Bad planning has made the UK a stagnation nation, according to the Resolution Foundation’s latest emailed newsletter.

This is not down to bad political planning per se, but to the planning system itself, which we are told has held back investment in energy, housing, and infrastructure – reservoirs, power stations and transport links, for example.

Apparently this means we’ll be stuck, stagnant, for a long time to come:

If you’re looking for a (very) long read, settle down with this one.

The piece contains plenty of long view analysis of the previous 100+ years of policy and infrastructure investment, along with cheery facts like “on a per-mile basis, Britain now faces some of the highest railway costs in the world.”

For a no-holds-barred pro-growth view from across the pond, check out Noah Smith’s fairly strident response (highlight: “Change is scary, and ensuring people that the government will prevent change is what I call a “stasis subsidy” — a promise that looks cheap in the present because it incurs no fiscal costs, but creates huge economic costs down the road. The UK is paying those costs now.”)

The new Government has accepted this challenge, but it remains to be seen how much ground they can make up in five short years.

The segment points to a briefing note in which Resolution Foundation members say achieving the fastest growth in the G7 requires raising GDP per person growth by 0.5 percentage points annually, to 1.5 per cent. 

Infrastructure investment reforms, such as repealing the onshore wind ban and establishing a National Wealth Fund, could boost annual GDP growth by up to 0.2 percentage points over the next decade.

Building 1.5 million homes over the next five years on current plans could add 0.06 percentage points to GDP growth annually. 

So that closes only about half the gap – potentially more if the government prioritises growth in its housing and trade policies.

The rest could be made up with broader reforms in skills and industrial policy, along with a clear growth strategy, the briefing note says.

But that is just this organisation’s view. Where is Keir Starmer’s plan?

---

Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:

Be among the first to know what’s going on! Here are the ways to manage it:

1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (bottom right of the home page). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.

2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical

3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/

Join the Vox Political Facebook page.

4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com

5) Join the uPopulus group at https://upopulus.com/groups/vox-political/

6) Join the MeWe page at https://mewe.com/p-front/voxpolitical

7) Feel free to comment!

And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!

If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!

Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
Cruel Britannia is available
in either print or eBook format here:

The Livingstone Presumption is available
in either print or eBook format here:

Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:

The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here: