Newly-appointed chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced a series of measures to boost the UK's economic growth, including reforms to the planning system and a commitment to use the pension system to drive investment.
Speaking at the Treasury today (July 8) in her first speech in the role, Reeves said stable economic growth was the only route to “improved prosperity”.
She said: “Where previous governments have been unwilling to take the difficult decisions to deliver growth, or have waited too long to act, I will not hesitate. Growth was the Labour Party's mission in opposition, it is now our national mission. There is no time to waste.”
Reeves promised a new approach to growth which she said would rest on the pillars of stability, investment and reform.
On the subject of reform, Reeves suggested she would stick to her predecessor Jeremy Hunt's plans to encourage pension schemes to invest in UK equities.
She said: "We will turn our attention to the pensions system to drive investment in homegrown British business and to deliver greater returns for pension savers."
Earlier this year Hunt announced that defined contribution pension funds would have to publicly disclose their level of investment in the UK.
He also reached an agreement with some of the UK's largest DC pension scheme providers where they would commit 5 per cent of their default funds to unlisted equities by 2030.
Reeves said that nowhere was reform needed more than in the planning system and set out her plans to “get Britain building again”.
“Today, alongside the deputy prime minister, I am taking immediate action to deliver this Labour government's mission to kick start economic growth and to take the urgent steps necessary to build the infrastructure that we need, including one and a half million homes in the next five years, the system needs a new signal. This is that signal,” she added.
Other initiatives included reforming the national planning policy framework, ending the ban on on-shore wind in England, prioritising energy projects in the system and restoring mandatory housing targets.
“We will create a new task force to accelerate stalled housing sites in our country, beginning with Liverpool Central Docks, Worcester Parkway, Northstow and Langley Sutton Coldfield, representing more than 14,000 homes.
“We will also support local authorities with 300 additional planning officers across the country. Additionally, if we are to put growth at the centre of our planning system, that means changes, not only to the system itself, but to the way that ministers use our powers for direct intervention,” she explained.
Wealth fund
One of Labour’s flagship pledges was to create a national wealth fund, to unlock private investment, Reeves confirmed she would be announcing the next steps of the plans in due course.
She said: “In March, the former governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, agreed to lead a task force on the establishment of a new national wealth fund. I can tell you today that I have received the report from that task force, and I will be announcing the next steps in short order.”
