May to plow $210mn in UK productivity drive

Bloomberg

UK Prime Minister Theresa May will plow 170 million pounds ($210 million) into setting up new technology institutes, placing scientific education at the heart of her drive to boost Britain’s productivity through a new industrial strategy unparalleled since the 1980s.
The institutes will specialize in teaching science, technology, engineering and math, providing high-school graduates with the skills demanded by local employers, May’s office said in an e-mailed statement. The prime minister also aims to boost teaching of those subjects in universities, as well as math in high schools, as part of a “modern industrial strategy” that she described as “a critical part of our plan for post-Brexit Britain.”
“It is a vital step towards building a country where prosperity is shared and there is genuine opportunity for all,” May said in the statement. “Our action will help ensure young people develop the skills they need to do the high-paid, high-skilled jobs of the future. That means boosting technical education and ensuring we extend the same opportunity and respect we give university graduates to those people who pursue technical routes.”
May has placed the industrial strategy at the heart of her effort to define her government beyond Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union. The plan, to be published on Monday and subject to a public consultation, aims to draw together policy on transport, education, telecommunications, energy and construction to ensure businesses nationwide have the skills, links and supply chains needed to expand and diversify into new and growing industries such as renewable energy and robotics.

BREXIT TALKS
The strategy is “about the economy of the future, it’s about ensuring that business can grow and is encouraged to grow in the UK,” May said on Thursday in a television interview with Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait.
“It’s also about ensuring that the benefits of prosperity are available across the whole country, we see that economic growth and prosperity for everyone.”
May’s focus on technical education is likely to please businesses. A survey of 800 members of the Institute of Directors, a business lobbying group, released on Saturday found that their top policy priority is a long-term skills strategy, with three-quarters of companies saying it’s “very important.” Infrastructure improvements and better broadband were their second and third choices.
May signaled on Tuesday that she aims to pull Britain out of the EU’s single market and customs union as part of two years of divorce talks she says she’ll officially trigger by the end of March. The industrial plan and the stated desire to forge new trade deals with countries from the US to China are part of government efforts to demonstrate Britain is open for business and investment, even as it cuts ties with its closest neighbors.

THATCHER’S DAYS
Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond has already outlined spending on roads and broadband as well as a 23 billion-pound National Productivity Fund designed to spur growth. The nation’s economic output per hour has effectively stagnated for a decade, only returning to its pre-recession levels in October.
Britain hasn’t had an explicit industrial strategy of the kind envisaged by May since Margaret Thatcher, the country’s only previous woman prime minister, was in power in the 1980s. When she stood for leadership in July, May said her aim was to create “a proper industrial strategy to get the whole economy firing.” One of her first acts as leader was to unite the business and energy departments and rename the new ministry the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Trump team to work on trade deal with UK

Bloomberg

The Trump administration will lay the groundwork this week for a trade deal between the US and the UK that would take effect after Britain leaves the European Union, a White House aide said, as Prime Minister Theresa May becomes the first foreign leader to visit the new president.
May last week declared Britain is “open for business” as she announced plans to pursue a clean break with the EU, paving the way for the UK to eventually strike new trade accords with the continent and other countries. May said she will travel to Washington and speak to President Donald Trump.
“We’ll have an opportunity to talk about our possible future trading relationship, but also some of the world’s challenges that we all face — issues like defeating terrorism, the conflict in Syria,” and NATO, May said in an interview on the BBC’s “Andrew Marr Show” on Sunday. “When I sit down with Donald Trump, I’m going to be talking about how we can build on that special relationship.”
Trump officials believe their discussions with May’s government encouraged her to be more aggressive in exiting the EU. She can use any American support to argue the UK will prosper outside the bloc although she risks inflaming tensions with European leaders if they suspect her government is actively negotiating trade deals while still an EU member.

JOHNSON MEETINGS
Two of President Donald Trump’s senior advisers, Steve Bannon and son-in-law Jared Kushner, met with UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson in New York on Jan. 8. The three are preparing for the future pact, the aide said, requesting anonymity because the discussions aren’t public.
Bannon, Trump’s National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, and other administration officials have also met with British defense and intelligence leaders, the aide said.
President Barack Obama warned in April that if the UK pursued Brexit, the country would go to the “back of the queue” for US trade deals. UK voters chose to leave the EU anyway in a June referendum, and Trump now appears to be scrapping Obama’s position on the matter. Trump’s team is also considering a deal to reduce barriers between US and British banks, the Sunday Telegraph reported, citing officials from both sides.

US ENVOY
Trump has tapped Woody Johnson, the billionaire owner of the New York Jets NFL team, to serve as US ambassador to the UK, a person familiar with the matter said on Jan. 19. May and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto will make visits to the US this month to meet with Trump, administration officials said.