Ministers were last night urged to deliver a genuine industrial strategy to reboot the British economy after Rachel Reeves backed research and development, AI and the British Business Bank.
Experts demanded a ‘funded and joined-up long-term vision’. Reeves backed an extra £2.2billion for R&D, a £2billion AI action plan and £1.2billion a year for training and apprenticeships.
And she pledged to boost the financial capacity of the British Business Bank, which helps UK firms to access finance, to £25.6billion – a two-thirds increase.
Labour promises a full industrial strategy this summer.
Stephen Phipson, of manufacturers trade association Make UK, said: ‘Industry needs a funded and joined-up long-term vision as a matter of urgency.
‘This must include bold measures to address the UK’s eye-watering industrial energy costs and skills crisis.’
Funding: Chancellor Rachel Reeves has allocated an extra £2.2bn for R&D, £2bn for an AI action plan and £1.2bn a year for training and apprenticeships
Jennifer Townsend, at property firm Knight Frank, said Reeves had shown science, technology and innovation ‘are central to growth ambitions’.
Jess Ralston, at the Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit, said: ‘Will the Government act to reduce the impact of high gas prices, which UK steel has said is the main driver of disparities with industries in Europe?’
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