Healey to pledge "new age of industrialisation" in first conference speech as chancellor

John Healey is expected to tell delegates at Labour's annual conference in Liverpool that Britain is entering "a new age of industrialisation", as the chancellor delivers the first major set-piece speech of his new role and attempts to set out a positive economic vision for the country.

The former defence secretary is due to speak on Monday, a day after ministers have begun fleshing out the details of a shipbuilding package intended to reverse decades of decline in British manufacturing. He is expected to argue that while "our coal mines are not coming back", Labour intends to remake Britain's industrial heritage "for the modern age" by throwing its weight behind advanced manufacturing and the high-skill jobs that come with it.

Much of the substance of the speech is expected to centre on the Royal Navy. Healey is set to confirm that three new floating docks will be built at HM Royal Naval Base Clyde at Faslane, in Scotland, rather than being put out to international tender — a decision framed as a test of the government's commitment to domestic capability in a strategically important sector.

The plans for the docks were first set out in 2023 and are intended to upgrade Faslane's facilities to accommodate the next generation of British submarines. The floating docks form part of a wider £15bn upgrade programme for the Royal Navy's shipyards, and are expected to enter service in the early 2030s.

Speaking on Sunday, First Secretary of State Louise Haigh said the government would also commission a new marine research vessel as part of a broader push for what she described as a "new era of reindustrialisation". The chancellor is expected to announce £115m in funding for the ship, which is likewise earmarked to come into service at the start of the next decade.

Ahead of his address, Healey said backing British shipyards served more than one purpose: it would strengthen national security while also building resilience in the industries thought capable of generating growth. The framing echoes the language used by the prime minister, Andy Burnham, who has repeatedly talked about his ambition to "reindustrialise" Britain — including during talks with US President Donald Trump last week — and who is due to deliver his own high-profile conference speech on Tuesday.

The speech lands at a politically awkward moment. With only a month to go until his first Budget, Healey is under sustained pressure to reduce spending or raise taxes in order to manage the rapidly growing cost of government borrowing. Yet he is not expected to provide any specifics on the fiscal measures he plans to bring forward, leaving the focus firmly on the industrial strategy rather than the money that will pay for it.

Opposition parties are expected to seize on that gap. Shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith dismissed the announcements as "reheated announcements" with "no clarity on where the money is coming from", accusing Labour of being "running scared of making the tough choices needed to pay for Britain's defence". He said the government's record amounted to little more than "reannounced docks and more hot air from Healey", adding that only the Conservatives would cut the welfare bill to fund defence spending.

The move does, however, divide Labour's own supporters along familiar lines. Charlotte Brumpton-Childs, national secretary of the GMB union, which has campaigned for the change, called the decision a "massive boost" for the sector. He pointed out that for too long lucrative contracts had been sent overseas, often to yards operating with state subsidies, and argued that the policy could reinvigorate British shipyards and the communities that depend on them.

Economic data published on the same day as the speech is unlikely to bolster the chancellor's optimistic framing. A Confederation of British Industry survey is due to show falling activity across key sectors in the three months to September, with declines in retail and services more pronounced than the more moderate contraction recorded in manufacturing.

CBI deputy chief economist Alpesh Paleja said businesses were being squeezed from several directions at once, with rising energy and employment costs combining with weak demand to erode profit margins. He added that uncertainty surrounding next month's Budget was itself holding back investment in some parts of the economy, and warned that the fiscal statement must "draw a clear red line under any more rises in the cost of hiring, investing and doing business".

Healey is also facing lobbying from Labour's trade union backers to do more to ease the cost-of-living squeeze. Sharon Graham, general secretary of the Unite union, has urged the chancellor to "do something for workers and the working class" in his Budget, calling on him to unfreeze income tax thresholds in order to put money back into people's pockets and to take further action on energy bills.

Skills policy is another element of the speech. Healey is expected to revive a training scheme run by trade unions, the Union Learning Fund, with £15m of public money redirected from existing government budgets. The programme will help workers in England gain new skills as technology — including artificial intelligence — reshapes the workplace.

Support will not be restricted to union members, and the range of provision is broad: from essential English, maths and digital skills through to training for roles in expanding sectors such as advanced manufacturing. The scheme is a modest sum in Budget terms, but it is likely to be presented by ministers as a marker of a wider commitment to worker transition, at a time when union leaders are pressing for a Budget that feels more redistributive.

Taken together, the announcements amount to a signal rather than a programme in its own right. The £15bn shipyard upgrade and the £115m research vessel both deliver over a horizon stretching well beyond the current parliament, and the rhetoric of reindustrialisation has to be squared with a manufacturing sector that the CBI's own survey suggests is still contracting. The test of Monday's speech is likely to be whether Healey can connect the industrial ambition to credible near-term choices on tax, spending and the cost of borrowing — the questions he has so far pointedly declined to answer.