Industrial strategy could be moment UK turns a corner

With its plan to use state investment to 'take the brakes off', the government is showing real ambition, says James Moore

- James Moore

Britain finally has a government willing to treat industrial strategy seriously. Labour's new policy - a 10-year plan to boost investment, create skilled jobs, bring down energy bills and make the UK a better place to do business - is bold, well-resourced and refreshingly focused. It is also a marked shift from the half-measures and warm words of the past 50 years.

For too long since the governments of Harold Wilson, I'd wager "industrial strategy" has meant glossy documents and little else. Labour's version, however, has weight behind it - in both ambition and investment, and is genuinely welcomed by business.

In short, the idea is to target vast state resources to help "take the brakes off" key sectors, from advanced manufacturing (which can then be put to use in more cutting-edge industries such as aerospace and pharmaceutical) to clean energy, life sciences and financial services, in a bid to kickstart growth in the British economy as a whole.

But, wait, I hear you say, don't we already have an industrial strategy? Well, yes David Cameron launched one. It created the British Business Bank, into which Labour is pumping resources. So, indeed, did Theresa May.

Trouble is, the earlier plans went longer on words than they did action. The Starmer government's stab at this couldn't be accused of that. It is genuinely ambitious - not just with rhetoric but with resources.

The Cameron government's "Industrial Strategy Explained" booklet has a couple of billion-pound announcements. Starmer's is splattered with them. Even if you allow for the usual double counting of things that have already been announced, it has firepower.

It also shows - and this is just as important – some evidence ministerial ears are listening. Perhaps the best example of the latter comes in the form of the package of measures designed to cut the ruinous energy bills faced by energy-intensive manufacturers.