At the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool Chancellor John Healey outlined industrial procurement and skills measures ahead of his first Budget, including £6bn for British shipyards and a £100m expansion of a local apprenticeships service run by regional mayors.
The government will use public procurement and targeted investment — including £6bn for British shipyards — to support UK manufacturing.
Additional skills funding includes £15m a year to restore the Union Learning Fund in England and confirmation of Rolls‑Royce’s £300m investment in UK manufacturing facilities.
Healey warned the Budget (28 October) will include difficult fiscal choices and stressed adherence to fiscal rules while linking debt costs to constraints on public services.
# What Healey announced Chancellor John Healey used his Labour Party Conference speech in Liverpool to frame a strategy built around industrial investment and skills ahead of his first Budget on 28 October. He described the approach as a push toward a "new age of industrialisation," combining public procurement, direct investment commitments, and locally delivered apprenticeships.
# Industrial commitments and private investment Healey pledged that the government will commit £6 billion of contracts for British shipyards to build submarine docks, specifying those projects will be "built in Britain, by British workers." He also highlighted a private sector commitment: Rolls‑Royce will invest £300 million in its UK manufacturing and engineering facilities. The speech positions procurement as a lever to create regional work and manufacturing capacity.
# Apprenticeships and local delivery
The announcement responds to concerns about youth disadvantage: the article notes almost one million young people in the UK are not in education, employment or training (NEETs). Healey tied the apprenticeship expansion to interim work by Alan Milburn, whose review of youth unemployment warned of the risk of a "lost generation." Milburn's full recommendations will be published later in the year.
# Other skills funding Healey confirmed an extra £15 million each year to restore the Union Learning Fund in England, a trade union‑run scheme that helps workers retrain and access new skills.
# The Budget and fiscal framing
Shevaun Haviland, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, welcomed the speech's recognition of business's role in growth and the focus on reducing business costs. She stressed smaller firms must be able to compete for contracts and that projects need clear pipelines to give businesses confidence to invest in people and capacity. Haviland said the test will be delivery speed and whether the promised contracts and pipelines materialise.
# Practical implications
# Bottom line The chancellor's speech links procurement, targeted public funding and local delivery to raise manufacturing activity and expand apprenticeship routes. Delivery details, timing and the Budget's fiscal measures will determine how quickly these commitments affect firms, colleges and young people.
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Chancellor John Healey will pledge a “new age of industrialisation” for Britain in his first speech to party… The post Chancellor John Healey to pledge ‘new age of industrialisation’ appeared first on LabourList .
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British Business Bank funding of £150 million will be used to provide investing to fast growing businesses in the North of England. Chancellor John Healey will make the announcement during a visit to a manufacturing firm where he deliver a speech outlining the government’s “direction for good growth built in more place
While many young people have found jobs and built careers, some have struggled to complete their courses The crisis in the youth employment market, with almost a million young people not in education, employment or training (Neet) across the UK, has placed fresh emphasis on ways of getting employees into the workforce.
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