www.hpmag.co.uk HYDRAULICS & PNEUMATICS July/August 2026 15 between electricity and gas were reduced. To improve industrial competitiveness, Make UK is calling on the incoming Government to implement a package of short- and long-term reforms. These include bringing forward the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme to this year and extending eligibility to all manufacturers, transferring electricity policy levies into general taxation, expanding business rates relief for green investment, creating a successor to the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund, accelerating electricity market reform to reduce reliance on gas pricing, and reforming grid connections to better support industrial demand. Commenting on the findings, Stephen Phipson CBE, CEO of Make UK, said: “High energy costs are one of the biggest threats to the future of manufacturing in the UK. Companies want to invest, innovate and decarbonise, but they cannot do so while electricity prices remain internationally uncompetitive. “The incoming Government must act quickly, ensuring support reaches the whole manufacturing base while investment decisions are being made now. That means delivering the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme this year, extending it to all manufacturers, and moving policy costs off electricity bills. “Manufacturers are not asking for permanent subsidy. They are asking for an energy system that allows them to compete, invest and grow in the UK, at a time when wider business cost burdens have already increased significantly since 2024. Without urgent action, we risk losing industrial capacity that will be extremely difficult to rebuild.” Dale Vince OBE, Founder of Ecotricity, added: “Ecotricity has been campaigning for years now – to end the energy market absurdity that sets the price of all electricity to be the same as that from gas. This ‘link’ prevents Britain’s lower cost green energy from bringing down energy bills. It ensures that British manufacturers remain exposed to volatile global gas markets, undermining competitiveness – for no good reason at all. “The economic case for reform is clear. During the 2023 energy crisis, breaking this link would have saved UK businesses an estimated £30 billion. Inflation could have been 1.5 percentage points lower, Bank of England interest rates almost one percentage point lower, economic growth 0.6 percentage points higher, and the UK economy £36 billion bigger in GDP terms. The link fundamentally undermines our economy, as well as forcing overpriced energy on us. “British companies continue to face some of the highest energy costs in Europe – our next Prime Minister must seize the opportunity to lift this burden from our whole economy and finally ‘break the link’.” The report also highlights manufacturers including David Nieper, Schneider Electric and Numatic as examples of businesses investing in onsite renewable generation, electrification, energy efficiency and digital optimisation to reduce both emissions and operating costs. While these investments demonstrate continued confidence in industrial decarbonisation, Make UK concludes that individual business action alone cannot overcome the structural challenges within the UK’s energy system. The report argues that delivering cheaper, cleaner and more secure electricity will be critical to safeguarding manufacturing competitiveness and supporting the sector’s next phase of industrial transformation.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjQ0NzM=