UK economy: Labour must take action now

While the Labour manifesto set out a mission and very broad strategy behind a stronger economy, it was not a detailed transformative plan. For example, public net investment is still set to be cut from current levels.

The big criticism of Ms Reeves’ vision of what she calls “securinomics” – a new model of economics where the government does more to prepare for the private sector to make massive investments in green industry – was a lack of money.

It is an attempt to emulate what US President Joe Biden is doing by investing by spending billions in new subsidies via loans and tax breaks targeted at green energy and vehicles. Labour’s plan is basically “Bidenomics without the cash”, critics say.

But Labour leaders have been reassured that there is a tidal wave of private investment – hundreds of billions by the end of the parliament – waiting to be made, if there is political, economic and policy certainty. But they need to act with speed to secure it.

Some key investors say they cannot wait another year for ponderous reviews of planning or energy policy, for example. Tens of billions in renewable investment, for example, is held up in planning disputes and a decade-long wait for a connection to the National Grid. This, Ms Reeves told me, had led to “an effective moratorium on building the cheapest forms of energy”.