Prof Diane Coyle provided oral evidence at the inaugural Business and Trade Committee meeting on Industrial Strategy, emphasising the crucial need to align government policies across sectors to enhance productivity and living standards in the UK.
The Business and Trade Committee convened for the first time on 11 February 2025 to look at the Government’s proposals for a 10-year modern industrial strategy, as set out in Invest 2035.
Experts from academia and business gave oral evidence covering how best to maximise UK economic growth, productivity, and high-skilled jobs, close the growth gap, meet carbon reduction and geo-political goals, balance sector investments, and ensure effective governance and scrutiny.
The Bennett Institute’s Prof Diane Coyle, who also sits on the Industrial Strategy Advisory Council, discussed how the UK has the potential to increase its growth rate, but recent reductions in growth forecasts highlight the need to focus on long-term improvements in productivity and living standards. Technological advancements will drive much of this growth, and an industrial strategy should help capture these opportunities.
She suggested that the UK’s industrial policy should focus on strong-performing sectors such as life sciences and creative industries, while ensuring consistency in policy to reduce risks for businesses.
Said Diane: “I’m advocating for the kind of focus [that we were just discussing] that you have to start somewhere, you pick some areas of the economy, some sectors, if you like, where you think you can have easy wins. But the other aspect of this is getting the value for the money that’s being spent, and that requires joining up government policies across different areas. Focus today is industrial strategy, but there is also the new towns work that’s going on. Economies happen in places, so that has to join up. All of the work on the health of the population has to join up as well. So it’s not just how much is being spent, but how effective is it all being spent that comes through the kind of joining up in government policies that we also have not seen for a long time, absolutely vital.”
The UK has suffered from underinvestment, both public and private, which needs addressing. To improve effectiveness, government policies must align and consider regional dynamics and different sectors. Further, local authorities and a permanent industrial strategy council can help manage investments, reduce uncertainty, and support regional development.
Watch the recording on parliamentlive.tv
The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the Bennett Institute for Public Policy.
