UK industrial strategy, redux: Reinvention or a return to the 1970s?

The UK government has embraced the idea of an industrial strategy with the aim of producing a ‘match fit’ economy able to thrive in the post-EU era. This article explores past experiences of UK industrial strategy. It argues that policy has typically been weakened by the lack of a coherent overarching strategic vision. The 1960s stands out as an exception to this, with 1961 inaugurating nearly two decades of industrial strategy. The experience of those years suggests much could be achieved. Nonetheless, I conclude that the investments in the 1960s and 1970s in infrastructure and education/training probably proved more positive for growth in the long-run than its industrial interventions.