\n<\/p>\n
The government will present a \u00a3275m investment in technical training and apprenticeships as the centrepiece of its long-awaited industrial strategy, in a direct challenge to Nigel Farage\u2019s growing influence in England\u2019s manufacturing heartlands.<\/p>\n
The package, announced by the business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, on Sunday, includes funding for new technical excellence colleges, short courses in artificial intelligence (AI) and digital manufacturing, and major capital upgrades to training providers across England.<\/p>\n
It aims to tackle longstanding skills shortages in engineering, defence and high-growth sectors such as battery production and advanced manufacturing.<\/p>\n
Officials said the new strategy was designed to \u201cend the overreliance on foreign labour\u201d and ensure a pipeline of domestic talent for critical industries \u2013 a move clearly aimed at countering Farage\u2019s narrative of national decline and reclaiming the industrial vote in traditional Labour strongholds.<\/p>\n
While the \u00a3275m pledge is not a full industrial funding package \u2013 and falls short of sector-wide subsidies or energy cost changes \u2013 it is being positioned by ministers as the first concrete step in a broader 10-year plan for growth.<\/p>\n
The full strategy, due to be published this week, will also include a new trade strategy focused on exports, supply chains and making the country \u201cthe best-connected place in the world to do business\u201d.<\/p>\n
Reynolds said the skills funding marked a shift away from decades of managed decline. \u201cOur modern industrial strategy will be powered by investing in British people,\u201d he said. \u201cIt will help transform our skills system to end the overreliance on foreign labour, and ensure British workers can secure good, well-paid jobs in the industries of tomorrow and drive growth and investment right across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
The announcement comes as Reform UK intensifies efforts to peel off Labour voters in post-industrial seats, with Farage promising to restore manufacturing and impose tougher immigration rules.<\/p>\n
While Labour has promised a broad \u201cplan for change\u201d, the industrial strategy has been delayed for months as ministers wrestled with how best to rebuild support in regions hit hardest by automation, outsourcing and underinvestment. The timing now is deliberate \u2013 a policy-heavy counteroffensive in the so-called red wall, where Reform UK has surged in recent polling.<\/p>\n
The skills package responds to a stark reality: one in seven young people are not in education or employment, and the number of apprenticeships has fallen by nearly 20% since 2016.<\/p>\n
The education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, called the strategy an \u201ceconomic and social reset\u201d. \u201cSkills rightly run right through the heart of this industrial strategy because they are key to breaking the link between background and success for young people,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The strategy builds on previous announcements, including a \u00a3187m package for AI training announced during London Tech Week and a \u00a33bn apprenticeship fund to create 120,000 places in healthcare, carpentry and construction.<\/p>\n
But the scale of new funding is modest \u2013 about \u00a3275m spread over four years, including roughly \u00a3200m for infrastructure and course delivery \u2013 and Labour may face pressure from industry and unions to go further in reforming the apprenticeship levy, immigration skills charge and energy costs for heavy industry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The government will present a \u00a3275m investment in technical training and apprenticeships as the centrepiece of its long-awaited industrial strategy, in a direct challenge to Nigel Farage\u2019s growing influence in England\u2019s manufacturing heartlands. The package, announced by the business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, on Sunday, includes funding for new technical excellence colleges, short courses in artificial<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9079,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[909,911,650,311,558,912,328,910,908],"class_list":{"0":"post-9078","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education","8":"tag-275m","9":"tag-apprenticeships","10":"tag-boost","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-government","13":"tag-industrial","14":"tag-policy","15":"tag-training","16":"tag-unveils"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9078\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}