PwC comments on King's Speech - Getting a clear industrial Strategy running quickly will be key to Government’s success

On the establishing of an Industrial Strategy Council, Carl Sizer, chief markets officer at PwC, said:

“The establishment of an Industrial Strategy Council in statute will be a central foundation to driving the Government’s mission for economic growth. 

“Our recent Framework for Growth research shows that business leaders are calling for the new Government to ensure a future industrial strategy shifts the dial for the economy as a whole, such as reform of the planning regime, improving work readiness of graduates and school leavers and investment in key national infrastructure, rather than isolated levers for individual sectors. 

“Today’s legislative agenda starts to pave the way for these to be delivered but with eight in ten business leaders saying an industrial strategy is critical to economic growth, they will be looking to government to address the detail of the strategy with the same level of urgency we are seeing across other announcements.”

PwC’s recent Framework for Growth research, including a survey of 1,200 businesses of all sizes, over half of which were SMEs, and 60 one-to-one interviews with senior business leaders, policy bodies, and trade associations, explored business attitudes and priorities for achieving growth within their sectors. Key findings include:

• Seven in ten (68%) businesses say the UK lags behind competitor countries for how its skills system promotes growth, despite its globally-renowned Higher Education institutions.

• Over six in ten (65%) business leaders think the UK is losing too many talented people to other countries.

• Whilst eight in ten (81%) UK businesses say an industrial strategy is essential for economic growth, some three quarters (73%) of business leaders believe their “asks” should focus on improving the broader business environment, rather than specific needs of individual sectors. 

• Given this lack of a clear ‘wishlist’ of changes that would benefit their sector, business leaders are more likely to prioritise shifts that they feel would benefit the economy as a whole, such as improving the ‘work readiness’ of school leavers and graduates. 

• PwC has calculated a potential £650 billion uplift to UK GVA by 2035 by improving the UK’s performance across three of the biggest enablers for growth identified by business leaders - skills and education, digital transformation and infrastructure and planning - to be inline with other G7 countries. Businesses’ highest priority of skills, education and talent would see a £230 billion uplift.

• As the new Government sets a clear agenda for economic growth, placing industrial policy at its heart, there is an opportunity to reset the relationship with business. Only 53% of business leaders in our survey feel that past governments have listened to businesses when designing policies to promote economic growth.