Britain has suffered a long period of economic stagnation over the last 14 years, with low growth in productivity, real wages and living standards. Not only is this record poor by historical standards, but the UK has also underperformed compared with its international peers. We invest too little and too inefficiently – especially in skills, infrastructure and innovation.
A key problem relates to the many policy mistakes, reversals and leadership churn – these have helped create huge investment-sapping uncertainty. Second, structural reforms are needed to boost national infrastructure and housing, especially around the planning system. Third, we need to improve our relationship with the European Union, our closest trading partners. Finally, the transition to net zero, and sustainable growth, needs a new urgency. Change is desperately needed.
Contrary to what the government has been saying, we believe that Labour provides a credible economic alternative across all these dimensions, and that Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves offer a combination of stability and an ambitious set of reforms to help grow the economy.
Prof Philippe Aghion College de France, Insead and LSE
Sir Charles Bean Professor, LSE
David Blanchflower Bruce V Rauner ’78 Professor, Dartmouth College
Angus Deaton Nobel laureate, and senior scholar and emeritus professor, Princeton University
Richard Layard Founder-director of the Centre for Economic Performance, LSE
Prof Mariana Mazzucato Founding director, Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, UCL
Sir Christopher Pissarides Nobel laureate and president, Royal Economic Society
Prof Richard Portes CBE, Founder of Centre for Economic Policy Research, London Business School
Professor Danny Quah Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore
Dani Rodrik Ford Foundation Professor of international political economy, Harvard University
Prof David Soskice LSE school professor and professor of political science and economics emeritus, International Inequalities Institute, LSE
Anna Valero Distinguished policy fellow, LSE
John Van Reenen OBE and Ronald Coase School professor, LSE
Joe Stiglitz Nobel laureate and university professor, Columbia University
Simon Wren-Lewis Emeritus professor of economics, Oxford
Tony Yates Formerly of the Bank of England
