Our modern Industrial Strategy is here
Making it quicker & easier to do business in the UK
The UK’s modern Industrial Strategy
The UK’s modern Industrial Strategy is a 10-year-plan to make it quicker and easier to invest and expand in a more competitive, secure and resilient economy. It will strengthen infrastructure, reduce costs for businesses and simplify regulation, providing the stability and ease you need to make long-term investment decisions.
The Strategy backs eight sectors with the highest growth potential, with actions to help businesses overcome barriers and unlock investment.
Our bold plan of action includes:
- • Cutting electricity costs by up to 25% from 2027 – for thousands of electricity-intensive British businesses in manufacturing sectors such as automotive.
- • Reducing grid connection times – for major investments through the launch of a new Connections Accelerator Service, new powers in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill currently before parliament, and Ofgem’s end-to-end review of the connections process.
- • Unlocking billions in finance for innovative business, especially for start-ups and scale-ups – increasing British Business Bank financial capacity to £25.6 billion, with an additional £4 billion for Industrial Strategy growth sectors.
- • Enhancing investor support – providing our largest and most strategically aligned investors with access to more tailored support through the newly expanded Office for Investment.
- • Meeting the skills needs of businesses – an extra £1.2 billion each year for skills by 2028-29 and government-backed training packages for defence, digital and engineering, while attracting elite talent via visa reforms and the Global Talent Taskforce.
- • Simplifying regulation and reducing planning timelines – cutting the administrative costs of regulation for business by 25%, reducing the number of regulators, and streamlining planning requirements.
- • Boosting R&D spending – to £22.6 billion per year by 2029-30 to drive innovation across key sectors, with more than £2 billion for AI and £2.8 billion for Advanced Manufacturing over the next five years.
- • Deepening economic cooperation with our partners – building on our Industrial Strategy Partnership with Japan and recent trade deals with the US, India, and the EU.
Read the executive summary here.
Why the UK
The UK is already an open, stable and globally connected economy where businesses can invest and grow with confidence. Our strong international trading relationships open doors to global markets, while our cutting-edge research, innovation, infrastructure and top talent help companies stay ahead in growth-driving industries like Advanced Manufacturing, Creative Industries and Financial Services.
Economic growth is the UK Government’s central mission and increasing business investment is the primary driver to achieve that. We are already creating a more investment-friendly environment by capping corporation tax at 25% and introducing extensive planning reforms.
Quicker decision-making
For strategic investors, we will provide access to more tailored support through our expanded Office for Investment. Our modern Industrial Strategy will shorten planning timelines and reduce costs for developers, cut the administration costs of regulation for business by 25%, reduce the number of regulators, and introduce a new ‘Connections Accelerator Service’ to streamline grid access for major investment projects.
Open and stable
Our 10-year plan gives investors the long-term certainty and stability essential for confident decision-making. This predictable environment enables businesses to make strategic investments in our growth-driving sectors with reduced risk and enhanced growth potential.
Already home to 4 of the world’s top 10 universities, we are future-proofing the skills system so defence, digital and engineering skills are prioritised and businesses in cutting-edge industries can hire the workers they need.
Connected
With Industrial Strategy Zones in 22 places across the UK, and Northern Ireland's unique, uninterrupted access to both EU and UK markets, we provide investors with unrivalled access to global opportunities. We're forging closer trade relationships with international partners, including the EU, India and the US, bringing more opportunities to innovate and do business.
We are breaking down barriers for elite global talent in our key sectors, via migration reforms and a new Global Talent Taskforce.
Making growth easier
Our 10-year plan will make it easier for businesses to grow. Companies in Industrial Strategy growth-driving sectors will access unprecedented co-investment and financing through the British Business Bank. The Strategy will also slash electricity costs for high electricity usage manufacturers in our growth-driving sectors, such as automotive and aerospace, and foundational manufacturing industries in their supply chains, such as chemicals.
Growth-driving sectors
We will focus on eight sectors with the greatest potential for growth, and the places where they are concentrated in the UK, reshaping our economy around these industries of the future to provide the stability and simplicity investors need to make long-term decisions.
