Rishi Sunak’s reshuffling of responsibilities in Whitehall comes none too soon.
A smarter, more alert government would have sought to refocus the Cabinet and government on the economy’s most promising sectors immediately after the Brexit referendum in 2016, and certainly after Boris Johnson delivered an 80-seat Commons majority in December 2019.
Instead, the Tories allowed themselves to become trapped in the reeds of politics.
Brain drain: Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has appointed Michelle Donelan to head a science, innovation and technology department in a bid to boost Britain’s tech sector
Much of the good stuff that UK enterprise does, the main drivers of productivity and prosperity, has been left to sink or swim.
The attention in Westminster inevitably will be on the new Department for Energy and Net Zero.
That’s not surprising after the world was turned upside down by Vladimir Putin’s ruthless aggression against Ukraine. It is the other department changes which are just as significant.
The creation of a science, innovation and technology department under the stewardship of Michelle Donelan seeks to fulfil the declared determination of Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to unleash Britain’s inner Silicon Valley. There is critical and immediate work to be done.
The brain drain of European and other overseas scientists from Britain’s world-class research universities, caused by the UK’s suspension from the £81billion Horizon Europe project, needs to be restored as pledged.
If budgetary constraints mean that a rise in the UK’s R&D budget to American or even Israeli levels is not immediately feasible, then tax incentives for investment in these areas have to be far more generous.
The horse has already bolted on some of the best UK software, R&D, patents and science. The £10billion sale of Aveva to France’s Schneider without full scrutiny is disturbing.
In the last week, Emma Walmsley at GSK and Pascal Soriot at AstraZeneca have warned that the UK’s competitive edge in life sciences is endangered.
They are calling for greater R&D support and reform of clinical trials. They want a speed up of regulatory approval for treatments so the latest medicines are brought to market more rapidly, as was the case with Covid.
A laser focus on ensuring the UK’s avionics, AI, sonar and satellite tech is not denuded any further also is essential.
Equally critical is recognition of the UK’s creative sector, with its own Department of Culture, Media & Sport.
Depending on where one draws the perimeter, this sphere of the economy, which includes JK Rowling, video gaming, London theatres, ITV studios, the Premier League and much else, accounts for up to 10 per cent of GDP.
Leaving the EU has had its impact on live performances in Europe and the accessibility of British TV channels to EU streaming platforms. The new Cabinet minister Lucy Frazer has the opportunity to disperse such blockages.
No one will be sad to see the cumbersome Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) department dismantled.
Greg Clark was the last Secretary of State driven by issues rather than ideology.
Kwasi Kwarteng, last incumbent but one, regarded his sessions with leaders from the media, insurance and other sectors of commerce as an opportunity to propagate his own brilliant ideas rather than listen to practical issues raised by participants.
Reviving what effectively is the old Department of Trade & Industry offers the possibility of a renewed industrial strategy and pushing the frontiers of trade deals particularly in the fast-growing Asia-Pacific.
Grant Shapps, who has been a person for all seasons amid this winter’s industrial disruption, inherits the hot potato of Energy.
He should not allow himself to be pulled into the Westminster narrative that big oil needs to be punished for making profits.
Yes, there has been an enormous transfer of wealth from consumers and other businesses to the oil majors and Gulf producers. What the UK needs to do is capture some of the extraordinary profits through investment.
Bernard Looney at BP may be rethinking his greening of the company but is still planning investment in 50 gigawatts of wind and solar by 2030. BP and Shell could do more for net zero.
Rather than tax them until the pips squeak, as Labour and the Lib Dems propose, the obvious thing would be for the Government to encourage big energy – Shell, BP, Centrica et al – to invest in next-generation nuclear power.
Sizewell C and Rolls-Royce have been trapped in the starting stalls for too long.
Time for the race to the finish line to be unleashed.
