David Cameron’s pledge to embed Tory researchers in major industrial firms starting with Rolls-Royce will extend to the electronics industry, his business and enterprise spokesman Alan Duncan has exclusively revealed to Electronics Weekly.

The Conservative leader used a press conference last week to say that research skills and engineering will be at the top of his party’s agenda to revive the British economy if they win power.

Cameron’s plan is to have members of his policy teams working inside Rolls-Royce both in the UK and internationally to gain first hand experience of high tech industry.

Now Duncan has revealed that will involve working with its suppliers in the electronics industry as part of the project.

Duncan said that electronics technology was critical to both industry and the economy as a whole.

"Electronics is one of the most critical components of the industry and our work with Rolls Royce will need to look closely at how we can best encourage a British high-tech base – not something that this Government has excelled at," Duncan told Electronics Weekly.

The Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform also revealed that researchers and policy makers would look at the Cambridge high-tech start-up culture to learn about the cutting edge of innovation and technology.

"The Government’s top-down approach to enterprise has stalled the growth and development of start-ups. The Cambridge Consultants model seems to be an innovative approach which we will be looking further at, in conjunction with our science and technology team," said Duncan.

"The key to supporting our manufacturing sector is to support the whole value chain: from research, to design, to development; from the drawing board right through to the market-place and beyond," said Duncan.