New Business Secretary Sajid Javid must build on industrial strategy for UK

Prime Minister David Cameron appointed the former investment banker as Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills.

He also promoted Anna Soubry to become minister for small business. She will attend Cabinet.

Andy Tuscher, regional director at EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation, said: “Sajid Javid takes on this critical brief at a pivotal time for the economy and industry.

“Business needs stability and continuity in policy and the Government’s commitment to a long-term economic plan and business strategy remains key.

“Mr Javid will need to focus on three things in particular: building on the success of the previous administration’s work on industrial strategy and ensuring this is applied across Government; maintaining funding for important levers of growth, including research and innovation and support for exporters, through UKTI; and helping ensure Government delivers the big ticket infrastructure projects, from additional runway capacity to rail and road improvements.

“The new Secretary of State will also play an important role in any EU negotiations and in the forthcoming referendum and I am sure he understands that the vast majority of businesses he will now be representing in Government want Britain to remain at the heart of a reformed Europe.”

John Cridland, director-general of the CBI, said: “We congratulate Sajid on his appointment as Business Secretary.

“He was an excellent Treasury Minister, and will be a strong voice for the business community, helping to make its voice heard loud and clear at the Cabinet table.

“We want to encourage more companies, especially Britain’s forgotten army of medium-sized businesses, to boost exports and investment, to drive growth and create jobs up and down the country.

“We look forward to working with Sajid to achieve this.

“As an immediate step, we want the Government to set out a clear business plan for its first 100 days, including getting the deficit down, finding new ways to deliver public services and committing to the Airports Commission’s final decision this summer.

“We also need policies to bolster our supply chains, and make the UK the destination of choice for manufacturing high-value products.”

Mr Javid is the son of a bus driver and was born in Rochdale, Lancashire.

He was educated at state schools and became a high-flying investment banker before entering politics.

He was previously Culture Secretary.