Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2680 actions· ✨ 93 recent

The UK laid the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) Regulations 2026 (SI 2026/543) before Parliament on 19 May 2026; it came into force on 20 May 2026. The instrument inserts a new Chapter 4KA (regulations 46Z23A-46Z23G) into the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, prohibiting the import into the UK of uranium (HS 2844.10/2844.20/2844.30) that originates in or is consigned from Russia, the direct or indirect acquisition of Russian-origin or Russia-located uranium, and the supply or delivery of uranium from Russia to a third country — plus associated technical assistance, financial services/funds, and brokering services. Each prohibition carries a criminal offence with a reasonable-cause-to- suspect defence, subject to narrow exceptions and licensing grounds at regulations 16-19 of the amending instrument. The same instrument separately extends the existing ban on imports of relevant (2709-origin) Russian crude to cover oil products refined from that crude in a third country (new regulations 46Z9F-46Z9I).

The UK's steel safeguard measure (25% out-of-quota duty) expired 30 June 2026 and was replaced from 1 July 2026 by a new tariff-rate-quota trade measure, announced by the Department for Business and Trade on 19 March 2026. The new measure cuts overall duty-free quota volumes by 51% versus the expired safeguard and raises the out-of-quota tariff to 50% by value, applied across 20 steel product categories. Ukraine-origin steel is exempt; two non-alloy wire commodity codes drop to 0% duty from 1 October 2026.

The United Kingdom and the United States signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding on critical minerals in Washington DC on 4 February 2026 at the 2026 US Critical Minerals Ministerial. The MOU commits both Participants to intensify cooperative efforts to accelerate the secure supply of critical minerals and rare earths for defence manufacturing and advanced technologies, mobilising government financial tools (guarantees, loans, equity investments, offtake arrangements, insurance) and streamlining permitting timelines. On the UK side, the Department for Business and Trade committed up to £50 million in new funding to support critical mineral projects following the 2025 Spending Review. The instrument also includes a commitment to cooperate on price-floor mechanisms — the first bilateral price-floor cooperation filing on the IPTM register — as part of a broader US-led plurilateral initiative to establish reference prices countering non-market overproduction.

HM Treasury's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) published a Russia-regime notice on 18 December 2025 designating five individuals and 19 entities under the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019. Of the 19 entities, six are based in Russia, eight in the United Arab Emirates, four in Uzbekistan and one in Kyrgyzstan — reflecting OFSI's continued focus on third-country intermediaries used to route sanctioned Russian trade and finance. Designated persons are subject to a full asset freeze and are barred from commercial transactions and investment instruments with UK persons.

The UK Export Control (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2025 (SI 2025/1197) entered into force on 16 December 2025, extending the UK's strategic export control regime to cover quantum computing hardware (ECCN-aligned 4A506), advanced and cryogenic semiconductor technologies (3A501, 3A504, 3B501), and associated software and technology categories. The regulations also transfer existing national controls on quantum and advanced semiconductor items from the Export Control Order 2008 into the UK's assimilated Dual-Use Regulation (retained EU 428/2009 as amended), harmonising the UK's dual-use schedule with Wassenaar Arrangement 2024 updates. The action is explicitly calibrated as "Wassenaar Minus One" — aligning UK controls with the US BIS (EAR / ECCN framework) and EU (Regulation 2021/821 as amended) without requiring multilateral consensus on each item. It is the first UK statutory instrument since Brexit to add substantial new technology-specific dual-use controls targeting advanced semiconductor and quantum capabilities.

On 26 November 2025, Scotland's Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Gaelic, Kate Forbes MSP, wrote to the Scottish Parliament's Economy and Fair Work Committee confirming that the preferred bidder for Glasgow Prestwick Airport had withdrawn from the sale process after a "robust commercial deal" had been negotiated. The letter discloses that the proposed acquisition was subject to mandatory notification to the UK Government under the National Security and Investment Act 2021, a reserved matter on which Scottish Ministers cannot comment. Media reporting (Global Trade Alert; Daily Business) identifies the withdrawn bidder as Turkish conglomerate Limak Holding and attributes the collapse directly to the UK national-security review process ("Westminster officials opening an investigation"). The airport, which employs over 500 people directly and anchors an Ayrshire aerospace cluster, remains in Scottish Government public ownership.

The Department for Business and Trade, with DSIT, published "Vision 2035: Critical Minerals Strategy" on 22 November 2025 — the UK's first dedicated critical-minerals strategy under the Starmer government, superseding the withdrawn 2022 strategy. DBT commits up to GBP 50 million for new critical mineral projects on top of GBP 165 million in existing support, with the National Wealth Fund providing equity backing (Cornish Lithium GBP 24m in 2023 plus a further GBP 31m commitment in 2025; Cornish Metals GBP 28.6m in 2025; South Crofty Tin GBP 26.8m). Sets 2035 targets of 10% of UK industrial demand from domestic production (extraction + processing + refining), 20% from recycling, and a hard floor of 50,000 tonnes lithium carbonate equivalent produced domestically. Strategy is consciously midstream-and-recycling-tilted rather than upstream-extraction race; pillars are (i) optimise domestic production, (ii) resilient global supply networks via partnerships with US, EU, Canada, Australia, Saudi Arabia, India, Japan (plus Kazakhstan rhenium/vanadium and continued China engagement), (iii) circular economy / recycling, (iv) responsible supply chains.

