The Industrial Strategy is a 10-year plan to increase business investment and grow the industries of the future in the UK. The Strategy will make it quicker and easier for business to invest and will provide the certainty and stability needed for long-term investment decisions.
The Strategy backs eight sectors with the highest growth potential, with actions to help businesses overcome barriers and unlock investment.
Our bold plan of action includes:
- Cutting electricity costs by up to 25% from 2027 – for thousands of electricity-intensive British businesses in manufacturing sectors such as automotive.
- Reducing grid connection times – for major investments through the launch of a new Connections Accelerator Service, new powers in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill currently before parliament, and Ofgem’s end-to-end review of the connections process.
- Unlocking billions in finance for innovative business, especially for start-ups and scale-ups – increasing British Business Bank financial capacity to £25.6 billion, with an additional £4 billion for Industrial Strategy growth sectors.
- Enhancing investor support – providing our largest and most strategically aligned investors with access to more tailored support through the newly expanded Office for Investment.
- Meeting the skills needs of businesses – an extra £1.2 billion each year for skills by 2028-29 and government-backed training packages for defence, digital and engineering, while attracting elite talent via visa reforms and the Global Talent Taskforce.
- Simplifying regulation and reducing planning timelines – cutting the administrative costs of regulation for business by 25%, reducing the number of regulators, and streamlining planning requirements.
- Boosting R&D spending – to £22.6 billion per year by 2029-30 to drive innovation across key sectors, with more than £2 billion for AI and £2.8 billion for Advanced Manufacturing over the next five years.
- Deepening economic cooperation with our partners – building on our Industrial Strategy Partnership with Japan and recent trade deals with the US, India, and the EU.
Paul Butler, CEO at the NEAA, said: “The North East Automotive Alliance (NEAA) welcomes the announcement of the long-awaited UK Industrial Strategy, ‘Invest 2035’, and it is pleasing to see advanced manufacturing and clean energy as two of the eight key growth-driving sectors within the strategy. This focus aligns directly with the automotive industry’s current trajectory, particularly with the global shift towards electrification.
“The new British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme is a positive step forward for our energy-intensive sector. Helping companies reduce their energy costs by up to 25% will ensure we are better positioned to compete globally with countries with cheaper energy. The NEAA acknowledges the long-standing need for skills development and talent attraction within the automotive sector. The commitment of an extra £1.2 billion per year for skills will help upskill the existing workforce and attract new, skilled individuals into the industry, addressing a critical pipeline need. The strategy’s pledge to unlock billions in finance for innovative businesses by increasing access to finance is good news for the automotive sector. This will be crucial for supporting ongoing technology advancements and R&D programmes to ensure we continue to deliver innovation, automation, and digitisation across the automotive industry.
“The NEAA views the Industrial Strategy as a positive development that will create a more attractive, stable, and supportive environment for businesses in the UK, and we look forward to actively supporting its implementation.”
