Invest 2035: the UK's modern industrial strategy
Rachel Reeves, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Jonathan Reynolds, Secretary of State for Business and Trade:
Growth is the number one mission of this government. Our new industrial strategy is central to that growth mission.
This green paper sets out our vision for a modern industrial strategy – a credible, 10-year plan to deliver the certainty and stability businesses need to invest in the high growth sectors that will drive our growth mission.
There is rapid change in the global economy, and the case for governments to roll up their sleeves and shape markets rather than step back in the face of these challenges is stronger than ever. To capture the growth the UK so desperately needs, we need a modern industrial strategy to share in the next decade’s growth opportunities.
This industrial strategy will provide a launchpad for businesses. It provides the firm foundation for investment that businesses have told us they need. This government believes it is our role to provide the certainty that inspires confidence, allowing businesses to plan not just for the next year, but for the next 10 years and beyond.
We will not repeat the mistakes of the past, with policy changing as fast as decision-makers. To put an end to the policy merry-go-round, we are going to establish a statutory Industrial Strategy Council, hardwiring stability and long-termism into our plan from the start.
In its drive for growth, the industrial strategy will take advantage of the UK’s unique strengths and untapped potential, enabling our already world-leading services and manufacturing sectors to adapt and grow, and seizing opportunities to lead in new and emerging sectors.
Jobs will be at the heart of our modern industrial strategy, supporting growth sectors to create high-quality, well-paid jobs across the country, backed by employment rights fit for a modern economy.
It plays to our strengths. Over the last 25 years, a third of our highest productivity industries were responsible for generating nearly two-thirds of our economy’s entire productivity growth
That is why our industrial strategy will channel support to 8 growth-driving sectors – those in which the UK excels today and will propel us tomorrow. They include the services and manufacturing industries that present the greatest opportunity for output and productivity growth over the long-term.
Our strategy is unreservedly pro-business, engaging on complex issues that are barriers to investment, like:
- skills
- recruitment of international talent
- data
- research and development
- technology adoption
- access to finance
- competition
- regulation
- energy prices
- grid connections
- infrastructure
- planning
all through the lens of promoting investment.
Read full report here
