Industrial Strategies and the North: Will a Local Industrial Strategy Deliver Something New?

Abstract

Industrial strategy has been officially out of favour at the national level since the 1980s, although some form of tacit industrial policy has existed for many years under different governments, often partial and usually not codified in official format. The new national Industrial Strategy of 2017 sets out a much clearer intent for how the 2016 Conservative government wants to rebuild the UK industrial base through both national level activity and through local and regional strategies.

At a regional level this is not so new, since the North East has had a variety of regional development strategies and innovation strategies dating back to the 1990s, associated with the implementation of the EU Structural Funds, with the former Regional Development Agency and now with the North East Local Enterprise Partnerships. These typically involved many aspects of the new local Industrial Strategies, so what’s new and what should the region be doing?

Citation

Charles, D. (2019), "Industrial Strategies and the North: Will a Local Industrial Strategy Deliver Something New?", Liddle, J. and Shutt, J. (Ed.) The North East After Brexit: Impact and Policy (Brexit Studies Series), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 73-86. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83909-009-720191006