A rebalancing programme for Britain: Ending austerity in the UK

At the heart of the UK’s low economic growth is low investment and low productivity. Investment as a percentage of the UK economy is significantly below that of any other G7 country. Investment in productive capacity has fallen from 3.6 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2008 to 2.7 per cent in 2017. Productivity growth over the 10 years to December 2017 is thought to have been the lowest since the 1820s on a rolling 10-year basis.

Our thesis is that a sustained improvement in productivity growth, and an increase in investment by both private and public sector, is the key to increasing the trend rate of growth.

There is no single solution. What is needed is the consistent adoption over a long period of a set of policies which, taken together, can correct the imbalances which create a low-growth environment, and in so doing revolutionise the UK economy.