Theme: Political Economy | Content Type: Journal article

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Industrial Policies or Industrial Strategy: The Difficulty of Enacting Long-Term Supply-Side Reform in the UK

Steve Coulter

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Remy Gieling

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Abstract

The government's recent ditching of Theresa May's interventionist ‘Industrial Strategy’ and its replacement with the more amorphous and target-driven ‘Plan for Growth’ has dismayed many in industry. But in many ways, the move merely exemplifies the ad hoc, short-termist and ideologically driven nature of how industrial strategy has often been conceived and implemented in the UK since its rediscovery as an important tool of supply-side policy following the market-fundamentalist Thatcherite interregnum. This short-termism has sabotaged repeated attempts to move the UK economy onto a higher and more sustainable growth path and will likely hinder the government in meeting its objectives on productivity, decarbonisation and levelling up through reindustrialisation. The problem has both institutional and ideological causes, largely to do with Treasury domination of the supply-side agenda and its default market failure approach. This hinders successful adoption of the kinds of expansive, ‘mission-oriented’ industrial strategies followed more successfully in other countries and which could be transformative if applied in the UK.

  • Steve Coulter

    Steve Coulter

    Steve Coulter was Head of Industrial Strategy and Skills at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, and a Visiting Fellow at the LSE. He is now Head of Economy at Green Alliance.

    Articles by Steve Coulter
Volume 96, Issue 1

Latest Journal Issue

Volume 96, Issue 1

This issue features a collection titled 'The 2024 UK General Election' edited by Ben Jackson, Colm Murphy and Peter Sloman, in which authors including Ross Mckibbin; Will Jennings,  Gerry Stoker, Paula Surridge, Maria Sobolewska, Mathew Lawrence and many more discuss the sources of Labour’s victory and consider how the result will shape the future of British politics. Other articles include a commentary by Deborah Mabbett on Trump's proposal to buy Greenland; 'Centralised by Design: Anglocentric Constitutionalism, Accountability and the Failure of English Devolution' by John Denham and Janice Morphet; 'Broke and Broken: The Crises Facing Local Government in England' by David Jeffery; and 'Biographies of Discontent: The Challenges Facing Labour' by Helen Goodman. A selection of book reviews feature Morgan Jones' thoughts on 'Against Landlords: How to Solve the Housing Crisis' by Nick Bano, and Lyndsey Jenkins' review of 'Orwell's Ghosts: Wisdom and Warnings for the Twenty-First Century' by Laura Beers.

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