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Chancellor Rachel Reeves said on Wednesday that “economic growth is the number one mission of this government” as she unveiled a series of proposals to boost the UK’s economy.
The most recent official data shows there was virtually no growth in GDP – the overall size of the UK economy – between the July 2024 election and November 2024.
The International Monetary Fund has forecast that the UK’s growth rate for 2025 and 2026 will be higher than in France and Germany.
Lower rates of GDP growth would translate into slower growth in our wages and incomes and general living standards.
Heathrow expansion
The chancellor said that allowing Heathrow to build a third runway would “create 100,000 jobs”, boost investment and exports and “unlock futher growth”. She cited a new report by the consultancy Frontier Economics which found it could increase the UK’s potential GDP by 2050 by 0.43%, around £17bn.
The Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor
The chancellor in her speech claimed an Oxford and Cambridge Growth Corridor “could add up to £78bn to the UK economy by 2035”. This corridor is a resurrection of the previous government’s plans to join Oxford and Cambridge with new transport links and allow those two university and research hubs to expand.
Pensions reform
Another reform the chancellor says will be pro-growth is enabling UK companies to access the funds from their “defined benefit pension” pots, held on behalf of their workforces to fund their retirement.
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