‘Reversing deindustrialisation must be central to writing a new story for Britain’

Westminster is finally talking about reindustrialisation. Led by Andy Burnham’s accurate diagnosis that deindustrialisation has gone far too far, we are starting to have a serious conversation about the economy, one that goes beyond just boosting the services sector. 

The economy we need must deliver good jobs, opportunity and hope in every neighbourhood. It must bring down the cost of living and build national resilience. At the core of this transformation is rebalancing our economy towards greater production – whether in agriculture, critical minerals, industry or energy. This is about making more things in more places and bringing good jobs close to home.   

That’s why we are launching the Reindustrialisation Research Group, with colleagues from across the Parliamentary Labour Party, including officers and chairs from Tribune, the Red Wall Group, the Industrial Strategy Group, Coastal Communities, Local Growth, Labour Growth Forum and the Labour Rural Research Group.  The role of this group of groups will be to develop proposals to advance this agenda, as well as monitor and scrutinise the Government’s proposals to ensure that they meet the public’s desire for change. 

In seats like mine, we retain strengths in manufacturing, yet we could do so much more. The savage legacy of deindustrialisation is there for all to see, with derelict factories reminding us every day of a time when opportunity could be found on our doorstep, not far away in some distant city. It’s impossible to understand the challenges facing British politics today, with falling trust and populism, without reference to this. 

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Around the world, countries are taking serious steps to reindustrialise, and the group will be seeking to learn from these examples. The actions the Government has taken so far are welcome, with important measures to safeguard our domestic steel and potteries industries. Yet Britain is still far behind the curve. 

Treasury orthodoxy continues to say that the Government should buy the cheapest, not British. National policy focuses on boosting what is already thriving, while treating the places where these sectors don’t exist as a problem to be managed, rather than an opportunity to be seized. 

A serious growth strategy must start with a different premise: that left-behind towns and communities are not peripheral to Britain’s economic future, but central to it. An ambitious and bold reindustrialisation strategy, that is laser-focused on seeing Britain make more things in more places, will be a cornerstone of this change. 

A million more jobs in production

That’s why our first call is for a bold target of a million more jobs in production. Without asking the system to deliver something as tangible as this, it will be impossible to cut through. We will get bogged down in process, in arguments that seek to deflect rather than deliver. We will fail to persuade all the parts of the system that we are serious – with blockers sitting on their hands rather than doing. 

Such a target would finally meet the ambition of those in our left behind communities. Instead of offering these places ‘more of the same’ through an addiction to services and an ‘on your bike’ mentality, we could build on these towns’ inherent strengths by backing our nation’s producers and manufacturers. 

It would also address the number one issue for voters: the seemingly-never-ending cost-of-living crisis. Our dogged and persistent level of inflation is ultimately a production challenge. This is because our current account deficit, which reached £94 billion in 2025, means our currency is weaker than if the economy was in balance. Given our dependence on food, energy and manufacturing imports, this depreciation has pushed up the cost of everyday living.

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It also matters for our national security and resilience. The empty shelves of the Covid-19 pandemic were a long overdue wake-up call for our country, with the continual price shocks from the wars in Ukraine and Iran only reiterating that lesson. Where things are made matters and Britain’s extreme experiment in deindustrialisation has left us dangerously exposed. 

With ambition, relentless focus and a willingness to break from the London-centric orthodoxies that have governed us for the last 40 years, we can create the change that the British public voted for. Change that doesn’t just turn up on a spreadsheet in Whitehall, but change that is seen, felt and known up and down this country. 

Reversing deindustrialisation must be central to writing this new story for Britain. A distinctively Labour approach to bring hope and opportunity back to every community. This is the prize and our job is to now make it real. The Reindustrialisation Research Group stands ready to play its part.

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