The United Kingdom (UK) has made a move to designate British shipbuilding, steel, artificial intelligence (AI), and energy infrastructure as priority sectors for government contracts, as these are perceived to be key industries required to ensure national security.

Given the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, which is affecting global markets and supply chains, many, including Unite the union, have welcomed the UK government’s step to protect four sectors, encompassing steel, shipbuilding, AI, and energy infrastructure, by acknowledging them as critical for the nation’s security, with new guidance prioritizing government contracts for British business, when procuring from these sectors, as recent events highlight the fragility of global supply chains and importance of ensuring domestic capacity.

The UK encourages companies to deliver local jobs, skills, and apprenticeships to strengthen bids for public sector contracts. The government is introducing clear guidance on how departments can protect Britain’s economic security and build resilience in steel, shipbuilding, AI, and energy infrastructure to facilitate a strong and sustainable industry.

With further requirements set for steel, departments will either use British steel or be required to provide a justification if the steel is to be sourced from overseas. The changes come as part of a major package of reforms that aim to back British business, workers, and communities, in a bid to protect national security, cut waste, and give more public money to local companies.

Chris Ward, Cabinet Office Minister, highlighted: “This government is backing British businesses and the working people who power them. These reforms are about using the full weight of government spending to support British jobs, protect our national security and grow our economy. Whether you make steel in Scunthorpe, build ships on the Clyde or run a small tech firm in the Midlands, this government is on your side.”

As a result of this move, departments are now being asked to assess whether outsourced service contracts over £1 million (around $1.34 million) could be delivered more effectively in-house, with the test expected to cover over 95% of central government contracts by value, which is anticipated to deliver taxpayers a fairer deal and end outsourcing by default.

Departments will publish and annually report on a specific social value goal for all contracts valued over £5 million (about $6.68 million) to ensure accountability. This is set to cover over 90% of central government contracts by value. A new suite of AI tools to streamline the commercial process has also been developed.

The government claims that contract terms will be simplified and additional business information will be integrated into a central platform, so that small businesses do not have to submit the same information twice when bidding for different contracts.

Sharon Graham, Unite’s General Secretary, underscored: “This is an important step forward and should help to ensure that more government spending is being used to back workers and their communities in key sectors of the UK economy.

“Unite has long campaigned for a ‘buy British rule’ which should define the UK’s steel industry as critical national infrastructure, and this announcement shows the government has been listening. The devil will be in the detail but Unite will keep pushing for stronger measures to ensure that more government spending is being used to back jobs in the UK.”

Unite underlines that the next step is to go beyond guidance and legislate to ensure that government-backed contracts always buy British products.

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