Manufacturing set for funding boost to reduce energy costs

The UK manufacturing sector is expected to receive support to ease sky-high energy costs and boost skills, the Guardian understands, as part of a long-awaited industrial strategy due to be unveiled next week.

- Rob Davies Jasper Jolly

Energy-intensive industries have long complained that they pay too much for electricity compared with competitors in the EU, while the wider industrial sector has struggled to recruit skilled staff.

As Nigel Farage's Reform UK party targets support in Britain's industrial heartlands, Labour ministers are poised to pour funds into boosting the manufacturing workforce, via proposals similar to a £600m package for the construction sector announced earlier this year, which underpins plans to build 1.5m new homes.

Ministers have also drawn up plans to take aim at energy costs via two policies, one targeted at businesses that use the most electricity - such as steel and aluminium - and another designed to support manufacturing more broadly.

The two schemes are expected to be at the heart of the industrial strategy, which could be announced as soon as Monday.