It is a statement of the obvious that Britain’s economy has deep structural flaws that are badly in need of fixing. A chronic balance of payments deficit, massive and growing regional disparities, weak productivity: all need addressing by an incoming Labour government that has pledged to introduce an industrial strategy built on partnership with business to help remedy matters.

Suffice it to say that there is no magic bullet, because if one existed, it would have been fired a long time ago. An industrial strategy will only deliver if it is crafted by business for business, rather than by civil servants in Whitehall. But there are also things the government could and should do.

The UK is not short of good ideas or entrepreneurial spirit. Where it has often struggled is in converting innovation into viable commercial propositions, and that has much to do with low levels of business investment. In 2019, the UK had the lowest rate of business investment in the G7 group of leading industrialised nations, and in 2021 ranked 27 out of the 30 members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development........

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