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Industry: Rural Areas

Asked by Tim FarronLiberal DemocratDepartment for Business and TradeTabled Answered 5 January 2026UIN 101339

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to ensure that the Modern Industrial Strategy applies equally to rural areas.

Answered by Blair McDougall

The Industrial Strategy focuses efforts on the city regions and clusters across the UK where the growth-driving sectors are concentrated, including in rural areas.

The Strategy introduces targeted measures in rural areas such as enhanced support for the Inverness and Cromarty Firth and Anglesey freeports specialising in Clean Energy Industries and a regional skills pilot to deliver clean power in Aberdeenshire, Lincolnshire and Pembrokeshire.

Alongside this, all regions and nations across the UK benefit from the Industrial Strategy’s national policy offer, which addresses the biggest constraints to growth highlighted by businesses.

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