May's industrial strategy seeks to pick winning areas for the UK

London

THE UK government will pick winning areas in the economy to champion as part of an industrial strategy aimed at boosting Britain's productivity as the country prepares to leave the European Union.

Announcing the long-promised plan on Monday, Prime Minister Theresa May said she wanted to see "sector deals" to identify and address barriers to expansion in different industries. The government also aims to target areas where it thinks the UK could excel in the future, including biotechnology, artificial intelligence, and mobile networking. Ministers will hold a Cabinet meeting in northwest England to emphasise their desire to help parts of the country that have sometimes been left behind by industrial shifts.