Healey puts AI adoption at centre of UK industrial agenda

Chancellor John Healey used his Labour Party Conference 2026 speech to frame AI as central to the government’s new phase of industrialisation, describing it as “the greatest innovation of our time” and a general purpose technology that could benefit businesses, communities, hospitals and schools. techUK said the UK’s main AI challenge is diffusion rather than invention, with too few firms, especially SMEs, adopting tools already being developed by world-class domestic companies.

Healey also linked AI to the workforce, saying Britain should not let “AI leave Britain’s workers behind.” He announced £100 million in funding for new local apprenticeships led by devolved mayors and the reinstatement of the Union Learning Fund. The speech also acknowledged risks to national security, personal data and children’s wellbeing, while Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband pledged to use the UK’s G20 presidency next year to push international AI governance.

The reindustrialisation agenda included £6 billion in new contracts for British shipyards, a £300 million Rolls-Royce investment across Derby, Bristol, Glasgow, Rotherham and Warwickshire, and plans for National Wealth Fund capital to help create 130,000 jobs by 2030 in AI, technology, defence and clean energy. techUK argued that modern industrial capacity depends on digital systems, data centres, connectivity and cybersecurity, not a return to older heavy industry.

Policy detail remained limited before the Autumn Budget, scheduled for Wednesday 28 October. techUK called for action on energy costs, grid costs, regional connectivity, planning reform, procurement, technical talent and market accessibility to make AI adoption and reindustrialisation commercially credible.