The Government’s new industrial strategy is targeting the energy needs of the country’s largest manufacturers alongside developing plans for growth in eight key sectors.<\/p>\n
It aims to tackle two of the biggest barriers facing UK industry – high electricity prices and long waits for grid connections. An estimated 7,000 British businesses could see their electricity bills slashed by up to 25% from 2027 under the plans.<\/p>\n
The plan focuses on eight sectors where the UK is already strong and there is potential for faster growth identified. Advanced Manufacturing, Clean Energy Industries, Creative Industries, Defence, Digital and Technologies, Financial Services, Life Sciences, and Professional and Business Services will each have its own 10-year plan for attracting investment, enabling growth and creating jobs.<\/p>\n
Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: “Not only does this Strategy prioritise investment to attract billions for new business sites, cutting-edge research, and better transport links, it will also make our industrial electricity prices more competitive.<\/p>\n
“Tackling energy costs and fixing skills has been the single biggest ask of us from businesses and the greatest challenge they\u2019ve faced \u2013 this government has listened, and now we\u2019re taking the bold action needed.”<\/p>\n
The Industrial Strategy has been welcomed by industry leaders. Rolls-Royce chief executive Tufan Erginbilgic believes the “commitment to support our world-leading aerospace and nuclear industries shows long-term strategic foresight” while SMMT Chief Executive Mike Hawes said the strategy “is the basis on which the UK automotive sector can regain its global competitiveness”.<\/p>\n
The new British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme will reduce electricity costs by up to \u00a340 per megawatt hour for over 7,000 electricity-intensive businesses in manufacturing sectors like automotive, aerospace and chemicals from 2027.<\/p>\n
These firms, which support over 300,000 skilled jobs, will be exempt from paying levies such as the Renewables Obligation, Feed-in Tariffs and the Capacity Market. A consultation will be launched shortly to finalise details, including eligibility.<\/p>\n
The government is also increasing support for 500 of the most energy-intensive firms \u2014 including steel, chemicals, and glass \u2014 by covering more of the electricity network charges they normally have to pay through the British Industry Supercharger. These businesses currently get a 60% discount on those charges, but from 2026, that will increase to 90%.<\/p>\n
Theresa May’s government had also put an industrial strategy at the centre of its economic ambitions, demonstrated by the renaming of the business ministry to The Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).<\/p>\n
However it fell out of favour under Boris Johnson, with the label replaced by a “plan for growth” in early 2021, although the department only lost the name in 2023 when it reverted to being the Department for Business and Trade in a government restructure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Industrial Strategy addresses high electricity prices and long waits for grid connections<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":2127368,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[120782],"coauthors":[81],"class_list":["post-2140565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","tag-featured-story"],"yoast_head":"\n