Re: It's a start Oh no it's not!
"Choose sectors we can be good at, and stuff them with money. Then we might just be able to compete."
Yeah. The government picking the winners and backing them. A long history of success in that idea. Remember Harold Wilson's "white heat of technology"? BAe was one of the end results of the government backing winning sectors like aerospace. And as a result we can't even built entire aircraft ourselves, unlike (say) Sweden, France, Germany etc. Or nuclear power - a glorious and long history of vast state investment, subsidies and support, but our next generation of reactors will be designed in Japan or the US.
Government have already decided that "green" tech is a place for us to be future winners, and they've stuffed that with subsidies, but have a look at who makes the stuff, and where they make it. Again, we're not in the running.
Something's wrong, badly wrong, but expecting government to sort it out by choosing winners and investing in them is madness.