News story: Billions of investment for British manufacturing to boost economic growth
£4. 5 billion for strategic manufacturing sectors including £960
million earmarked for clean energy Funding will be delivered to eight
sectors key to economic growth, energy security, and levelling-up
Part of wider government support to ensure UK is the best place to
start, grow, and invest in manufacturing
Over £2 billion has
been earmarked for the automotive industry and £975 million for
aerospace, supporting the manufacturing, supply chain and development
of zero emission vehicles, and investment in energy efficient and
zero-carbon aircraft equipment.
Alongside this, the
government has committed to £960 million for a Green Industries Growth
Accelerator to support clean energy manufacturing, and £520 million
for life sciences manufacturing to build resilience for future health
emergencies and capitalise on the UK’s world-leading research and
development.
With the entire manufacturing sector making up
over 43% of all UK exports and employing around 2. 6 million people,
this funding is targeted at the UK’s strongest, world leading sectors;
including where the industry is undergoing fundamental changes to
remain at the forefront of the global transition to net zero, like the
move to zero emission vehicles in the automotive industry.
The Green Industries Growth Accelerator investment will
support the expansion of strong, home-grown, clean energy supply
chains across the UK, including carbon capture, utilisation and
storage, electricity networks, hydrogen, nuclear and offshore wind.
This will enable the UK to seize growth opportunities through the
transition to net zero, building on our world-leading decarbonisation
track record and strong deployment offer.
The funding forms
part of the Prime Minister’s pledge to grow the economy, and his focus
on making decisions for the long-term, ensuring this funding doesn’t
just focus on the most successful sectors today but looks ahead to how
we keep pace internationally and build the UK’s expertise for the
industries of the future.
Together with our existing
manufacturing support and plans for net zero transition, this package
will help unlock private investment, provide certainty to investors,
boost energy security, and protect and create jobs. This approach has
already mobilised £198 billion in public and private investment in low
carbon energy deployment since 2010.
Today’s announcement
comes ahead of the second Global Investment Summit later this month,
which will showcase innovative companies from across the UK, with
significant investment opportunities in sectors such as technology,
sustainability, life sciences, advanced manufacturing, and creative
industries.
It will also help ensure that the UK remains at
the forefront of the global transition to net zero and can seize
growth opportunities in the new green economy. The UK remains a world-
leader in cutting emissions, having decarbonised faster than any G7
country since 1990 and set out clear plans to meet all our climate
targets and deliver energy security.
Chancellor of the
Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, said:
“Britain is now the 8th largest
manufacturer in the world, recently overtaking France. To build on
this success, we are targeting funding to support the sectors where
the UK is or could be world-leading.
“Our £4. 5 billion of
funding will leverage many times that from the private sector, and in
turn will grow our economy, creating more skilled, higher-paid jobs in
new industries that will be built to last. ”
Business and
Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch said:
“The UK is a global hub
for advanced manufacturing, with world-leading automotive, aerospace
and maritime sectors. This package builds on recent investment wins,
such as the £4 billion gigafactory, and the £600m invested to build
the next generation of electric Minis, and ensures that the government
can continue to help create jobs, grow the economy, and secure the
future of great British manufacturing. ”
Energy Security and
Net Zero Secretary Claire Coutinho said:
“Today we are
announcing nearly £1bn to back our green industries. While we’ve
already attracted £200 billion in low carbon investment since 2010,
with another £100 billion expected by 2030, this will unlock even
more. We have long been energy pioneers in advanced manufacturing, and
this will allow us to carry on that great British tradition. ”
Today, the government has also published its response to
Professor Dame Angela McLean’s review of the role that regulation and
standards can play in driving innovation and growth in advanced
manufacturing.
The government accepts all 14 recommendations
in the industry expert-backed report which builds on the UK’s role as
a global leader in setting industrial standards and sets out how, with
the right regulations, advanced manufacturing processes can enhance
safety and support the drive to net zero and a more sustainable
economy.
Among the recommendations accepted is to accelerate
the deployment of digital twins, which enables companies to create
accurate digital replicas of the full manufacturing process. Used
across a range of sectors, digital twins have seen significant uptake
in the automotive sector including car production where they offer a
transformative approach to product development, manufacturing and
maintenance, helping firms test how to fix problems or make processes
more efficient.
To boost growth in small and medium sized
manufacturing businesses more widely, it has also been announced today
that the government will expand the Made Smarter Adoption programme,
offering the scheme to all English regions in 2025-26 before working
with the Devolved Administrations to explore making the programme UK-
wide from 2026-27.
The programme helps small and medium sized
manufacturing companies to use advanced digital technologies which can
reduce carbon emissions and drive-up productivity, and its expansion
will also involve inclusion of digital internships.
Stephen
Phipson, CEO of Make UK, the manufacturers’ organisation said:
“Make UK has long campaigned for Made Smarter to be a fully
national scheme so that all SME manufacturers can benefit from the
expertise the programme delivers and we are delighted at today’s
decision from government to commit to a national rollout.
“Made Smarter has already transformed thousands of companies
in the North East, North West, West Midlands and Yorkshire & the
Humber and now it can help turbo-charge industrial digitalisation in
SMEs across the whole of the country. The end-to-end specialist
support the programme delivers has successfully helped smaller
businesses dramatically boost productivity, improve energy efficiency,
drive growth, upskill roles and deliver new jobs in digital skills to
create workforces of the future which will allow Britain’s smaller
manufacturers to continue to grow and remain globally competitive. ”
Additionally, the government has today committed to extend the
Connected and Automated Mobility Research and Development programme
with up to £150 million of funding between 2025-26 and 2029-30. This
will help the UK secure first-mover advantage in the deployment of
self-driving vehicles and services.
The UK’s first Battery
Strategy is also expected to be published next week, which will
outline the Government’s activity to achieve a globally competitive
battery supply chain in the UK by 2030 that supports economic
prosperity and the Net Zero transition.
We have also set out
our plan to launch a Hydrogen industry taskforce, delivered in
partnership with the Hydrogen Innovation Initiative and Innovate UK,
supporting our ambition to maximise investment opportunities for UK
manufacturing of hydrogen propulsion systems.
The government
will set out more about its offer to the manufacturing sector next
week with the publication of the Advanced Manufacturing Plan.
Further information
Further information, including on
the application processes, will be made available by the government in
due course.
The eight manufacturing sub-sectors that will be
able to apply for funding
are:
Automotive
Aerospace
Life
sciences
Clean energy (carbon capture, utilisation and storage,
electricity networks, hydrogen, nuclear, and offshore
wind)
This targeted funding for sectors of economic strategic
importance is in addition to wider support for the manufacturing
sector such as:
the British Industry Supercharger ensuring
energy costs for key industries like steel, metals, chemicals, and
paper producers are in line with other major economies around the
world
the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund supporting the
deployment of technologies that is enabling hundreds of businesses
with high energy use to transition to a low carbon future
the
lowest corporation tax in the G7
The UK also has a world-
leading track record on green deployment, and comprehensive, clear,
and considered plans for our net zero transition.
In Powering
Up Britain, we have set out detailed deployment plans for every sector
of the economy through the net zero transition. These include long-
term frameworks to provide investors with certainty, from the
Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) to the Contracts for Difference Scheme.
These are supported by public spending, with £30 billion for the green
industrial revolution confirmed at Spending Review 2021, and a further
£6 billion for energy efficiency and up to £20 billion for Carbon
Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) announced since then.