The myth that manufacturing is a relic must be challenged, it’s the engine of tomorrow’s economy - Keith Jackson

British manufacturing faces serious headwinds. The Employment Rights Bill, though well-meaning, risks reducing flexibility and forcing tough choices between jobs, investment, and growth. We must retain UK steelmaking, transition to hydrogen over coal and safeguard British Steel in Scunthorpe, a national asset, a defence necessity, a pillar of resilience. If we can’t protect steel, we can’t protect sovereignty.

Geopolitical uncertainty is reshaping trade and investment. Yet manufacturers remain resilient: 62 per cent believe 2025’s opportunities still outweigh risks.

We must challenge the myth that manufacturing is a relic. It’s the engine of tomorrow’s economy. It generates £217bn in output, supports 2.6 million direct jobs and another 2.6 million in supply chains, pays 10 per cent above the national average, and drives nearly half of the UK’s research and development activity. We’re the world’s 12th largest manufacturing economy, but we should be climbing, not slipping.

Raising manufacturing’s share of GDP from 8.6 per cent to 15 per cent could add £160bn to our economy, funding public services, attracting investment and creating quality jobs. Services alone won’t fix our trade deficit. We must boost our capacity to design, make, and export high-demand goods, from advanced machinery to MedTech, reducing imports and building resilience. British manufacturing needs an industrial strategy; structure, a serious, long-term plan beyond press releases and political cycles.

Other countries are backing their makers unapologetically. The US is investing over $600bn to reshore critical supply chains. Europe’s Green Deal Industrial Plan is channelling billions into decarbonising industry. China made 60 per cent of the world’s electric vehicles last year.

We need a fully funded industrial strategy aligning defence, energy, infrastructure, skills, innovation and trade into one mission: to grow British industry, build world-class capability and secure our economic future. It must be overseen by an Industrial Strategy Council to ensure accountability and results. It’s time for Britain to act like a manufacturing superpower again.

That strategy must deliver on three fronts:

It must back the strategic sectors of energy, defence, life sciences, and steel with targeted investment, modern infrastructure, incentives for automation, green tech, AI, and strong research and development support.

It must level the playing field by addressing industrial energy costs that are 50 per cent higher than Europe, double the US. That’s a chokehold, not competition. It must reform procurement to use UK-made steel and products in strategic projects, reward social value and open contracts to British SMEs.

And it must rebuild resilience through strengthened skills pipelines with apprenticeships, T-levels, lifelong learning. A country able to make what it needs can defend itself, feed itself, and lead in a volatile world.

We need an industrial strategy that delivers competitive energy costs, a highly skilled workforce and innovation that stays, scales, and exports from the UK. Together, we can power a manufacturing renaissance, and reclaim UK manufacturing as the engine of growth.

Ultimately, “Success, through honest endeavour.” That’s our history. It must be our future.

Professor Keith Jackson is senior warden at The Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire.