UK Government commits to the automotive sector

The UK Government has released its’ much anticipated Industry Strategy White Paper which sets out the plans it hopes will position the UK as a Global leader in four industry sectors by 2030.  Automotive, along with Construction, Life Sciences and Artificial Intelligence will be the first UK industries to benefit from ‘new strategic and long-term partnerships’ with the UK Government and will be ‘backed by private co-investment’.  We spoke with Amy Steel, Associate Director for the Engineering division at Amoria Bond, for her assessment of the impact of this new policy.

‘We would give the plans as set out in the White Paper a cautious welcome and we think that if the implementation of this policy goes as planned then it could have a significant and positive impact on the Automotive industry.’

‘I think that the policy has identified the right 5 areas to focus upon within the strategy and the initial outline looks strong in these areas.  I think that the automotive industry in the UK has long since called for an increase in research and development, therefore the ‘Ideas’ strand of the strategy would seem to address as the aim is to increase investment in R&D to 2.7% of GDP by 2027 which brings the UK in line with other European countries in terms of commitment.  Of course, the challenge will be to achieve this figure over the next 10 years.’      

‘The investment in education with the establishment of the technical education system as well as the cash injection to address the shortage of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) skills is also very welcome.  We regularly see skills shortages within the industry and the impact that it can have on an organisation’s ability to grow and move forward. ‘

‘We were also particularly pleased to see that the Government has recognised the needs for investment in the infrastructure to support the move to electric vehicles.  The extension to the plug in car grant scheme is also very welcome.’

‘The real measure of success will be to see the private sectors reaction to this Government strategy and whether we will see the levels of investment coming into automotive as we have seen today with the Life Sciences industry announcement of MSD and Qiagen committment.’