A new roadmap for British industry

24th January 2017
Posted By : Anna Flockett
A new roadmap for British industry

Designed to boost the post-Brexit UK economy, Prime Minister, Theresa May has revealed the industrial strategy and her plans for British industry. Promising the government will be stepping into a new active role, the PM's plan was published in a green paper, as she held a regional cabinet meeting in the north-west of England.

Pledging to develop new technologies across the country and ensuring it is easier for companies to do business in the UK, plans for the biggest investments are set to be in transport, broadband and energy.

These are plans set for a generation which May described as “back[ing] Britain for the long term.”

The £4.7bn fund, mentioned in the Autumn Statement from 2016, will be central in this strategy, and used to pay for research and development into smart energy technologies, robotics, artificial intelligence and 5G mobile networking technology, which is the biggest increase in funds that Parliament has seen since 1979.

The Institute of Directors (IoD) members joined up before the announcement was made on Monday, and expressed their feelings that Britain’s industrial strategy should not consist of cash hand-outs to failing companies in the UK.

But instead to take a much broader approach so that other businesses can thrive. Members wanted a strategy to encourage new industries as well as creating a road, rail and communications infrastructure to enable progression.

May’s industrial strategy did promise ‘sector deals’ a new system of technical education and better infrastructure. The five sectors, which could receive special government support, will be: life sciences, low-carbon-emission vehicles, industrial digitalisation, the creative sector and nuclear industry.

It was stated that the government will be prepared to deregulate, create institutions to boost skills and research, and help with trade deals, under the idea that the sectors can show this help with specific issues.

This maybe easier once Britain has left the EU, as helping specific industries can at the present be restricted by state aid rules, which control how governments of member states can support companies.

Driving growth across the whole country was another factor, to create a framework on the certain strengths of different places and address factors that are holding places back, whether that is investing key infrastructure to encourage growth, increasing skills levels or backing local innovations strengths.

May also reinstated the fact that we need to keep costs down for businesses and secure the economic benefits of the transition to a low-carbon economy.

The plan suggested a focus on the 50% of school-leavers who do not go to university, and will suggest maintenance loans for those who are hoping to pursue a technical education, the construction of institutes if technology in every region and 15 core technical ‘routes’ for students who train themselves in the most needed skills by employers in their regions.

The belief that the UK is falling behind nations such as China in terms of workers’ technical skills, was a large influential factor to the strategy.

Business Secretary Greg Clark said that battery technology, in particularly for electric cars was an area targeted, and that the strategy also formed part of the government’s post-Brexit plan to keep countries investing with the UK.

He said the intention was: “To say to investors, both in this country and around the world, what we are going to do to be competitive in the future – whatever the outcome of Brexit is. And this has been recognised, and has been greeted with enthusiasm by companies around the world.”

May stated in her announcement: "As we leave the EU it will help us grasp the bigger prize: the chance to build that stronger, fairer Britain that stands tall in the world and is set up to succeed in the long-term. And it is a vital step towards building a country where prosperity is shared and there is genuine opportunity for all."


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