How is the UK’s Industrial Strategy Doing After One Year?

Last year, the UK Government published The UK's Modern Industrial Strategy 2025, a 10-year plan to increase business investment and grow the industries of the future in the country. 

In the plans, the government said its vision was that by 2035, the UK will be recognised as the best place in the world to start, grow and invest in advanced manufacturing. 

Now, it has published a report detailing how its strategy is progressing one year since its announcement. 

The UK is in a politically tumultuous time; the current UK Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, has announced he will step down from the role. It is unclear how his replacement will impact the government’s manufacturing plans. 

The government highlighted some positive developments and massive investments in its report, but some of the case studies it highlighted had been hit with issues or delays and new research indicates many in the UK manufacturing sector are still waiting for tangible support. 

DRIVE35(ing) advanced manufacturing

The government says Britain has attracted more than £380bn (US$509.6bn) in private investment and £38bn (US$50.98bn) of export announcements has been secured across key sectors, supporting more than 155,000 jobs.

It is committing up to £4.3bn (US$5.74bn) in funding for the advanced manufacturing sector, including up to £2.8bn (US$3.755) in research and development. 

It is also investing £4bn (US$5.36bn) to 2035 via DRIVE35, which is a five year programme designed to support the UK automotive sector, with more than £533m (US$715m) in grants to businesses so far and a separate £650m (US$872m) in EV grants.

The government has established a new £500m (US$671m) Sovereign AI Fund and taken action to accelerate electricity grid connections. 

It has also committed more than £1bn (US$1.34bn) to train people with skills to work in key industries including Technical Excellence Colleges. 

In defence, the government highlights it is awarding thirteen British based small and medium sized enterprises contracts of up to £4m (US$5.4m) each from the £20m (US$26.8m) Defence Unicorn Fund.

It also mentioned the Swedish Gripen fighter jet deal for Ukraine, with more than 30% of each aircraft built in the UK which will support more than 5,000 jobs in England and Scotland. 

The government recently published further information about defence manufacturing in its Defence Investment Plan. 

Waiting for tangible support

US manufacturer Fluke commissioned censuswide research into the strategy. The research found that 61% of UK manufacturers say they've benefited from the strategy in some way, but fewer than one in three (28%) have received direct grant funding.

Paraic O’Lochlainn, VP of eMaint, a Fluke Corporation Brand, says: “There are encouraging signs. Yesterday the government shared its progress over the past 12 months, highlighting cuts to electricity bills, faster grid connections and £9bn allocated for cutting edge research and commercialisation of new technologies. But many manufacturers are still waiting to see the strategy translate into tangible support on the ground.”

He added: “If the UK is serious about reshoring, reindustrialisation and long-term resilience, the next phase of the Industrial Strategy must focus on delivery.”

Charging Somerset’s batteries

The government highlighted in its report Agratas is developing a large-scale battery manufacturing facility in Bridgwater, Somerset to supply EV batteries for its anchor customer JLR (Jaguar Land Rover).

China currently dominates the EV battery supply chain. In 2025, the country accounted for 70% of electric car production and more than 80% of battery cell production, according to the IEA. 

The government says is investing £380m (US$510m) in the project to strengthen the UK’s advanced manufacturing base, supporting delivery of DRIVE35 by accelerating the transition to net zero and reducing reliance on imported batteries.

However, as the Guardian noted in June 2026, JLR faces the risk of delays to the first deliveries of electric car batteries from the factory in Somerset after construction problems. 

The newspaper added that several parts of the project are understood to be behind schedule.

Making hard drives in Northern Ireland

The government highlighted a semiconductor laser research and development investment of £15m (US$20m) for Seagate Technology in Northern Ireland (NI), which is part of the UK. The investment was made through Invest NI, an economic development agency. 

Seagate says the project, announced in 2025, totals £115m (US$154m) that will be invested over five years in next-gen hard drive development.

John Morris, the CTO of Seagate, said at the time of the announcement: “With Invest NI’s support, we’re accelerating the development of 60TB and beyond capacities, laying the foundation for achieving 100TB drives.”

The government says the investment is for “breakthrough nano-photonic innovation”. It is positioned to meet rising global demand for data storage capacity, driven by hyperscale data centres and the AI data boom.

Much of the world’s high tech supply chain is centered in Asia through semiconductor giants like TSMC and SK hynix, though increasingly fab production projects have opened or began construction in the US and Europe.

Sunderland and Beijing

The government highlighted in its report, published 8 July 2026, that it is supporting 6,000 jobs through a £450m (US$603m) investment in Nissan’s Sunderland site to support production of the Nissan LEAF. 

Nissan's UK operations made a pre-tax loss of £888m (US$1.19bn) last year with the company receiving a £900m (US$1.21bn) boost from its parent company, according to BBC News,

Its Sunderland site was operating at 50% capacity earlier this year. In May, Nissan announced that it would consolidate its manufacturing operations onto one production line to "investigate opportunities to secure better plant utilisation". In June, Nissan signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Chinese carmaker Chery looking at manufacturing its cars at the site. 

This is a time when many in the EU and Britain warn of the serious economic threat posed by China in the automotive sector; the development may cause some to wonder how a production site that received millions in government subsidies, is only able to survive by building Chinese EVs.