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. One year in: the government is making decent down payments for the years ahead

    It’s fair to say it hasn’t been a straightforward first year for the government. 

  2. Britons back local leaders with fiscal firepower

    “Death and taxes,” they say, are life’s only certainties. But there’s a third - wherever taxes are controlled, power lies.

  3. Filling the funding gap: at what cost to Scotland’s public services?

    Last week the Scottish government published its delayed Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) which ‘provides the economic, funding and spending outlooks for the financial years 2025/26 to 2029/30’ and ‘the Government’s fiscal strategy to…