Economic Review Feb25

Chancellor unveils plan for growth

On 29 January, the Chancellor outlined her plan to boost economic growth during a speech in Oxford, although data released last month suggests the UK economy remained largely stalled at the start of this year.

In her speech to business leaders, Rachel Reeves set out a series of major announcements on infrastructure projects which she said would revive the country’s economic fortunes after years of sluggish growth. Among the announcements was backing for a third runway at Heathrow, expansions at Luton and Gatwick airports, a major redevelopment of Old Trafford, plans for new wind farms and reservoirs, and a “growth corridor” between Oxford and Cambridge which it is hoped will help create “Europe’s Silicon Valley.”

The Chancellor described the UK as a country of “huge potential” which had been “held back” for “too long.” And she added, “Low growth is not our destiny, but growth will not come without a fight, without a government willing to take the right decisions now to change our country’s future for the better.”

Official figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), however, showed that growth currently remains tepid with the economy barely growing in November. The 0.1% monthly expansion was below analysts’ expectations and means the economy actually produced no growth at all during the three months to November.