Latest news with #governmentinvestment
Times
25-06-2025
- Business
- Times
Industrial renewal? Labour's heart isn't in it
Why do I have the feeling I've read this before? And why am I so certain that I'll read it again before long? This version, published on Monday, is called The UK's Modern Industrial Strategy, which means that we can probably expect that next one to be called, A Contemporary Post-Modern Industrial Strategy, or perhaps, The British Strategy for an Industrial Concept. Let me make a bold prediction: this document, like the ones before it, isn't going to move the dial. That isn't because there's nothing valuable in it. In fact, if you trace the evolution in thinking from David Willetts's 'eight great technologies', Vince Cable's 'green investment bank' and George Osborne's 'northern powerhouse' and 'innovation catapults' (don't ask me to explain the branding there) through Theresa May's 2017 'industrial strategy' to Boris Johnson's 'build back better' paper and Dominic Cummings's research agency and now the Labour version, we are creeping conceptually in the right direction. But overall, these initiatives are so timid they all get overwhelmed by events, and the new one is no different. • Keir Starmer unveils 'targeted, long-term' industrial strategy At least there are two signs of progress in Labour's version. The first is that the government seems to have clocked that the best way to increase Britain's market share in those advanced industries where we have strengths is to deploy more cash through government-backed investment vehicles and procurement policy. The British Business Bank, the new sovereign wealth fund, government export financing, the defence budget and a few other bits and bobs are to get a bit more funding than they had before, with a mandate to build British supply chains in particular sectors while under commercial management. This reflects the fact that countries with large industrial market shares no longer rely solely on massive loss-making subsidies and loans that prop up old industries (steel, aluminium) but have cultivated advanced production using more sophisticated, semi-commercial funds, with mandates to generate a profit as well as achieve a strategic aim. Nowhere has done this on a grander scale than China. • Labour revolt over welfare reforms is 'noises off', Starmer suggests The second positive element is the admission, also found in the recent defence review, that in order to be competitive in certain cutting-edge technologies and production processes, Britain needs a broader industrial base. It is not sufficient for our security or prosperity just to corner one step in a complex industrial process that otherwise relies almost entirely on Chinese production. It makes your industries too vulnerable to disruption and theft. Joe Biden, as US president, tried this with his policy of 'small yards, high walls' — sanctions only on the most advanced semiconductor technology — but it has been nowhere near sufficient to address American supply chain insecurity. The government is now recognising that there are such things as 'foundational industries, including electricity networks, ports, construction, steel, critical minerals, composites, materials and chemicals, that are important to unlocking growth'. Its defence strategy likewise repeatedly references the need for the government to help build up a greater British and European 'industrial base' for the sake of greater 'military competitiveness'. There's little sign, however, of a willingness to follow through on the implications of these statements, which would involve a significant shift in how and where we spend money. This isn't just an issue because we distrust Beijing while buying all our batteries from Chinese factories. It's also critical because a country's ability to get better at producing things it needs is limited if its firms have no direct contact with the businesses one step up or down the supply chain. Operating amid a perpetually fragile and shrinking industrial base means struggling to maintain a pool of people who understand production and can train others, while limiting their creative power and prestige. We are now well beyond the point where this has critical security implications — how can you maintain nuclear submarines without nuclear engineers? — but it was never just about defence. It's a matter of competitiveness. The real story of British industrial competitiveness, of course, is that large parts of it are in free fall. The gas crisis was a fatal shock for many, with taxes and regulations piled on top further accelerating the decline. While carmakers rebounded after Covid, Britain's output of paper, oil, steel, chemicals, cement and ceramics fell by around 30 per cent or more apiece between 2021 and 2024. There is more to come. The farms tax is hitting farming machinery, gas heating bans will destroy boiler manufacturing and the family business inheritance tax has halted investment across many unsung regional exporters. The government's plan to dampen Britain's appalling industrial electricity prices by exempting them from various green levies has been 'cautiously welcomed' by industry, but until we adopt a turn-on-all-the-taps approach to energy, this problem isn't getting solved. Even without the self-sabotage of terrible energy policy, tax assaults and regulatory barriers, British industry is coming under ever-greater pressure from Chinese over-production. Clearly, we can never compete directly with China on scale. In just four or five years of promoting 'guidance funds', the public-private investment vehicles that have propelled Chinese production to the forefront of many fields, Beijing is estimated to have raised $1 trillion, or 5 per cent of GDP. That doesn't count the vast amounts it ploughs into research, infrastructure, old-fashioned metal bashing and smelting subsidies. But we could have a more modest goal of bringing public spending on grants, guarantees, direct investments and R&D up to levels seen in South Korea, Sweden or Israel, estimated to be around 2 to 5 per cent of GDP and further amplified by private investment. For such ventures to work, the government must be willing to let commercial managers take decisions about public money, have some initiatives fail while others make large fortunes and protect nascent technologies from foreign competition with tariffs where necessary. There's a reason why we aren't doing this, however: Labour's heart isn't really in it. Just consider how its MPs, historically the representatives of industrial workers, are spending their time this week. Instead of ferociously critiquing the government's latest industrial strategy they are engaged in a fight to keep paying out more money to people not to work. No doubt the structure of the welfare system is important but it is not welfare that will provide for the long-term security of this country and all the people in it, workers, entrepreneurs and vulnerable alike. There is no financial security in relying on ever-growing payouts from a budget we can't support. Yet for the most part, this is all our governments have done since 1945: focus on how much money to give out to whom, and leave off thinking about where all this money is going to come from. Our timidity in economic ambition is matched only by our recklessness in spending. This serves no one's welfare, least of all the poor.
