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Will growth plan work? The risks, rewards and red lines for Reeves

The Guardian

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January 30, 2025

What is Rachel Reeves's plan for economic growth?

-  Heather Stewart

Will growth plan work? The risks, rewards and red lines for Reeves

The chancellor laid out a series of "supply-side" reforms, aimed at improving the UK economy's potential to grow, including by tackling what she called "chronic underinvestment".

Economists believe the UK's low levels of investment compared with other major economies are a key factor behind weak growth since the global financial crisis of 2008.

To encourage businesses to spend money and create jobs, Reeves is promising to sweep away some of the barriers that slow down major (and minor) infrastructure projects.

That means a planning and infrastructure bill, coming in the spring, which will make it harder to object to building on environmental grounds, for example - and easier to build homes around railway stations.

What else is the chancellor doing to encourage business investment?

Reeves also plans to woo corporate investors by urging the UK's 100-plus regulators to pursue growth, alongside their other duties, such as consumer protection.

The chancellor is also reforming pensions regulation, in the hope of unlocking part of the surpluses of defined benefit funds, to be invested in pro-growth projects.

Reeves also listed transport projects she believes are critical to growth, including the much-delayed third runway at Heathrow, which has become symbolic of the inability to get infrastructure built.

What about public investment?

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