The chancellor has unveiled a series of growth plans today that she claims could boost the UK economy by up to £78 billion.
Rachel Reeves has backed plans to build a third runway at Heathrow Airport, which could create 100,000 jobs.
She also outlined plans to create a new rail link between Oxford and Cambridge that will create a “growth corridor” for research between the two universities, adding that the region has the potential to become “Europe’s Silicon Valley”.
A third announcement was around the redevelopment of Old Trafford in Manchester, which will mean new housing and commercial developments and a new football stadium.
Reeves said: “Britain is a country of huge potential. A country of strong communities, with local businesses at their heart.
Government growth plans
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“We are at the forefront of some of the most exciting developments in the world like artificial intelligence and life sciences. We have great companies based here delivering jobs and investment in Britain.”
She added that “low growth is not our destiny… without a government that is on the side of working people. Willing to take the right decisions now to change our country’s course for the better.”
The Oxford-Cambridge rail link will be accompanied by investment in affordable housing, including a development near Cambridge of 4,500 new homes and associated community spaces and facilities.
The chancellor will also rubber-stamp a proposal to build a large-scale innovation hub in Cambridge City Centre.
Science minister Lord Patrick Vallance said: “The UK has all the ingredients to replicate the success of Silicon Valley or the Boston Cluster but for too long has been constrained by short-termism and a lack of direction.
“This government’s Plan for Change will see an end to that defeatism. I look forward to working with local leaders to fulfil the Oxford-Cambridge corridor’s potential by building on its existing strengths in academia, life sciences, semiconductors, AI and green technology amongst others.
“Together we will build the infrastructure and partnerships needed to join up this region’s academia, investors and business so that we can boost growth, deliver innovations and create new jobs that improve all our lives.”
Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, warned that the government’s growth policies would “need time, often many years, to take effect”.
“The government is right to focus on this and to start now. It may be their successors who reap the rewards,” he said.
Shadow chancellor Mel Stride accused the government of offering plans that were “hastily cobbled together”.
“The biggest barriers to growth in this country are Rachel Reeves, Keir Starmer, and their job-destroying Budget.
“Hastily cobbled together announcements of growth in the 2030s will do nothing to help the businesses cutting jobs right now.”
Ben Willmott, head of public policy at the CIPD, welcomed investment in long-term growth, but urged the government to support businesses to attract and develop the skills needed to fulfil these goals.
He said: “This means ensuring that measures to strengthen employment rights are developed in consultation with employers and carefully implemented to ensure they don’t act as an obstacle to hiring or increasing labour market participation.
“It’s also important that plans to develop a new Growth and Skills Levy and other changes to skills policy are brought forward as soon as possible to support employers in developing the skills and capabilities they need to innovate, adopt new technology and grow.
“For example, there is an urgent need to increase the number of apprenticeships available to young people, as well as reverse the long-term decline in employer investment in training in order to address a lack of technical skills in key sectors.
“Tackling these challenges will be critical if businesses are to access the skills they need to ensure new infrastructure projects can be delivered, and to enable green energy sectors develop the capabilities needed to support the shift to net zero.”
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