Dear Mr. Prime Minister: Mike Bray, VP, Technical Solutions At RS Group

“Dear Mr. Prime Minister, 

Please develop an industrial strategy for the UK together with businesses that will drive sustainable long-term growth.”

– Mike Bray, VP, Technical Solutions at RS Group

The first thing you need to know about running a business in Britain today is that…

Increasing burdens on business are reducing our ability to invest and grow. On top of that, the lack of a clear, future-facing industrial strategy is knocking confidence in long-term investment planning. Businesses need to know where they stand before they can commit to growth.

The biggest challenge facing UK founders that politicians don’t completely understand is…

The gap between start-up and scale-up is widening. Too many promising businesses get stuck at that (start-up) stage because the ecosystem supporting them, particularly around government funding, is slow, time-consuming and heavy on bureaucracy. Founders need less friction, not more forms.

The promise I would most like to see your government keep is…

I’d like to see the government deliver on its promise of “growth in every postcode.” That means building a future-facing industrial strategy together with businesses, rather than imposing one from Westminster, so growth actually reaches the regions it’s meant to.

Please don’t…

Don’t back away from Net Zero. Embrace the opportunity to make the UK a genuine leader in the net zero economy. And don’t repeat mistakes like the 2024 NI contribution increase passed onto businesses; that kind of move damages trust and shows a lack of understanding of the pressures businesses are already under.

What would make the UK a more attractive place to build and scale a company is…

The UK needs clarity on which sectors it wants to focus on, backed by a genuine strategy. We also need stronger incentives and support to help businesses scale once they’ve moved past the start-up phase. Finally, we need a clear-minded, honest view on where the UK can realistically compete and win with AI, rather than trying to be all things to all sectors.

What gives me confidence in Britain’s future is…

Britain has always shown in-built resilience, and that gives me real confidence. We continue to see genuine innovation and opportunity in key sectors like automotive and energy, and our track record speaks for itself, with globally successful businesses like ARM, JCB and Dyson all built here. That foundation of ambition hasn’t gone anywhere; it just needs the right conditions to keep producing world-beating companies.

What worries me most about the next five years…

Growing geo-political and social turmoil is creating a level of uncertainty that makes long-term planning difficult for any business. On top of that, the impact of climate change on supply chains is only going to intensify, and I don’t think enough businesses, or the government, are prepared for what that will mean in practice.

If you take one thing from this letter, let it be this:

If there’s one thing I’d want the Prime Minister to take from this, it’s the need for a future-facing industrial strategy. It’s one that’s clear-minded about where the UK can and will win, and genuinely built in partnership with businesses rather than dictated to them.

My hopes and dreams for 2030…

By 2030, I’d want to see that industrial strategy delivered in full, with real, sustained investment flowing into the sectors we’ve chosen to back. If that investment genuinely reaches every corner of the country, driving growth in every postcode rather than just the usual hotspots, then I’d say this government kept its promise to UK founders and businesses.