UK Focus: Reeves' growth speech and the government's economic priorities

This report was originally published on 10th July, 2024

The speech this morning by Chancellor Rachel Reeves attempts to do two things: reset the narrative around growth, following an October Budget that was widely criticised for being “anti-business”, and set out a series of policies and initiatives aimed at improving the UK’s medium-term growth prospects. We have argued before that there are several steps that the government could take that would boost UK growth – but the key point that is often missed is that, rather than taking place in isolation, these must be introduced as part of a programme of measures that encompasses everything from savings and investment to the labour market and public services. This UK Focus, published last July, provides a framework for thinking about the measures announced today. We will analyse the measures in full in forthcoming pieces, including Friday’s UK Economics Weekly.