Later this month, the New Statesman is hosting Igniting Growth, a Westminster-based conference that seeks to answer one simple but seemingly intractable question: how can the UK foster growth?
Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves are not short of advice as the range of contributors in this issue of Spotlight attests. Indeed, on page 18, we ask the very question above. A handful of policy thinkers and advocates offer a series of solutions. Remedies span from regionally led initiatives to an overhaul of training and apprenticeships; from the faster adoption of technology to the warm embrace of workers’ rights.
Elsewhere David Blunkett, a veteran of the Blair and Brown governments, says that given private investment is going to play a key part in any growth strategy, the UK must reacquaint itself with privatepublic partnerships. Acknowledging (page 13) that previous private finance initiatives had been “discredited”, he insists that with “properly trained staff learning the lessons of previous contracting failures” a new approach is both possible and essential if the UK is to raise the capital it needs.
Andy Haldane, the former chief economist at the Bank of England, bluntly accuses the government of an “absence of a growth plan” (page 10). On developing our own skilled workforce, for example, he writes that it is “a generational endeavour. And, so far, the government has yet to plant a seed.”
Meanwhile, technology – and artificial intelligence in particular – will play an important role in igniting growth. At least the government hopes so.
On page 5, Chi Onwurah says it is her responsibility as the chair of the Science, Innovation and Technology Select Committee to ensure tech opportunities “do not go begging”. One of the biggest barriers to AI adoption – and that of other power-intensive industries – is access to energy at a competitive price. As things stand, she writes, these industries “cannot resist the gravity of high energy prices holding them down”.
For the Liberal Democrats, the party’s technology spokesperson, Victoria Collins (page 21), proves to be another AI enthusiast but suggests the UK is in danger of losing its competitive advantage, its unique selling point, if it neglects two key features of the technology’s delivery. She writes: “If Labour wants economic growth, it must recognise that safety and trust are vital for the UK’s success.”
This article first appeared in our Spotlight Igniting Growth supplement of 14 March 2025.
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