UK Growth: think beyond the sound-bite!

As humans, we’re programmed to look for instant gratification. Behavioural scientists call this the Hyperbolic Discounting Bias: the inclination to choose rewards today rather than in the future, even if future rewards are larger and guaranteed.
 

Look at this another way, and you’ll see that our desire for instant gratification is constantly being fed by our always-on world, by 24/7 availability of social media, news and entertainment. We’re becoming experts at short-termism – and the proliferation of digital devices, apps and channels is making things worse. Cast your mind back a few years and you may remember stories about the average human having an attention span that was shorter than a goldfish; i.e. less than nine seconds!

The problem is that for our society, businesses and economy – for the overall good of the nation – the last thing we need right now is short-termism. Unfortunately, many – not all – of our politicians in their thinking, communications and policy making seem more interested in today’s sound-bite than they are in a long-term strategic vision and plan that will take us forward and grow our economy over the next decade.

The recent debacle over the Tory leadership election and subsequent fall-out was a classic example of short-termism. Countless promises of ‘jam today’ without a realistic plan to explain how this would be achieved led to the abrupt end of Trussism and her brand of neo-liberalism. Since then, although the current Government appears to offer greater stability, it continues to represent a party that is bereft of fresh ideas beyond a repetition of the politics of austerity.

These have been tried for the last decade and have singularly failed. For example: the UK growth rate and outlook are among the worst in the G7 economies; we have record levels of child poverty; our education and health systems are in crisis; and our transport infrastructure outside London and the South East is under extreme stress.

On a more positive note, we should not forget that despite the travails of Brexit, the pandemic and recent global crises, we continue to have vibrant manufacturing, science and financial sectors. The fact that these sectors are doing well, however, is primarily down to the ambition, skills and expertise of individual organisations, not Government policies.

We could be doing so much better if we had a political system that encouraged both long-term thinking and the promotion of independently minded visionaries and thinkers capable of rising above short-term parliamentary interest.

Nowhere is this absence more evident than in the area of investment, which is the lifeblood of a growing, dynamic and successful economy. Investment – not further cuts – is now required at a national level, in education, skills and training, in healthcare and in utilities and infrastructure. In turn, this requires a long-term, holistic vision that recognises that prosperity depends on a healthy, welleducated, skilled and motivated society, where everybody has equal opportunities.

This environment then gives business the confidence to invest, further driving prosperity and opportunity.

Manufacturers for example want certainty, stability and the prospect of sustained economic growth on which to base their future investment plans. They also want a coherent industrial strategy that is part of a wider vision for the country as a whole and its place on the world stage.

The manufacturers’ organisation, Make UK, is rightly calling for the government to commit to the success of UK manufacturing, beginning with the creation of a new cabinet-level appointment of a Minister for Manufacturing.

This would be an excellent first step, but such a person must have a good understanding of the sector and not just be a political appointee. More to the point, they need to have the ability to plan and deliver a long-term industrial strategy. This will need to be developed in consultation with industry bodies, as well as SMEs and large industrial organisations; and it will have to encompass many different aspects of the wider economy, such as training, skills and workforce mobility, that are essential to national growth and prosperity. It’ll be a tough challenge but it’s one that we cannot afford to ignore.