Chancellor Healey to pledge 'new age of industrialisation' at Labour conference

John Healey is set to deliver his first speech to the Labour Party conference as chancellor, promising delegates what he will call "a new age of industrialisation" for the United Kingdom. Addressing party members in Liverpool on Monday, the former defence secretary is expected to make a deliberately upbeat case for British industry at a moment when the government faces mounting questions about the state of the economy and the cost of governing.

The central message of the address will be a refusal to look backwards. Healey is expected to tell delegates plainly that "our coal mines are not coming back", while arguing that Labour intends to remake Britain's industrial heritage "for the modern age". The government's route to that goal, according to officials briefing reporters, rests on backing advanced manufacturing — the sector already being pushed as the foundation of a wider economic revival.

Shipbuilding is expected to be the showpiece of the speech. Healey is due to announce that three new floating docks at HM Royal Naval Base Clyde, at Faslane, will be built in the UK rather than put out to international tender. The plans were first set out in 2023 and are intended to upgrade the Scottish base's facilities for the next generation of British submarines, with the docks forming part of a wider £15bn upgrade programme across the Royal Navy's shipyards. The new facilities are not expected to enter service until the early 2030s.

Alongside the docks, the chancellor is expected to confirm a second maritime project. First Secretary of State Louise Haigh said in a speech on Sunday that the government would commission a new marine research vessel as part of plans for a "new era of reindustrialisation", with £115m in funding set aside for the ship. The research vessel is also earmarked to come into service in the early 2030s, meaning both announcements point to benefits arriving well beyond the current parliament.

Healey framed the emphasis on domestic yards in unusually blunt national-security terms ahead of his appearance, saying backing British shipyards was a way of boosting national security while also "securing resilience in the industries that will drive growth today while building the capabilities the country needs for the future". The argument being made is that every contract kept in Britain is a contract that cannot be lost to foreign competitors during a period of intense international competition for orders.

That argument drew immediate pushback from the opposition. Shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith said the announcements amounted to "reheated announcements" with "no clarity on where the money is coming from". He claimed Labour was "running scared of making the tough choices needed to pay for Britain's defence", adding: "All they can offer is reannounced docks and more hot air from Healey. Only the Conservatives will cut the welfare bill to fund defence."

The unions, however, have largely welcomed the direction of travel. Charlotte Brumpton-Childs, national secretary of the GMB union — which has campaigned for domestic yards to win work — described the move as a "massive boost" for the UK's shipbuilding sector. He said too many juicy contracts had for years been sent to overseas, and often subsidised, yards, and that the policy "could reinvigorate UK yards and the communities that depend on them".

The speech lands in the middle of a delicate political calendar. With barely a month to go before Healey's first Budget as chancellor, he is under sustained pressure to cut spending or raise taxes in order to address the ballooning cost of government borrowing. Yet he is not expected to offer any specifics on tax and spending in Liverpool. Instead, the speech is designed to frame a positive, long-term vision built around what the government calls a "new confidence in Britain" — an argument about the destination rather than the route.

The timing of that pitch is significant. Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who is due to deliver his own major conference speech on Tuesday, has previously talked about his ambition to "reindustrialise" Britain, including during talks with US President Donald Trump last week. Together, the two speeches suggest an attempt to place industrial policy at the centre of the party's conference messaging, even as domestic economic data offers a more mixed picture.

Data due to be published on Monday, from the Confederation of British Industry, is expected to underline those concerns. The CBI's survey points to falling economic activity in the three months to September, with retail and services among the weaker sectors and manufacturing declining more moderately. CBI deputy chief economist Alpesh Paleja said rising energy and employment costs, combined with weak demand, were continuing to squeeze profit margins.

Paleja also pointed to the Budget itself as a brake on activity, saying uncertainty ahead of next month's spending review was holding back some sectors. His call to ministers was blunt: the Budget must "draw a clear red line under any more rises in the cost of hiring, investing and doing business" against the backdrop of renewed fiscal pressures.

Trade union pressure on the chancellor is also building. Unite general secretary Sharon Graham has urged Healey to "do something for workers and the working class" in his Budget, calling on him to unfreeze income tax thresholds in order to put money back into people's pockets, and to take further action on energy bills.

Responding partly to that flank of criticism, Healey will also announce the return of a union-run training scheme designed to help workers in England gain new skills as technology — including artificial intelligence — reshapes the workplace. The Union Learning Fund will receive £15m in taxpayers' money, drawn from existing government budgets, and will not be restricted to union members. Support will range from essential English, maths and digital skills to training for jobs in growing industries such as advanced manufacturing.