Labour’s long-awaited industrial strategy will not now be published until June, while ministers will bring forward plans for individual sectors in a bid to show they are working to kickstart growth, it has emerged.

Strategies for life sciences – highlighted by Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, in her high-profile growth speech in Oxfordshire – and advanced manufacturing have been earmarked for early publication.

But the broader industrial strategy, previously scheduled for spring, is now expected to be published around the same time as the spending review on 11 June, the Guardian understands.

The strategy, which will include throwing government resources behind promising sectors, is key to Labour’s growth mission. Sources close to the government said there was a desire to pull forward parts of the strategy to help revive fragile business confidence.

Official figures due on Thursday are expected to show Britain is at risk of recession after a fall in national output in the fourth quarter of 2024, in a blow for Reeves after a sharp drop in confidence after her October budget.

The Bank of England has warned GDP was on track to fall by 0.1% in the final three months of last year. It expects a recovery by the same slender margin at the start of 2025, meaning the technical definition of a recession – two consecutive quarters of falling output – is likely to be narrowly avoided.

However, the figures will underscore the challenge for Labour after a period of flatlining progress since Keir Starmer’s election victory last July. The Bank also warns the economy is set to remain weak this year even as UK households face rising pressure from inflation.

Sources said the government was preparing to give updates on some of the sectors being prioritised by the industrial strategy in the coming months, ahead of the formal spending review announcement.

It comes as Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, will use a speech on Thursday to restate Labour’s growth commitment by talking up the industrial strategy and plans to shake up regulatory barriers holding back businesses.

In a speech at Samsung’s headquarters in London, Reynolds is expected to announce a “strategic steer” for the Competition and Markets Authority which sets out the government’s priorities for the regulator.

It comes after ministers forced out the chair of the competition watchdog, Marcus Bokkerink, this month, replacing him with the former boss of Amazon UK, Doug Gurr, in an attempt to send a pro-growth message.

“I want the regulator to focus its efforts on genuine harms to UK-based consumers and businesses, so they can promote trust and deter abuse,” Reynolds is to say.

The focus on parts of the industrial strategy comes after Reeves used her growth speech last month to say that manufacturers had been “banging their heads against the wall for years” about the lack of a proper plan from the government.

“That is why we have launched our modern industrial strategy, to drive investment into the industries that will define our success in the years ahead,” she said.

However, industry has complained that little detail has been forthcoming so far – and there are growing concerns about the government’s level of ambition, given the Treasury’s self-imposed constraints on spending.

With the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) expected to revise down its growth forecasts next month, Reeves has made clear she will announce spending cuts rather than allow her fiscal rules to be broken.

The government is keen to demonstrate its commitment to life sciences in the wake of AstraZeneca’s decision to abandon plans for a £450m expansion of its vaccine manufacturing plant in Speke on Merseyside. The drugmaker blamed the chancellor’s decision to lower the taxpayer subsidy offered for the site, sparking an unseemly briefing war with Downing Street.

Reeves’s speech included plans to facilitate the expansion of the Oxford-Cambridge corridor, where a cluster of research-intensive life science firms are located – including by building new transport links and giving permission for new reservoirs.

But life sciences firms point to the wider environment, including NHS drugs pricing, and the approvals process for new treatments, as key to unlocking growth.

Richard Torbett, the chief executive of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, said the government’s plans for the NHS, life sciences sector and the industrial strategy needed to “work together seamlessly” to support businesses.

“The UK economy needs a strategy that establishes growth as a shared priority and guiding principle across all government departments,” he said.

Make UK, the manufacturers’ lobby group, expects the advanced manufacturing strategy to build on a plan laid out by the Conservative government.

It is calling for a new industry-led council to oversee the expansion of the sector, as well as a series of policy changes to make the environment more growth-friendly, including reform of the energy market, and of funding for apprenticeships.

The government published Invest 2035, a green paper on its industrial strategy, last autumn, identifying eight sectors it saw as crucial to boosting economic growth.

These included life sciences and advanced manufacturing, alongside the creative industries, clean energy, defence, the tech sector, financial services and professional and business services.