The UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves has used the 2024 Autumn budget to reiterate the importance of the UK’s industrial sector.
The Chancellor confirmed long-term funding for ‘growth sectors’ with more than £2 billion being made available, over five years, to support the automotive sector, including zero emission vehicle production and its supply chain.
The critical minerals supply chain will also be supported, with the government pledging that UK Export Finance will support companies supplying critical minerals to UK exporters in growth-driving sectors such as EV battery production, clean energy, aerospace and defence.This new support targets projects that secure critical minerals from overseas and will boost supply chain resilience in key manufacturing sectors.
The aerospace sector will also be supported to the tune of £975 million over a five year period. Featured as a key area in the UK’s decarbonisation effort, the government said it will support the development and production of innovative advanced fuels in the sector and extend the Advanced Fuels Fund for another year. This fund is aimed at the commercial deployment of innovative fuel production technologies that can significantly reducing near-term UK aviation emissions.
With the aim of building resilience and preparedness for future health emergencies, £520 million has been made available for a new Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund.
The National Institute for Health Care and Research (NIHR) will see a real term uplift in its R&D funding.
Sharon Todd, SCI CEO said: “Whilst it would be nice to think that industry would mushroom out of the ground and create value for the UK through the development of new medicines, fuels and technologies, that is not going to happen. Global competition means even start-up companies innovating products and ideas for our sustainable future are leaving for overseas.
“The opportunity is now. A strategy for industry is one thing, but with huge tax incentives in Europe and the US, the UK is set to miss out on the 240,000 extra jobs and $230 billion of added value the clean tech and life sciences revolutions could otherwise bring the UK in the next five years.”
The Department of Science Innovation and Technology will receive funding of £15.1 billion over the period 2025-2026, which the government said is equivalent to an annual average real-terms growth rate of 6.5% from 2023-24 to 2025-26. This funding will support the UK’s universities and researchers to deliver the cutting-edge research that drives growth, as well as supporting association with Horizon Europe and support the UK’s regional innovation clusters.
The government also said the UK’s clean energy sector will benefit from £3.9 billion of funding in 2025-26 for Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage to decarbonise industry and contracts with 11 green hydrogen producers.
Beth Thompson, Chief Strategy Officer at Wellcome, said protecting R&D spending, even when times are tough, is the right thing to do, and that the way to drive economic growth is to invest. "This is particularly true for R&D – every pound of public support stimulates over £4 of private investment. Creating this cycle of long-term, strategic and ambitious investment means businesses and universities can continue to flourish, cementing the UK’s reputation for science, and making new discoveries that transform physical and mental health in the UK and around the world."
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