Chancellor says UK decided to compete for inexperienced funding as battery announcement awaited

Britain is set to compete within the international race for inexperienced funding, the chancellor has informed Sky News, days earlier than the anticipated announcement that Jaguar Land Rover proprietor Tata will construct a serious new battery manufacturing unit within the nation.

Jeremy Hunt mentioned that he was ready to deploy subsidy cash from the federal government’s £1bn battle chest to assist assist these huge inexperienced tasks, regardless of warning solely final month in regards to the dangers of new subsidies.

It got here as he unveiled a number of recent measures, value a mixed £650m, designed to assist encourage the life sciences and prescribed drugs sector within the UK.

The Tata chairman is because of go to Downing Street subsequent week to verify that the Indian industrial large has chosen Britain over Spain as the location of its new battery plant, which can serve its automobile enterprise within the UK, in addition to Europe.

The competitors between the nations was hotly fought, and the Tata package deal is known to be value round £500m, together with assist on a spread of issues, most notably vitality prices.

“I can’t talk about any commercial discussions,” Mr Hunt mentioned.

“But what I can say is that we understand – the prime minister and I – that we’re in a global race to attract investment, and we will always do what it takes to make sure the UK remains competitive.”

Asked about whether or not that included subsidies, he mentioned: “We have a £1bn automotive transformation fund.

“We know that different international locations are supporting corporations who make these investments.

“It’s obviously good for the UK – not just to create these jobs, but also to transition to net zero – and the transition to electric cars is a very important part of that.”

Distancing from Boris Johnson-style industrial technique

The feedback underline an vital shift within the temper music coming from authorities, which sought to distance itself from Boris Johnson-style industrial technique in its early days.

The US Inflation Reduction Act, by means of which Washington is offering a whole lot of billions of {dollars} of subsidies to inexperienced vitality producers and battery makers, has modified that dynamic.

But Mr Hunt mentioned the federal government was decided to not “pick winners”.

Read extra:
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt ‘willing to do what it takes’ on future energy support
Ministers forced to delay flagship global investment summit
Britain’s battery industry ‘doomed by government‘

“What happened in the 1970s was that we picked companies like British Leyland, put money into them, and it didn’t work,” he mentioned.

“And we have learned that we can support sectors, but in the sectors we support we want to foster fierce competition between the players in those sectors.

“But we’re utterly clear that the sectors we’re backing, the sectors the place Britain does rather well – know-how, life sciences, superior manufacturing, clear vitality – these are the sectors which might be going to make us affluent and profitable within the twenty first century.”

The chancellor mentioned his Life Sci For Growth package deal was an illustration of that – bringing collectively some current funds for analysis, alongside some modifications to planning guidelines which can make it simpler to construct new labs.

The package deal additionally confirmed the “preferred route alignment” for the east-west rail route into Cambridge, a long-awaited practice hyperlink which has provoked a planning backlash from locals dwelling on the route.

He mentioned: “We are finding £650m to support one of our most promising growth industries – something where we’re a European leader, a global leader – and the signal we’re sending to those companies all over the world is that if you want to develop new medicines, we’ve got our fantastic NHS for clinical trials, which we’re now unlocking; we’ve got great infrastructure around Cambridge, but we’ve also got fantastic infrastructure in the rest of the country.

“And we’re backing that as a authorities.”