King’s Speech

Baroness O'Grady of Upper Holloway Excerpts

Thursday 14th May 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness O'Grady of Upper Holloway (Lab)]

My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Redwood, and to perhaps offer a slightly different perspective. I declare my interest as a member of the Great British Energy start-up board and my responsibilities around a just transition.

We live in times of global economic shocks, from the financial crash to Brexit, Covid and conflict in the Middle East, and there is no guarantee that the global picture will get any easier. On the contrary, such shocks could speed up and intensify, which makes it ever more important that we build our economic resilience. At times like this, it is even more important that the UK has an industrial policy that is both agile and long term. To succeed, it must certainly last longer than the life of a couple of Parliaments, and that means that we need a broad national consensus to sustain it.

This Government’s industrial strategy has won support across traditional lines, and that is reflected in the make-up of the Industrial Strategy Advisory Council. There is broad agreement that a long-running problem for the UK has been low investment in technology, capital equipment and skills, which leads to low productivity, and that this challenge must be met by not just the Treasury but the whole of the Government, at the local as well as the national level. There is widespread consensus too that the Government have made the right call in identifying eight strategic sectors, with the right balance between industry and the services sector.

Economic security and stability matter for families and communities as well as for the country. It should therefore be self-evident that a key objective of the industrial strategy must be to cut carbon and reduce energy costs and to deliver prosperity and good, skilled jobs in the parts of the country that need them most. We have to recognise that there is a growing public expectation on the state to step up and protect people against the volatilities and failures of the free market and to tackle structural inequalities. A mission for growth becomes meaningful in everyday life when it also delivers rising living standards and fair shares. Polls show that public support for a modern, mixed economy is strong. To put this plainly, I merely observe that the privatisation of Royal Mail, British Rail and the utilities is now seen as an almighty rip-off. I commend the Government for taking back public control of rail and of steel, which is a core foundation industry that is critical for the security of this country and indeed Europe. I am sure I do not need to remind noble Lords that polling shows strong popular appetite for more public ownership, not least of the water industry.

We need the private sector to play its part in delivering fair growth for the British people. According to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics, share ownership in Britain is dominated by overseas investors. It has now reached a record high of nearly 58% of UK quoted shares and, on average, shares change hands in a matter of months. That is why I believe that an intelligent industrial strategy must address the case for corporate governance reform, to encourage directors to focus on company long-term success and to ensure that the workers’ voice is included.

While there is growing consensus in favour of an active industrial policy here in the UK, others are not standing still; they are moving ahead too. I end by asking my noble friend the Minister about proposals for EU alignment and the EU’s draft Industrial Accelerator Act, published in March, which was touched on briefly by the noble Lord, Lord Fox. The draft Act sets a clear goal to bring EU manufacturing back up to 20% of GDP by 2035. It is said that this will be delivered by introducing “made in EU” and low-carbon preferences in public procurement. It will regulate foreign direct investment in emerging strategic sectors, streamline and digitise permission for new industrial projects, and launch acceleration areas to encourage the creation of clean manufacturing clusters. I have some questions. If the Minister understandably cannot provide answers now, I would be happy to receive them in the form of a letter. What is the Government’s assessment of the impact of this EU Act on the UK? Is it on the agenda for the reset and dynamic alignment discussions with the EU? Will the Government agree to open a public conversation, including with British-based manufacturers, alongside the TUC and unions, on how we can match the Act’s ambition here in the UK?