Not Love Island. Not Fintech. Just £650 Billion of GDP

For those of you who never make it to page 19 of the newspaper, the Labour government launched its industrial strategy this week.

This represents a long-overdue reset as a ten-year plan to focus government support on eight high-growth, high-productivity sectors: advanced manufacturing, clean energy, defence, digital, life sciences, financial services, creative industries and business services.

It prioritises these areas for capital investment, energy cost relief, skills policy and visa reform toward sectors seen as strategically vital to UK competitiveness.

This is the first time I've heard this government talk seriously about being competitive. What’s different this time is focus and coordination.

Instead of scattergun policy - a-la-Tory-in-and-out-club - the strategy concentrates funding (£4bn via the British Business Bank), rewires existing institutions like UKRI and Export Finance and introduces new structures like “Industrial Strategy Zones.” South Korea has had huge success from this.

It's not all good. A serious lack of interest in retail, consumer and hospitality businesses were highlighted by speakers at a geopolitics event last night, hosted by Treble Peak and Acuti Associates at the National Liberal Club.

Another is that it took too long to deliver some pretty obvious statements.

However, instead of leading the usual charge with the City, it gives engineering a more-than-fair crack of the whip.

And it's about time.

The One Third Rule

Engineering adds around £650 billion to UK GDP - roughly a third of the economy.

Do we talk about it? No, we don’t.

Some 8 million people work in engineering-related roles in the UK - around a quarter of the workforce. Engineering jobs pay 23% more than average. With 729,000 engineering businesses in the UK, engineering also accounts for the majority of high-value employment outside London.

Again, barely a flicker in the eye of the average Primark dweller. It doesn’t compute. It's not Jedwood or Love Island.

How can the UK be so good at something it rarely talks about?

The most interesting part of the government strategy is the Advanced Manufacturing Sector Plan (manufacturing alone contributes about £220 billion to UK GDP.)

This aims to nearly double private investment, focusing on six industries: advanced materials, aerospace, agri‑tech, automotive, batteries, and space.
£2.8 billion in R&D funding is already committed to push innovation and automation across the sector.

Fusion energy (hooray) got £2.5bn over five years, with the STEP programme at its core - a prototype fusion power plant by 2040 at West Burton, Nottinghamshire. Built on the site of a former coal-fired station, STEP is delivering a ‘fossil to fusion’ mission, expected to create thousands of jobs and anchor a new clean energy ecosystem along the River Trent.

Aerospace got £250m to boost zero-carbon aviation - supporting hydrogen propulsion, lightweight materials and next-gen manufacturing.

So this is a very UK-wide - as opposed to London-weighted- strategy. It’s astonishing that a government could think this through so well. Especially a Labour one. (Slap.)

Because this isn’t just a funding list - it’s a direction of travel. It names the sectors that matter. It backs them with cash, skills and state backing.

So yes - it’s good that government’s finally chosen a lane. But after years of suffocating costs, interest rates, inflation, anti-entrepreneurial policy, broken visas and late-stage bureaucracy, one question hangs in the air:

Will the government allow businesses to breath enough to enjoy the benefit of such a brilliant strategy?

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Shout Outs

Origina >> Changing the software world. If you have tech debt challenges, you need to meet these guys. Incredible US growth story.

Embridge >> A brilliant team of business transformation experts who lead with human wellness - and deliver the outcome as a result.

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Happy Wednesday

Dan