One of the key building blocks in Theresa May’s plans for a successful post-Brexit Britain is the development of a national Industrial Strategy. On 23rd January 2017, the Government published a Green Paper, Building our Industrial Strategy, which set out its proposals for this strategy under ten ‘pillars’, which they hope will drive growth.
The Government wishes to build a ‘modern’ industrial strategy. This means it should no longer just be about promoting growth in key manufacturing sectors – this strategy should be a policy framework which, if appropriately developed and embedded across government, has the potential to deliver a range of positive economic, social and environmental outcomes.
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) launched a major consultation exercise around this Green Paper, to which the IES has made a submission. Our submission sought to highlight the opportunities for UK in investing in low-carbon, green, resource efficient technologies, and in increasing support for science and innovation. We also recommend that the Industrial Strategy, if it is indeed to be modern and progressive, should have at its core an ambition to deliver sustainable growth, and align its objectives with the Sustainable Development Goals.
