The 2020 Growth Debate
MPs from the 2010 intake set out their ‘Elevator Pitches’ for how to unlock growth in the British Economy.
Why Infrastructure is essential to our global competitiveness as a knowledge economy
Infrastructure investment is essential to a coherent plan for growth and economic recovery. The economic crisis we face as a result of the collapse of Labour’s debt-fuelled boom is a stark reminder of our over-reliance on retail, housing and public sector spending and the scale of the challenge we now face in constructing a more sustainable model of economic competiveness. We can’t borrow our way out of a debt crisis. We will have to trade our way out. [read more]
Life Sciences can help a sustainable economic recovery
What are we going to sell to trade our way out of this debt crisis? To unlock a sustainable UK economic recovery, we have to sell things the world actually needs. We can’t borrow and spend our way out of our debt crisis. We have to work and trade our way out. To unlock the confidence and sustainable economic growth we so badly need we need to gear our export and trade less towards the sclerotic Eurozone and more towards the fastest growing emerging nations of the world. The economies of the 'BRIC+' countries identified by Jim O'Neil at Goldman Sachs are growing at c7% per annum. [read more]
We must all work together to unlock a new era of progressive agriculture
Too many people are pessimistic about Britain’s economic prospects. The pace of development in the developing world is creating huge new markets which we are perfectly positioned to service. I believe our world-class Life Sciences sector (biomedicine, clean-tech and agri-science) can help us ‘seed’ the markets and allies the UK will need for a sustainable economic recovery, however agriculture has for too long been neglected in this respect.The challenge of food insecurity and sustainability demands a new strategic response from Government. [read more]
The UK and the Emerging Global Bio-Economy
The UK faces two - twin - challenges. How to unlock a sustainable UK economic recovery, by selling things the (faster growing) rest of the world actually needs. We can’t borrow and spend our way out of our debt crisis. We have to work and trade our way out. With the Eurozone in crisis that will mean focussing our economy much more clearly on the developing world. [read more]
Lord Jenkin of Roding Endorses Life Science Strategy
Lord Jenkin recently hosted an important debate in the House of Lords on the international competitiveness of UK industry in which he highlighted the UK Life Science Strategy as a good example of what modern Governments should be doing to support key sectors.
(From House of Lord debate on ‘UK Industry: International Competitiveness’, 5 July 2012):
I start with a proposition with which I hope that the whole House can agree: [read more]