PRESS RELEASE : Business and Trade Secretary launches landmark plan for UK Advanced Manufacturing backed by £4.5bn in Autumn Statement [November 2023]

The press release issued by the Department for Business and Trade on 26 November 2023.

Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch has launched the landmark Advanced Manufacturing Plan (AMP) backed by billions to boost Britain’s manufacturing sector.

• Kemi Badenoch launches Advanced Manufacturing Plan (AMP) with over £2bn earmarked for the automotive industry, including batteries, and £975m for aerospace.
• New plan set to build on recent investment wins including up to £2bn from Nissan, £600m from BMW and £4bn from Tata to build a gigafactory.
• Hundreds of thousands of UK jobs on offer in battery sector alone, as new Battery Strategy includes £50m newly allocated government funding to deliver a globally competitive battery supply chain by 2030.
• Plan backs British industry, ensuring the long-term success of the advanced manufacturing sector and reinforces the UK as one of best places in the world to invest and do business.

Plans to build on British excellence in advanced manufacturing to secure long-term private investment and create high-paid jobs have been unveiled by the Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch today (26 November).

The landmark Advanced Manufacturing Plan (AMP) sets out the government’s initiative to ensure the UK is the best place in the world to start and grow a manufacturing business.

As outlined by the Chancellor last week, the government will offer certainty to business by committing more than £4.5 billion in targeted funding to back the long-term future of the UK’s world-leading manufacturing industries – automotive, aerospace, clean energy and life sciences. This includes support for batteries and industries undergoing fundamental changes to remain at the forefront of the global transition to net zero.

The plan outlines the key measures to improve the business environment and attract investment, including faster grid connections, full expensing and more apprenticeships.

It will ensure the UK uses its competitive advantage in manufacturing to become a world leader in the development of zero emissions technology, taking advantage of the thousands of jobs on offer. Our world-leading track record of decarbonisation makes us well placed to seize opportunities in the new global green economy.

This package builds on recent investment wins including up to £2 billion investment from Nissan in Sunderland, the £4 billion Tata gigafactory, the £600 million Electric Mini investment from BMW and Boeing unlocking £80 million of aerospace manufacturing investment in Sheffield, and ensures that the government can continue to help create jobs, grow the economy, and secure the future of great British manufacturing.

Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch said: 

The UK recently overtook France to become the world’s eighth largest manufacturing economy. The Advanced Manufacturing Plan will build on that success by targeting funding at where we have a competitive advantage.

Industry wants a stable, long-term plan that has support for cutting edge technologies and a trade policy that delivers. The Advanced Manufacturing Plan does precisely that, securing the highly-skilled jobs of the future and driving economic growth.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: 

We are going full throttle to back British businesses and make the UK a world leader in manufacturing – which already makes up over 43 percent of all our exports and employs 2.6 million people across the country.

Today’s plan will not only give the industry the long-term certainty they need to grow and invest further in the UK, but it will also lay the foundations to create more jobs and opportunities for people across the country.

As we bring together the world’s biggest CEOs and investors together for the global investment summit tomorrow, this plan – backed by £4.5 billion – and the record sums of investment we’ve already attracted, make undoubtedly clear that the UK is open for business and is a vital part of our plan to grow the economy.

The battery sector alone could create 100,000 highly paid and skilled jobs in the UK and the Government has also today published the UK’s first ever Battery Strategy, outlining our plan for the UK to attract investment and achieve a globally competitive battery supply chain by 2030.

Global companies are already choosing to invest in the UK and for every pound of Government investment in the future of manufacturing, we are leveraging five pounds of additional private sector investment, providing a welcome boost for industry ahead of next week’s Global Investment Summit.

The Advanced Manufacturing Plan will build on this success and ensure we’re creating the right conditions for manufacturing to flourish, and that bureaucracy does not get in the way of investment.

To boost growth in small and medium sized manufacturing businesses more widely, it has also been announced that the government will expand the Made Smarter Adoption programme, offering the scheme to all English regions in 2025-26 before working with the Devolved Administrations to explore expanding the programme further from 2026-27.

Industry Minister Nusrat Ghani said:

Growing the battery industry is vital to positioning the UK as the best location in the world to manufacture electric vehicles, and building on the confidence we’ve given our supply chain through recent successes such as the investments from Tata, BMW and Nissan, plus the wealth of government support available to businesses.

