Britain is deindustrialising – the Budget must put a stop to it, and the PM should approve Rosebank
Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander, Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh and Chancellor of the Exchequer John Healey during a visit to Shell UK's St Fergus Gas Terminal in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, following the announcement of the UK government's long-awaited decision on the future of the Jackdaw gas field (PA Images / Alamy)
3 min read
On the steps of Downing Street this summer, the Prime Minister made a very important commitment to reindustrialise Britain.
I strongly support this aim. Since being elected in 2024, I have been fighting tooth-and-nail to protect existing jobs and industry in my constituency of Mid and South Pembrokeshire, including Pembroke Refinery. One of just four remaining refineries in the UK, it directly supports 1,000 unionised jobs for hard-working families in Pembrokeshire, and plays a critical role nationally in supplying 14 per cent of our transport fuel.
Yet as things stand, refining and other energy-intensive industries are struggling. The data paints a worrying picture of accelerating industrial decline. In the year to March 2026, manufacturing was among the sectors with the biggest decreases in employment, with 81,000 fewer jobs.
We must double down on our support for British industry – approve Rosebank and grant new licenses for drilling in the North Sea
Over the last five years, nearly 200 industrial sites have closed, and chemical output has fallen by 60 per cent. Vehicle production and cement production have both hit their lowest level since the 1950s. We want to build record numbers of homes, but we are producing 20 per cent fewer bricks than we did in 2021. The recent closures of Grangemouth and Linsdey saw us lose 20 per cent of our refining capacity in a single year.
Local people are paying the price. Industrial communities that have worked in these critical sectors for generations are being hollowed out, as high carbon costs and energy prices push production elsewhere, taking jobs and investment with it that will not return.
As the party of working people, we cannot turn our backs on these communities. The Labour Party was forged in and by them, and they have powered our country for generations. The public want us to be doing more to support them.
At the Budget, the Chancellor must respond to the emergency facing British industry. UK industrial energy costs are the highest in the developed world, and high carbon costs are further undermining the competitiveness of industry. Reindustrialisation will be an empty promise if we do not take the steps necessary to protect and strengthen our existing industrial base.
The Reindustrialisation Research Group, in which I am proud to serve as an officer, was formed in July 2026 to support these ambitions. We have rapidly grown to more than 90 MPs from across the country, showing the desire for a change of course. Ahead of the Budget, we are asking the Chancellor to expand the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme (BICS) to support all our industrial base with electricity costs. This could be paid for by reforming the Emissions Trading Scheme, as proposed by the Energy Competitiveness Unit.
I believe the Prime Minister can get this right where his predecessors have failed. He has already shown he gets this agenda, with the approval of the Jackdaw gas project after years of pointless prevarication and Tory bungling. But we must not stop there. We must double down on our support for British industry – approve Rosebank and grant new licenses for drilling in the North Sea, and cut carbon taxes.
This is critical for communities like mine, and for the resilience of our nation in ever-more uncertain world.
Henry Tufnell, Labour MP for Mid and South Pembrokeshire and officer of the Reindustrialisation Research Group
