All together now

The government’s vision for a global Britain, levelling up all regions of the UK and leading the world on research, innovation and low carbon technologies is exciting. A modern, British Industrial Strategy can help make that vision a reality.

The new CBI report, All together now, provides new insights into what’s worked as part of the Industrial Strategy and identifies recommendations for future success.

As we enter the next phase of the Industrial Strategy, the CBI alongside business' full support recommends that the government make 2020 a year of action, with fresh momentum injected into the Industrial Strategy and business engagement by committing to:

• Putting Grand Challenges at the heart of the Industrial Strategy, with each Grand Challenge having a clear goal akin to ‘net zero by 2050’ to inspire and galvanise action. These Grand Challenges should have a strong focus on the major challenges facing our society over the next decade, on people, planet and place
• Making a rapid decision on all pending sector deals to unlock pent up investment and provide clarity to the rest of the economy on what the bar is for future deals. All sector deals should include a focus on achieving net zero, skills and training, and levelling-up the country
• All parts of the UK should have a Local Industrial Strategy in place by summer 2020 to help accelerate the levelling-up agenda. Each local area, including the devolved nations, should play to its distinct strengths and have action plans for delivery
• A renewed emphasis on the horizontal enablers should be focused around people and skills, infrastructure, tax and regulation, innovation, and trade, building upon the existing Industrial Strategy foundations. Working with business, the government should scrutinise performance in all these areas against our international competitors and ensure the UK is equipped to win.

Now is the right time to increase bandwidth across government, businesses and regions to build upon the Industrial Strategy. By applying lessons from the past two years, we can ensure the UK makes inroads into tackling regional inequalities at home and leads the way on the global stage.