsoft UK, to serve as its chair.
Marco Forgione, the director general of the Chartered Institute of Export & International Trade, said he is “optimistic” about the new strategy, and that he hopes this week’s summit will show that the UK now has a “long-term, coherent, pro-business agenda”.
The government has also today published a green paper on the strategy in which it says it intends to establish a “credible 10-year plan to deliver the certainty and stability businesses need”.
It is looking to work “in partnership” with business to develop the official strategy and has launched a public consultation to facilitate this.
Confidence
Business and trade secretary Jonathan Reynolds said the “modern Industrial Strategy will hardwire stability for investors and give industry the confidence to plan for the next 10 years and beyond”.
The plan will focus on eight growth-driving sectors:
· Advanced manufacturing
· Clean energy industries
· Creative industries
· Defence, digital and technologies
· Financial services
· Life sciences
· Professional and business services
“I have never been more optimistic about our country’s potential,” said chancellor Rachel Reeves.
“We have some of the brightest minds and greatest businesses in the world. From the creative industries and life sciences to advanced manufacturing and financial services.”
‘Comprehensive’ on trade
Forgione was among the industry leaders to welcome the new strategy, saying he is “optimistic that the new Industrial Strategy will be unequivocal, long-term and will be supported by a comprehensive trade strategy”.
“Over the past two years, the Chartered Institute of Export & International Trade has submitted insights and inputs from our research, as well as the views of Chartered Institute members, to the Labour Party both in opposition and, since the election, in government.
“Having heard the broad principles laid out by the chancellor and business secretary, I am optimistic that the new Industrial Strategy will be unequivocal, long-term and will be supported by a comprehensive trade strategy.”
Make UK CEO, Stephen Phipson, also called the strategy a “welcome first step” while Airbus UK chairman, John Harrison, was glad to see the “inclusion of advanced manufacturing”.
Consultation
The green paper, titled ‘Invest 2035: The UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy’, was launched this morning, and the government has also begun a public consultation which will run until 11:59pm on 24 November.
“An Industrial Strategy developed in a vacuum, detached from practical realities, is no strategy at all,” Reynolds and Reeves write in the paper’s foreword.
“It is essential that this strategy is informed by the experiences of the individuals, businesses, and local communities it will support.
“We need the input of mayors and multinationals, councils and CEOs, trade unions, devolved governments, and experts to deliver prosperity through partnership.”
Grace Thompson, UK public affairs lead at the Chartered Institute, noted that this is a significant opportunity for the charity’s members to have their views on the Industrial Strategy represented by the Chartered Institute, as it prepares its own response to the government consultation. To find out more about how to do this, email publicaffairs@export.org.uk.
Aligned with trade
In the paper, the government reiterated its pledge for the strategy to be “international from the start and aligned with the Trade Strategy”.
It said that it retains a “commitment to free and open trade”, saying that it would do so by “forging a closer relationship with the EU” while “also striking new, market-opening trade deals with powerhouse economies across the globe”.
The Trade Strategy will be “aligned with the Industrial Strategy, to help businesses to overcome barriers and maximise trade for the growth-driving sectors and across the whole economy”.
Pivotal summit
The announcements around the strategy comes as global CEOs and business leaders gather in London for the UK’s International Investment Summit.
Business leaders have written to the Times to say they are ready to invest in the UK, provided the government can secure a more stable business environment.
Forgione shares this view, writing on LinkedIn:
"We know that many overseas businesses have put on hold much-needed investment in the UK.
“My hope is that, at the summit, we will begin to hear positive news from these global businesses, clarity about the government’s approach to business and certainty that the UK has a long-term, coherent, pro-business agenda that will encourage them to now invest.”