The government is setting up a critical imports council to help tackle potential restrictions in supplies to the UK of items such as medicine, minerals, food and semiconductors, amid rising geopolitical and climate threats.
Bringing together academics and businesses, the council is expected to convene for the first time in the next three months. It will be tasked with predicting potential issues and advising on action to secure supply, such as finding alternative sources including the potential for more UK production.
The council is part of a strategy, published by industry and economic security minister Nusrat Ghani on Wednesday, to guard against what she described as disruption to global supply chains from “geopolitical fragmentation”, the effects of extreme weather and new technologies.
More than 100 UK firms, including pharmaceutical and manufacturing leaders such as the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) and the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), have contributed.
Businesses will be asked to report disruption affecting critical imports via a new online portal so that government can act quickly, as ministers seek to counter criticisms over the handling of recent supply problems.
The strategy was conceived during the Covid-19 pandemic when supply chains were affected by factory closures around the world, but it has been given new impetus as attacks in the Red Sea, one of the world’s most crucial waterways, threaten higher prices on imports.
The government is under pressure to act as the UK is suffering from an unprecedented shortage of medicines, partly thought to be caused by tax rules and the dive in the value of the pound since Brexit. Generic medicine makers say post-Brexit regulatory delays have also hampered supplies.
There have also been shortages of some foodstuffs, including tomatoes and cooking oil, as the climate crisis affects growing conditions around the world. India, for example, put an export ban on staples including rice after poor harvests, while the war in Ukraine hit supplies of grain, fertiliser and cooking oil.
However, the initiative has drawn criticism from rival parties. Sarah Olney MP, business and industrial strategy spokesperson for the LibDems, said: “This Conservative government has caused untold damage to British trade – erecting barriers, tying up our businesses in red tape and negotiating one failed trade deal after the next. This is anything but a proper strategy and more of a desperate attempt from ministers to clean up their own mess.”
Some key groups said they had not been included in the consultation.
Mark Samuels, the chief executive of the British Generic Manufacturers Association which represents companies responsible for making four out of five NHS medicines, said it was “disappointed not to have been involved”. He said that the current medicine shortages were partly down to regulatory and tax changes, and that the UK needed to be seen as a “sustainable environment for companies to supply”.
The council does not come with new funding, but the government said it had already announced £4.5bn in support for UK advanced manufacturing including up to £1bn for the domestic semiconductor industry – although this sum has been criticised as too low.
The council will have access to research that has mapped the UK’s global supply chains and the potential impacts of shocks on the system. Researchers will also probe how the climate crisis could affect key resources and how to mitigate the impact of environmental disasters.
In her introduction to the strategy published on Wednesday, Ghani said: “The events of recent years have shown the world that we cannot afford to take for granted the resilience of the global supply chains which we rely on for our critical imports.
“Global supply chains are being impacted by climate change and the emergence of new technologies which are reshaping how goods are exported, transported and imported. We are already seeing more extreme weather events disrupting trade routes and these will increase.”
She added that the effects of “geopolitical fragmentation” were also causing changes in trading relationships including “protectionist measures becoming more common and increasing instances of market-distorting practices such as excessive tariffs or even outright export bans”.
Richard Torbett, the chief executive of the ABPI, said: “The government’s approach to the critical imports for pharmaceuticals will support our industry to maintain resilient supply chains, helping to ensure consistent access to medicines for UK patients.”
