The Government has been consulting on the Modern Industrial Strategy, Invest 2035, with growth of the economy as the number one mission of the Labour Government. The strategy is a 10 year plan that aims to deliver the certainty and stability businesses need to invest in the high growth sectors.

The consultation closed last week and the Rural Services Network provided a response on behalf of its membership. To put together our response, we asked our member organisations to share with us their key concerns and thoughts about the questions included in the consultation. 

You can read our response at this link

The Modern Industrial Strategy set out 8 key sectors which the Government believes offer the highest growth opportunity for the economy and business.

It also states that:

“A core objective of the industrial strategy is unleashing the full potential of our cities and regions. The industrial strategy will concentrate efforts on places with the greatest potential for our growth sectors: city regions, high-potential clusters, and strategic industrial sites.”

The Rural Services Network believes that this is a dangerous approach which risks leaving behind the economy in rural areas.  Whilst there is a focus on these high growth driving sectors, it is important that this should not be the whole strategy.

We accept that for too long, the economic growth in Britain has been disproportionately concentrated in London and the Southeast, leaving other regions as ‘left behind places.’ But there is another factor – rural areas have been further left behind within regions.

The strategy’s vision for a high-tech, innovation-driven economy is commendable. But there is a risk that this selective mission-led technology approach is at odds with the goal of tackling inequalities and could in fact widen the divide between high-skilled and low-skilled workers and between successful and left-behind places.

For workers in industries prevalent in rural areas like retail, hospitality, food and farming and traditional manufacturing – sectors that are not necessarily innovation-driven – the strategy offers little in terms of support or retraining. Yet without a robust plan for upskilling and re-skilling workers, including the barriers to accessing training etc. – which is particularly pertinent in the rural context - there could be a growing polarisation between those who benefit from the green and high-tech economies and those who do not.

It is essential to ensure that rural areas or not just treated as places where there is land to support developments/infrastructure to meet the needs of non-rural areas - but that those rural areas, their businesses, and communities, also benefit from the investments, job opportunities and economic growth.

The recent report by Pragmatix Advisory for the Rural Coalition (published in September 2024) Reigniting-rural-futures-summary-report-FINAL.pdf (acre.org.uk) highlights the critical need for focused investments and policy changes to bridge the productivity gap between rural and non-rural areas. This is a crucial step to ensure that rural England contributes fully to the nation’s economic recovery and growth and requires action through the proposed Industrial Strategy.

The report shows that with the right policy framework, the rural economy could increase productivity significantly, leading to an additional £9 billion to £19 billion per year in tax revenues. This growth would not only support rural communities but also have far-reaching benefits for the national economy, helping to fund essential public services and drive broader economic initiatives. The Treasury stands to gain substantially from an invigorated rural economy, making this an opportunity too significant to ignore.

At £19 billion that is over 40% of the £47 billion refer to in the Green Paper - making a compelling case for investment into rural areas and reversing the years where rural England has faced chronic underinvestment which has resulted in the widening productivity gap with non-rural areas.

In addition to responding to the consultation, the Rural Services Network has sent a letter to the Minister, outlining some of our concerns. 

The letter is available at this link