The Government has launched a new 10-year Modern Industrial Strategy.
Commenting on the launch of the strategy, Chris Fletcher, Policy Director at Greater Manchester Chamber, said: “This has been keenly anticipated and since the Green Paper last Autumn, businesses and business organisations including the Chamber have been putting forward to Government what is needed to kickstart growth in the UK.
“The 10 year strategy laid out in the document clearly sets out a different approach to sector-specific activity and it covers a lot of necessary changes that will be needed in legislation, planning and access to finance if UK business is to succeed over the next decade. The Industrial Strategy brings together elements from the Spending Review and last week’s Infrastructure Strategy and when these are all put together some sense of the scale of what is needed becomes apparent.
“It is a detailed and ambitious plan and we will be going through this is fine detail over the coming days. One big win for GM though is confirmation that the Industrial Strategy Council, the body that will be overseeing the delivery of this, will be headquartered in Manchester from 2026. We think this is a significant benefit and will help in the wider delivery of the strategy building on the devolved areas of the country.
“With other strategies to be announced in the coming months such as the Small Business Strategy and legislation such as the Planning and Infrastructure Bill to start its path through Parliament there is still a lot of work to be done by government but at least now there is some sort of path to follow and a bold vision in place.”