Industrial Strategy puts automotive front and centre – SMMT
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders has welcomed the government’s newly announced Industrial Strategy.
With a clear focus on the automotive industry, the strategy is a 10-year plan to boost competitiveness, support skills development and encourage innovation through further investment and greater collaboration.
It aims to double business investment in advanced manufacturing to £39bn per year by 2035, double investment to £30bn in clean energy industries, and support digital and technology businesses with £1 of public funding for every £3 of private investment.
The government said: “Our Industrial Strategy is a new relationship between business and government – a 10-year plan in which we chart a strategic course that allows business to make long-term decisions and focus on creating wealth and prosperity. Our ambition is for this partnership to significantly increase business investment by 2035.”
Quick implementation
Responding to the strategy, Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive, said: “The publication of an Industrial Strategy – one with automotive at its heart – is the policy framework the sector has long-sought and government has now addressed. Such a strategy – long-term, aligned to a trade strategy and supported by all of government – is the basis on which the UK automotive sector can regain its global competitiveness.
“Making the UK the best place to invest now depends on implementation, and implementation at pace, because investment decisions are being made now against a backdrop of fierce competition and geopolitical uncertainty. The number one priority must be addressing the UK’s high cost of energy, enabling the sector to invest in the technologies, the products and the people that will give the UK its competitive edge.”
