The future of manufacturing in "Global Britain"

Following its semi-amicable breakup with the European Union, the UK is still in the process of finding its feet alone in a fast-changing world, as well as still being nervous and tired from nearly two years of a global pandemic. While much has been said about Brexit over the past several years, the anger and hyperbole have faded and the country is now left contemplating its future. 

After speaking at a plenary panel session on net-zero manufacturing, IE caught up with Prof. Chris White, a former Member of Parliament and current Director of the Industrial Policy Research Centre at the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) in Coventry, to learn more about the opportunities and challenges facing the UK as it moves towards net-zero in a post-Brexit world.

"If we look at the opportunities in terms of adopting new technologies, and the emerging sectors that will be created from the challenge of decarbonisation, I think there are things to look forward to and to be positive about in terms of global Britain, new technology, our USPs in the aerospace sector and manufacturing more generally," said White.

"I think where the challenges lie are in things like productivity, which has been a challenge for many years. It is not a recent thing. Germany has been more productive than the UK for over a century. Before the financial crisis, we were starting to converge, but then we began diverging again.

"Another, even bigger challenge is the adoption of technology, especially automation and robotics, which is one of the things the MTC is looking at. It’s a question of how we get our Small and Medium Enterprises to adopt those technologies, whether it’s in modern construction methods or picking strawberries in fields and everything in between."

Read more: "Automate Or Evaporate": IE Meets IFR's Dr Susanne Bieller At GMIS2021

As pointed out by the Secretary-General of the International Federation of Robotics Susanne Bieller, earlier that week at the Summit in her interview with IE, the UK has been historically somewhat reluctant to automate and is now lagging a long way behind several of its European counterparts.

Prof. White believes there are a number of reasons for this. "I think we maybe have something of a make-do and mend mentality, a pride about making things that last. There is also anxiety about jobs. I don't think the argument has been won yet that automation creates jobs. Also, the strategic investment argument hasn't necessarily been won yet.

"I think you do need shocks to change ways of thinking. The UK has had two enormous shocks that just might accelerate the pace of change.

The former Member of Parliament for Warwick and Leamington between 2010 and 2017, White’s parliamentary interests were very much aligned with his career post-politics. Not only did he sit on the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy select committee, but he also chaired the All-Party Parliamentary Groups on Manufacturing and Social Enterprise.

In 2016, before the Brexit referendum, when David Cameron was Prime Minister, in his role as an MP, Chris White made a public call in the House of Commons for the government to create an industrial strategy, though at that point, he says, "nobody was in the least bit interested. We were talking about sugar tax at the time."

Read more: What's on the agenda for the UK-Australia trade deal?

However, following Cameron’s resignation in the immediate wake of the Brexit referendum, his successor Theresa May was more open to the idea and spoke often on the topic. Two government departments were subsequently merged to form the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

"Once Theresa May began talking about it, suddenly everyone did and you almost became trampled in the crush. A problem it faced, however, was perception. Industrial strategy can be seen as emblematic of an interventionist state, which is something the Conservative Party doesn’t have an overwhelming appetite for.

"However, between innovation strategies, research and development strategies, scientific superpowers and all those things at the time, if you add them up together, they are industrial strategy by another name."

Of course, much has happened since then both in the UK and globally. White lost his seat in parliament in the 2017 elections and Theresa May stood down as Prime Minister in 2019 having become mired in the quagmire of Brexit.

Her successor, Boris Johnson, is a very different political beast. His Prime Ministership is inextricably connected with Brexit, not to mention the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, and a string of other controversies.

In this context, keeping political and public pressure alive for an industrial strategy can be difficult, though Chris White says that communicating a coherent narrative is key here.

"If you talk about economics, things can appear a little ephemeral and nebulous. But when you use the phrase 'industrial strategy', I think people can be persuaded. Whether you're a truck driver, a scientist, a schoolteacher, or whatever, it’s about making people feel they’re part of a huge heave together towards something better. This is what global Britain is all about."

Global Britain, as a theme, was often brought up throughout the whole Brexit process, from the initial campaigns and onwards to this year when the UK formally completed its withdrawal from the EU. Still, a hugely divisive issue in the country, though one which receives less attention since its completion, its impact is starting to be felt in a number of ways. The country has suffered the knock-on effects of having fewer foreign workers on supply chains, and there have been some reports of larger numbers of graduates leaving the country.

"If it is the case that people are leaving, then I’m certain the range of skills that we need in the UK will help drive innovation. It's often the case that a shock will help build creativity into the system. It forces people – the researchers, inventors and innovators - to look at different ways of doing things."

Read more: What Is The Human Cost Of The Green & Digital Transitions?

While the major shock of Brexit has now petered out into a series of smaller aftershocks, Prof. White believes that the country has reason to be optimistic going forward.

“I think we have a rare opportunity here, but also a challenge. Take electric vehicles, for example. The impact of EVs will be enormous, particularly for somewhere like the West Midlands where we have an industry based on the internal combustion engine. That will have to change to electric vehicle-based pistons and valves and so on. All those manufacturers currently making those things will change. We need to be ready for that because otherwise, these businesses are not going to have markets.

“We are an incredibly resilient nation. We have a creative, innovative gene. The question is really one of how we optimise that going forward.”

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