The UK yesterday launched its first formal industrial strategy in seven years, as the new Labour Party government pledged greater stability and certainty for businesses on the eve of a major investment summit in London.
The UK’s manufacturers have been calling for a new strategy for the industrial sector from the government, which they say would give them certainty over long-term policy direction in a post-Brexit, post-pandemic world that has undergone energy shocks and high inflation.
Make UK, the sector’s trade body, has said the UK is the only major economy not to have a comprehensive industrial plan in place.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The UK last published an industrial strategy under then-prime minister Theresa May’s government in 2017.
Details of the new industrial strategy would be laid out in a consultation document, known as a green paper, to be published this morning local time.
The government said it would focus on eight growth sectors: Advanced manufacturing, clean energy, creative industries, defense, digital and technologies, financial services, life sciences and professional and business services.
“Our modern Industrial Strategy will hard-wire stability for investors and give them the confidence to plan not just for the next year, but for the next 10 years and beyond,” UK Secretary of State for Business and Trade Jonathan Reynolds said in a statement.
The government also named Microsoft UK chief executive officer Clare Barclay as chair of its new Industrial Strategy Advisory Council.
The launch of the strategy coincides with today’s UK’s investment summit, which the UK government said would bring together up to 300 industry leaders.
It also comes after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour Party marked 100 days in power on Saturday, a rocky period marked by a controversy over politicians accepting freebies and the resignation of Starmer’s chief of staff Sue Gray.
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