The UK’s manufacturing strengths are broad and built on our world-class innovation expertise. Our plan will back the sector with up to £4.3 billion in funding up to 2030, with a goal to increase the volume of vehicle production to over 1.3 million and lead in the next generation of new technologies, from increasing vehicle production to 1.35 million, to leading the next generation of technologies for zero emission flight, and supporting scale-ups like autonomous driving solutions.
The UK stands to benefit from a £1 trillion global market opportunity to 2030 for UK businesses supplying goods and services to enable the global net-zero transition. Our plan backs these industries with a £1 billion Great British Energy supply chain fund, National Wealth Funding of at least £5.8 billion for CCUS, low carbon hydrogen, gigafactories, ports and green steel, £10 billion of clean growth finance to 2029, and increasing our Clean Industry Bonus to £544 million. The Government, Great British Energy, industry and The Crown Estate will also invest £1 billion in offshore wind supply chains.
The UK’s Creative Industries are world-leading, showcasing the best of its creativity and culture to the world as the third largest creative services exporter behind the US and Ireland. Targeted packages for advertising and marketing, film, tv, music and video games will improve access to finance for scale-ups and increase R&D. This includes £150 million in new funding for six priority regions, £100 million for R&D clusters, £25 million for a Creative Futures Programme, £75 million for screen, £30 million on video games, and up to £30 million on music over three years.
The UK has been responsible for some of the greatest breakthroughs in the Defence sector, including the invention of the jet engine. We will back UK-based business through our increase in defence spending to 2.6% of GDP. We are reforming procurement to radically reduce the time to contract, increase the value for money and unlock private investment. We are committing at least 10% of the Ministry of Defence’s equipment budget for novel technologies, whilst supporting Defence exports through a new Office for Defence Exports and at least £3 billion of UK Export Finance’s lending capacity. Further measures will be announced in the Defence Sector Plan – the Defence Industrial Strategy.
Our ambitious vision is to make the UK, by 2035, one of the top three places in the world to create, invest in and scale-up a fast-growing technology business. We will support the next generation of start-ups and scale-ups, aiming to create the UK’s first trillion-dollar technology business by 2035. Measures include record investment in R&D that will benefit the sector, with Government funding reaching £22.6 billion a year by 2029/30, supporting new investments in priority frontier technologies – Advanced Connectivity Technologies, Artificial Intelligence, Cyber Security, Engineering Biology, Quantum, and Semiconductors.
Our aim is to make the UK the world’s most innovative full-service financial centre, the most technologically advanced in the world, and geared toward investment: making the UK the location of choice for Financial Services firms to invest and grow. This includes enabling the creation of new pension megafunds with the scale to invest in assets with higher growth potential, delivering new legislation to build on our reforms to the UK's listing regime, and streamlining our approach to financial regulation. Further measures will be announced in the Financial Services Sector Plan on 15 July.
The UK’s ambition is clear: to be the leading Life Sciences economy in Europe by 2030, and third globally (after the US and China) by 2035. Our work will be supported by Government funding of over £2 billion, alongside funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Our plan includes new measures to streamline regulation, improve access to NHS procurement, and support high-potential UK companies to scale and invest. It sets out a vision to drive growth, innovation, and better health outcomes through 3 interconnected pillars; supporting world-class research and development (R&D), making the UK the best place to grow and invest, and driving health innovation and NHS reform.
Professional and Business Services
The UK is a leading provider of Professional and Business Services (PBS) and is home to some of the largest PBS firms in the world. The UK’s thriving PBS ecosystem is a critical enabler for the rest of the UK economy. Our 10-year plan will ensure the UK becomes the world’s most trusted advisor to global industry, with businesses from every industry and geography relying on UK firms to help them succeed in a more unpredictable world thanks to their high knowledge intensity, insights into regulatory and geopolitical change, and track-record in improving business efficiency.
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This free online service provides businesses with immediate access to tailored information and support, including:
- • Step-by-step guidance through the practical steps to setting up a UK company
- • Overview of funding, grants and financial incentives available to overseas businesses
- • Market intelligence on UK locations and salary benchmarking
- • Information on events and networks relevant to the business sector and industry
- • Guidance on how to globally scale your business from the UK and access export advice once established in the UK
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