The lost origins of industrial growth

Article

Any realistic growth plan should start by accepting that the UK lacks the sinews, networks and public perceptions of a genuine industrial society.'

Former trade and industry under secretary Chris Benjamin provides a critical review of British industrial policy over the past 30 years and lays out the scale of the challenge of staying competitive in the modern global economy.

'Amid the clamour for a 'plan for growth', or a 'plan B', or even a 'plan A+', it is generally forgotten that British industry has been losing international competitiveness for at least three decades. It is perverse to rely on the institutional structures and attitudes that have contributed to this decline to reverse the trend.

'A genuine growth strategy needs to junk conventional policy approaches, and replace them - to quote a senior policy adviser in Singapore - with a government team smarter than the smartest captains of industry.'

Related items

  1. Will technology reduce the cost of delivering public services?

    This is the third in a series of blogs related to IPPR Scotland’s project on ‘Employment, Productivity and Reform in the Scottish Public Sector’ funded by the Robertson Trust. 
  2. Graphic depicting a stack of pound coins in the background and one sideways pound coin displayed on its side in the foreground

    The full-speed economy: Does running a hotter economy benefit workers?

    How a slightly hotter economy might be able to boost future growth.
  3. The outside of Rochdale town hall on a sunny day, with flowers in the foreground

    Making the most of it: Unitarisation, hyperlocal democratic renewal and community empowerment

    Local government reorganisation need not result in a weakening of democracy at the local level.