Britain’s finance minister Rachel Reeves said on Monday the country’s new government had begun the task of unblocking infrastructure projects and private investment as part of a new “national mission” to drive economic growth.
She pledged to tackle a long-standing shortage of new homes and speed up planning approval for infrastructure projects, including more wind farms, adding: “There is no time to waste.” They have little room for manoeuvre: living standards have stagnated since 2010, public debt is at almost 100 per cent of national economic output and tax as a share of GDP is on track to rise to the highest level since just after World War Two.
“We will not succumb to a status quo which responds to the existence of trade-offs by always saying no, and relegates the national interest below other priorities,” she said. Raoul Ruparel, who advised former Conservative prime minister Theresa May, said the report was likely to show the budget plans inherited by Labour were not credible, with their reliance on more spending cuts for stretched public services.
Inward foreign direct investment has fallen in four out of the last five quarters, according to the latest official data.