The Sun
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Popular resort named among UK's best seaside towns with stunning castle & Tudor streets to get £20m makeover
A UK seaside resort once dubbed a "social mobility coldspot" has been given a major boost after securing nearly £20m of government investment. North Yorkshire Council said £19.5m had been allocated to Scarborough as part of the government's Plan for Neighbourhoods scheme. 7 7 7 7 The authority said it had previously devised a "10-year vision document" following public consultation, which named improving the town centre and bus services as priorities. Council leader Carl Les said: "The chance to use such a significant amount of funding in Scarborough will bring wide-ranging benefits not just for communities in the town, but also far wider across the region. " Scarborough is one of our biggest towns here in North Yorkshire, and there is real potential to bring a new era for what is among the country's most popular seaside destinations." While the locals call it Scarbados, the Queen of the Coast – it has an ancient castle, spectacular cliffs, Tudor streets and two sandy beaches – there is a downside to living in Scarborough. In 2017, the Office for National Statistics reported the town had the lowest average income in Britain while it has also been described as being a personal bankruptcy hotspot and a social mobility coldspot. But in recent years the town has been fighting back. Last month it was named as one of Britain's best seaside towns by Conde Nasté Traveller while there has been something of a cultural renaissance too with the success of the 6,000-capacity Open Air Theatre. The theatre was reopened by the Queen in 2010 and now claims to be Europe's largest amphitheatre 'since antiquity'. Each year since its renovation it has attracted bigger names to its stage, which sits in the middle of a lake next to England's bracing east coast. Promoters Cuffe and Taylor (C&T) book the acts for the council-owned venue and secured the services of Britney Spears in 2018 and Noel Gallagher 's High Flying Birds twice: in 2016 and 2018. C&T's Peter Taylor reportedly discovered that one of Spears's representatives is originally from Leeds, and liked the idea of bringing the American superstar to the Yorkshire seaside. This summer's headliners include The Corrs, Gary Barlow, Pendulum and Shed Seven. Another group of entrepreneurs, Scarborough Group International, also plans to transform the town's Brunswick Centre into a "dynamic, leisure-led destination", complete with a state-of-the-art cinema. 'Like so many traditional seaside destinations, Scarborough has faced stiff economic challenges, which need to be met with a concerted effort from the authorities and businesses invested in the town," said Mark Jackson, who is leading the project and was born and raised in the town. "Scarborough has great strengths and remains popular but, for the town centre to thrive, it must evolve to suit a much-changed world." Liz Colling, chair of the Scarborough and Whitby area committee, said: "Scarborough is such a wonderful place to live, work and visit, but like so many coastal areas, it does need investment." Additional public spaces and seating areas, as well as further development of the Scarborough Station area, were also named as potential projects in the earlier plan. Key priorities for people who took part in the consultations included a cleaner, more attractive town centre in Scarborough and more frequent bus services, especially for teenagers and the elderly. The programme has now been rebranded as the Plan for Neighbourhoods with an expanded remit to improve health and wellbeing along with work, productivity and skills. It is also aimed at boosting cohesion and education along with opportunities for local communities. The original ambitions of the national programme, which was previously known as the Long-Term Plan for Towns, also remain and include reviving town centres, regeneration, promoting heritage and culture and addressing safety and security concerns. Improving transport and connectivity are also key considerations under the initiative. More public consultation would be carried out before a new plan was submitted by the winter of this year, the council said. Projects are set to be rolled out from spring 2026. Councillor Les added: 'The fact that the scope of the Plan for Neighbourhoods has been broadened to the previous incarnation of the scheme gives us an even greater chance to transform Scarborough for residents, businesses and visitors.' 7 7 7
BBC News
07-05-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
New mayor wants parties to work together for Cambridgeshire
New mayor wants council leaders to 'hunt as pack' 15 minutes ago Share Save Chris Mann & Harriet Heywood BBC News, Cambridgeshire Share Save Kate Moser Andon/BBC Paul Bristow believed voters had been looking for a mayor that was "bigger than just the party brand" A new Conservative mayor has said he wants all the political parties in the area to "hunt as a pack" to help secure government investment. Paul Bristow was elected as the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority mayor on Friday with 28.4% of the vote. The Liberal Democrats took control of Cambridgeshire County Council on the same day. Bristow has since told the BBC he will meet each elected council leader so they can work together for the "investment that Cambridgeshire deserves". "We have got to work together. We have got to hunt as a pack for Cambridgeshire," he said. Bristow added that if council leaders and parties fought each other instead of lobbying central government, they would fail to secure the government investment that Cambridgeshire "deserves". Ben Schofield/BBC Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch visited Peterborough to celebrate Paul Bristow's mayoral victory Bristow, who was the MP for Peterborough between 2019 and 2024, won 60,243 votes. He was followed by Ryan Coogan, the Reform UK candidate, with 49,647 votes. Labour's Anna Smith came third (42,671 votes), followed by Lorna Dupre for the Liberal Democrats (41,611) and Bob Ensch for the Green Party (18,255). Bristow said people had voted Reform UK or Liberal Democrat because they "weren't us [Conservative]" and the party had to now prove it was capable of tackling the big issues facing the country. "I think people were looking for a mayor like in the West Midlands, like Tees Valley and Greater Manchester; a mayor that is bigger than just the party brand and that is why I always said Cambridgeshire first, party second," he said. Bristow, who is now the leader of the combined authority, hoped its board, which consists of the leader of the district and city councils and the county council, could look at transport issues such as creating a light rail. While campaigning to become mayor, Bristow said he wanted to see an end to "anti-car" schemes and was opposed to road pricing. Follow Cambridgeshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