The UK Office for Life Sciences (OLS) launched the Life Sciences Large Investment Portfolio (LSLIP), a subsidy scheme worth up to GBP 570 million running from implementation in November 2025 to March 2030. The scheme provides direct grants, capped at GBP 130 million per award, to UK-registered private-sector companies committing to invest GBP 250 million or more over three years in domestic manufacturing or commercial R&D across three subsectors: human medicines (APIs and finished products), medical diagnostics, and MedTech. The scheme was referred to the CMA's Subsidy Advice Unit on 21 August 2025, which published its advisory report on 2 October 2025 ahead of the scheme's launch.

The UK Department for Business and Trade launched DRIVE35 on 13 July 2025, a GBP 2.5 billion decade-long programme of capital and R&D funding for zero-emission-vehicle (ZEV) manufacturing and its supply chain, comprising GBP 2 billion of capital investment through 2030 and a further GBP 500 million in R&D funding through 2035. As part of the launch, the government announced over GBP 300 million in initial support for named automotive projects, including more than GBP 100 million for Astemo Ltd in Bolton for EV component production (over 220 direct jobs) and GBP 15 million for Dana in the West Midlands for EV parts production (over 100 jobs). DRIVE35 is administered via APC-run competitions (Scale-up Fund, Innovation Fund) open to companies across the automotive supply chain from start-ups to global manufacturers.

The UK Department for Business and Trade, with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, published "The UK's Modern Industrial Strategy" (Command Paper CP 1451) on 23 June 2025, laid before Parliament via Written Statement HCWS725. It is the first cross-economy industrial strategy under the Starmer Labour government and replaces the 2017 Industrial Strategy (withdrawn in 2021). It sets a ten-year horizon focused on business investment, productivity and resilience, designates eight priority growth sectors ("IS-8"), and packages instruments including British Business Bank capacity expansion, the National Wealth Fund's GBP 27.8bn envelope, a permanent statutory Industrial Strategy Advisory Council, planning and skills reforms, and sector-specific Sector Plans published alongside.

HM Treasury's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), with the UK Foreign Office, announced on 13 January 2025 a sanctions package targeting Russia's oil "shadow fleet" — vessels operated outside Western maritime insurance and flag-state registries to evade the G7+ Russian crude price cap (set at $60/bbl since December 2022). The package designated 18 vessels (oil tankers transporting Russian crude in violation of the cap) and traders, with separate designations of two LNG carriers and two oil-services firms. This is the largest single UK shadow-fleet designation to date and was synchronised with EU Council and US OFAC packages in mid-January 2025.

The Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) (No. 4) Regulations 2023 (SI 2023/1364) amend the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 to prohibit UK persons from acquiring, importing, supplying or delivering listed Russian-origin metals and metal articles, delivering the Prime Minister's commitment to ban Russian copper, nickel and aluminium. Per law-firm summaries the list (a new Schedule 3BA) also covers lead, zinc, tin, tungsten, molybdenum, tantalum, magnesium, cobalt, antimony, manganese and further metals, and most provisions took effect on 15 December 2023 with a grace period for cargoes consigned before that date.

On 21 April 2022 the UK announced import bans on Russian silver, wood products and other high-value goods (incl. caviar), alongside a 35-point tariff increase on selected Russian and Belarusian goods. The ban was legislated by the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) (No. 10) Regulations 2022 (SI 2022/689, made 20 June, in force 23 June 2022), which inserted a new Schedule 3D ("revenue generating goods") and prohibitions 46T-46W: import of Schedule 3D goods originating in or consigned from Russia, their acquisition, supply/delivery into the UK and related technical assistance are prohibited, subject to Part 7 exceptions and licences. Schedule 3D covers all of HS chapter 44 (wood and articles of wood; wood charcoal), HS 7106 silver, plus e.g. caviar, cement, potassium chloride and NPK fertilisers, pulp and kraft paper, glass, and aluminium plate.

The Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 (SAMLA, Chapter 13) received Royal Assent on 23 May 2018 and established the UK's autonomous post-Brexit sanctions legal framework. Part 1 empowers Ministers (FCDO, HM Treasury) to impose financial, trade, immigration, aircraft, and shipping sanctions by statutory instrument for purposes including UN compliance, national security, foreign-policy objectives, and promotion of human rights and democracy. Part 2 grants Ministers authority to make AML and counter-terrorist-financing regulations aligned with FATF standards, previously derived from EU Anti-Money-Laundering Directives. SAMLA is the parent enabling statute for every UK sanctions regime in force post-Brexit, including 30+ thematic and geographic regulations covering Russia (SI 2019/855), Iran, DPRK, Belarus, Myanmar, Syria, Venezuela, cyber, chemical weapons, global anti-corruption, and global human rights; under SAMLA, OFSI (HM Treasury) holds civil monetary-penalty and criminal-referral enforcement powers. Structurally peer to US IEEPA, EU Council Regulation framework, CN AFSL 2021, and JP FEFTA as the G7+CN foundational sanctions-statute cluster.