The plan also aims to cut down regulatory burdens and levies for enterprises in strategic sectors.
The UK has released its new Industrial Strategy aimed at making Britain an inviting place for businesses to set up shop.
The 10-year strategy slashes bills for thousands of businesses housed in the UK, cuts regulatory burdens, opens up billions in additional funding for SMEs and boosts R&D funding by a further several-billion-pounds.
The plan focuses on eight strategic sectors. These include advanced manufacturing, clean energy, defence, tech, finance, life sciences, professional and business services and the creative industries. Plans for five of these sectors have been published today (23 June).
The strategy will look to deepen industrial collaboration with the UK’s major trading partners, including Japan, the US, India and the EU.
“In an era of global economic instability, it (the strategy) delivers the long term certainty and direction British businesses need to invest, innovate and create good jobs that put more money in people’s pockets as part of the plan for change,” said UK prime minister Kier Starmer.
Last week, ahead of the new strategy’s launch, the UK government announced a £250m-plus joint investment into the aerospace industry to make its advanced manufacturing and defence sectors more sustainable and future-focused.
More funds, less bills
Starting from 2027, the UK will be cutting electricity costs for electricity-intensive manufacturers by up to 25pc. Costs will go down by up to £40 for every MWh for more than 7,000 businesses in sectors such as automotives, aerospace and chemicals from 2027.
Moreover, the government will also discount 90pc of electricity network charges for energy-intensive firms such as steel, chemicals and glass manufacturers starting next year. This, the government says will bring costs more closely in line with other European economies.
According to the new strategy, electricity-intensive sectors, which employ more than 300,000 skilled jobs, will be exempt from paying renewable obligations levy, a tax aimed at encouraging electricity generation from renewable sources.
Apart from dramatically slashing energy bills, the government also plans to cut down administrative costs by 25pc, as well as reduce the number of regulators for businesses.
The UK government is opening up billions in new funding for small and medium enterprises (SME) in the country. It is increasing the Britian Business Bank’s financial capacity to £25.6bn, including an additional £4bn for strategic sectors.
Moreover, by 2030, the country intends on boosting its R&D spending to nearly £23bn a year, with more than £2bn for AI and £2.8bn for advanced manufacturing over the next ten years.
It will also be spending £600m through its new Strategic Sites accelerator to increase the supply of “investable” sites in the country.
More than 1m new jobs
According to the UK government, the new strategy will support “1.1m new, well-paid jobs” over the coming decade.
The strategy will be allocating an additional £1.2bn to upskill workers by 2028. This would include skill-building courses targeted at defence, digital and engineering sectors. In addition, more than 5,000 SMEs will be supported to adopt newer technology.
The plan also announces a new global talent “taskforce” which will target “elite” talent to UK’s key sectors. This, it says, it will achieve through visa and migration reforms.
Earlier this year, the UK government released a white paper aimed at making immigration “controlled” and “selective”. The proposed changes reduce the time immigrant university graduates can stay in the country to look for jobs.
In addition, the proposals aim to increase salary thresholds and qualification thresholds to apply for worker visas in the country.
“Today’s Industrial Strategy builds on that progress with a ten-year plan to slash barriers to investment,” said UK’s exchequer chancellor Rachel Reeves.
“It’ll see billions of pounds for investment and cutting-edge tech, ease energy costs and upskill the nation. It will ensure the industries that make Britain great can thrive.
“It will boost our economy and create jobs that put more money in people’s pockets,” she added.
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