Columnist

Industrial Strategy 'can be game-changer we need'

The Government has launched Invest 2035: the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, a bold, long-term plan that this country has been needing for years. 

For too long, the UK has lacked a coherent industrial strategy, leaving our manufacturing backbone and emerging sectors under-supported, our strategic focus diluted and our position in global value chains weakened. 

This strategy has the potential to be the game-changer we need.

The strategy sets out a credible, ten-year plan to give businesses the clarity and long-term certainty crucial for investment decisions.

That assurance aligns with my long-held view that without multi-year planning, the UK drifts in short term political cycles.

Invest 2035 targets eight high-potential sectors, spanning advanced manufacturing, clean energy, digital technologies, life sciences, automotive (including EVs) and creative industries.

That mirrors our mission at RTC North to support regional growth in key growth sectors.

Perhaps the most significant shift is the renewed focus on place, city-region clusters and strategic industrial sites, paired with real empowerment for mayoral combined authorities (alongside a commitment to create more).

Here, in the North, we already host world-class capabilities across automotive, manufacturing, green tech, and AI.

With strengthened powers and investment, our mayors can deliver targeted growth, creating resilience and global competitiveness simultaneously.

Energy costs have been a long-standing drag on UK manufacturers.

The new strategy proposes up to a 25 per cent cut in electricity costs for over 7000 energy-intensive firms, phasing in from 2027, plus exemptions from green levies and a rise in network charge discounts from 60 per cent to 90 per cent.

This is vital for sectors like automotive and EV supply chains.

We welcome this and urge the Government to ensure alignment with net-zero goals while delivering robust financial outcomes for industry.

A core strand of the strategy is skills, a £275 million investment in technical training and apprenticeships by 2028–29, alongside stronger capital investment in STEM, including AI and digital manufacturing.

As AI and geopolitical dynamics reshape our strategic needs, we cannot let skills gaps hold us back.

Ensuring no one is left behind means empowering young people in every community with STEM, AI, green tech and manufacturing opportunities. That remains a top RTC North priority.

The strategy expands the British Business Bank and the Office for Investment to deliver greater access to capital, especially for SMEs and regional growth centres.

For RTC North, this means our clients across the North’s supply chains can have easier access to the resources to scale, innovate, and compete internationally.

Invest 2035 is aligned with the UK’s Trade Strategy, including CPTPP and emphasises linking industrial and trade policy.

With ongoing supply chain disruption and geopolitical tensions, we must build economic security through strategic independence, especially in EVs, defence tech, green energy, and AI.

That’s national security too.

At RTC North, we’re ready to work hand in hand with Government, mayoral combined authorities and local authorities to amplify northern cluster priorities, advocate on capital, skills, energy and infrastructure and drive coordinated regional delivery.

A robust industrial strategy has been overdue. Invest 2035 offers a coherent, decade long vision, targeting energy competitiveness, capital access, skills, innovation and regional empowerment.

At RTC North, we’re fully committed, supporting this strategy and collaborating with partners to ensure the North plays a central role in delivering the UK’s next wave of competitiveness, resilience and growth.

Jamie Ollivere is chief executive of RTC North

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