This week British Volt went into administration. British Volt was developing as a manufacturer of batteries for Electric cars. A concept which on the outside you would have thought would fly.
Researcher the Faraday Institution believes the UK will need ten gigafactories by 2040-
But No, & before we mention Brexit that was only part of the problem.
But I will bring in levelling up, because as has been highlighted this week levelling up is not proving to be the Panacea it has been sold to the North as.
And what have we been sold, that Levelling up was a way to revitalise the North with new better paying technological jobs to the North which was denuded by Margaret Thatcher’s revolution of the eighties.
British Volt could & should have been a cornerstone in that Strategy.
But was levelling up even ever a real proper Strategy.
Well there is a whole department for levelling up with its own minister, Michael Gove and yes I don’t decry the value of creating an Eden project of the North in Morecambe but to be quite frank that is a drop in the ocean compared to what the North really needs.
Yes some new money invested in shopping centres in places like Catterick is nice but…….
Coming back to British Volt, Levelling up & Industrial strategy to me should go hand in hand and we seem to have neither.
On the face of it British Volt as a concept could not & should not have been allowed to lose.
A great site in the right place in Blyth in the North East, an 14000mw Electrical Interconnector to Norway with Green hydropower coming ashore nearby. Also Blyth is in a perfect position to receive power from new offshore wind in the North Sea.
With a need in the marketplace and exploratory contracts with Aston Martin & Lotus to develop products.
Investors were on board too with Glencore the mega mining company & tool hire company Ashtead.
But seemingly with poor management which seemed to want to be a “California startup” rather than a ground up Engineering led development.
Which is a huge problem for Conservatives, if we as a party are to keep power.
So No Levelling Up & No Industrial strategy.
And I look at another great white hope, Rolls Royce Nuclear Small Modular Reactors.
In the week that the US has approved the NuScale SMR design.
Again an obvious product with a desperate market need yet yes Government has supported financially we see no sense of urgency from Government to see Rolls Royce succeed.
And No growth, because largely the only Growth that can be had in the UK is now in the North as London & the South East is tapped out as it is too expensive.
And Productivity is in the Toilet and we have an aging workforce.
The Thatcherite triumph of Rentierism has reached it latter extent.
Well what is the answer.
From my personal point of view, I would like to see Government actually have a plan for both Levelling up & Industrial strategy.
Laissez faire is ok in the good times but Government planning is not a dirty word. Nor is Government investment as a shareholder in business.
Government strategy should be run well, by people who advise it to do so, a panel which includes the likes of Alan Sugar, Deborah Meaden, John Bamford & James Dyson.
Those people should be empowered & paid by government to work with Entrepreneurs to hothouse ideas into viable businesses.
And as I said before Government should take a stake.
PS The Levelling Up fund to which was pledged 1.7 billion in 2021 & 2.1 billion this year could have bought Two Rolls Royce Small Modular Nuclear Power Stations
https://www.nucnet.org/news/company-says-target-cost-for-uk-smr-is-gbp1-8-billion-11-1-2019
Blue Sky Conservative 