I wanted to be ahead of the curve in working with Industry to produce a Battery Strategy. This will help businesses become more innovative and productive, future-proofing our economy and supporting our ambition towards a cleaner, greener future, and forms a crucial part of our Advanced Manufacturing Plan to back British industry for the long term.

The plan focuses on:

Investing in the future of UK manufacturing

A new Hydrogen Taskforce will maximise investment opportunities for the UK manufacturing of hydrogen propulsion systems. Hydrogen is expected to represent a crucial part of the UK’s future net zero energy system and is critical to supporting the UK’s energy security.

The Government’s Hydrogen Strategy sets out ambitions to reach up to 10GW of hydrogen production capacity by 2030, with at least half coming from electrolytic or ‘green’ hydrogen.

Building supply chain resilience

The prize in getting our battery industry right alone is worth 100,000 jobs by 2040, with thousands of further jobs available in the wider sector.

The UK’s Battery Strategy will seek to invest £50 million in developing the UK’s battery world-class capabilities, emphasising the importance of developing the batteries of the future by leveraging the UK’s world-leading research and innovation, securing a resilient UK manufacturing supply chain, and enabling the development of a vibrant and sustainable sector.

Reducing costs and barriers to business

At the Autumn Statement, the Chancellor announced further measures to back businesses and remove barriers to investment. This includes making the Full Expensing scheme permanent so businesses can invest for less – delivering an effective permanent tax cut of £11 billion a year for businesses who invest in IT equipment, plant and machinery. The move is set to boost business investment by £14 billion and help grow the economy.

With the tax cut now permanent, the UK will continue to have both the lowest headline corporation tax rate in the G7 and the most generous capital allowances in the OECD group of major advanced economies, such as the United States, Japan, South Korea and Germany.  Since the introduction of the super deduction – the predecessor to full expensing – in 2021, investment in the UK has grown the fastest in the G7.

The Advanced Manufacturing Plan also builds on existing support for the sector that includes the British Industry Supercharger ensuring energy costs for key industries like steel, metals, chemicals, and paper producers are in line with other major economies around the world and the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund supporting the deployment of technologies that is enabling hundreds of businesses with high energy use to transition to a low carbon future.

Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive said:

Decarbonising road transport is essential if net zero is to be achieved, and that transition must be ‘built in Britain’. The government’s Advanced Manufacturing Plan sets out measures to support the UK automotive supply chain as it undergoes the most significant transition in its history.

The plan, together with a new battery strategy to support the development and production of this critical technology, is essential if the UK is to compete in the face of fierce global competition. These initiatives can only help to attract the investment necessary to seize the growth opportunities a Net Zero economy offers.

Kevin Craven, CEO of ADS said:

ADS and our members welcome today’s Advanced Manufacturing Plan publication, reaffirming long-term backing for our world-leading advanced manufacturing sectors, including UK aerospace. This is a very timely intervention given the growing pace of aerospace recovery, huge aircraft order backlog and industries’ continued commitment to net zero.

Our aerospace sector provides high-skilled jobs throughout the country, and set against a backdrop of increasing global competition, the continued commitment towards aerospace R&D is significant. These measures will provide a boost to continued investment in innovation and advanced manufacturing in the UK, in turn securing the future advantage of our industry.

Stephen Phipson, CEO of Make UK said:

A battery strategy is very welcome and much needed. Having a joined-up battery plan in place will be critical for the UK economy to benefit fully from new technological opportunities going forward, and we must ensure that manufacturing involves the entire supply chain, right from design to manufacturing and recycling, closely connecting car and battery industries.

Recycling will also be very important to recover those critical materials that are essential for the low-carbon economy, and this joined up Advanced Manufacturing Plan will help deliver better coordination across the whole of the clean energy sectors.   > Make UK and industry will continue to work with the government on the practicalities of this plan, including how to incorporate manufacturing supply chains. These supply chains have a key role in supplying components and services for clean energy in the future low-carbon economy and we must ensure that the full potential is delivered to enable our companies to compete on the global stage.

Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology Michelle Donelan said:

If we are to seize the enormous potential for advanced manufacturing to create jobs and grow the economy in every part of the UK, it is critical that we support our brightest minds in turning brilliant ideas into marketable products, and even entire businesses.

The £61 million investment we are making in battery R&D will help UK manufacturers grow this burgeoning industry, by ensuring they can access the skills, infrastructure and early investment that they need to flourish.