How Keir Starmer can make you richer

Since becoming prime minister last year, Starmer and chancellor Rachel Reeves have rarely stopped talking about economic growth. They see that Americans have much higher salaries than we do, and that growth in Britain has stagnated since the 2008 financial crash. They know British people are feeling the squeeze of the cost of living and want more money in their pockets.

That’s why economic growth is the central aim of this Labour government. Starmer and Reeves know government budgets are tight. With taxes already at record highs, they don’t have the option of spending much taxpayer money to get the economy moving. Instead, they know they need to bring in private money from elsewhere.

When companies invest in Britain, such as by opening new offices, factories, and more, they create new jobs. That drives up salaries, making us all richer, not to mention often providing new infrastructure and increasing supply of valuable things. For example, building new nuclear power stations in Britain would provide a huge amount of new energy, which would reduce energy bills. All this helps with making Brits feel better off.

Starmer and Reeves want to get those kinds of investment pouring into Britain as soon as possible. They have taken some big steps towards making that a reality already, such as giving the nod to various airport expansions including London Heathrow and approving a mega-development for a Universal Studios resort in Bedfordshire.

However, beyond approving specific one-off investments like this, if Starmer and Reeves truly want to achieve lasting economic growth, they will have to make more fundamental reforms to the way Britain’s economy works. Luckily, though, there is a great way Starmer can convince wealthy companies from around the world to direct their investment towards Britain: simplification.

Like many countries, Britain has a very complicated government. For people wanting to interact with the government in some way, such as building a new data centre or creating new clean energy infrastructure, the process is complicated, costly, and frustrating. The paperwork is endless. It takes years and it costs millions, with no guarantee there will be a ‘yes’ at the end of the road so the project can actually be built.

If Starmer wants to make Britain a more attractive place for wealthy companies to spend money, create jobs, boost growth, and provide new opportunities for British people, he needs to make the process of investing in Britain much faster and easier. Too many cooks spoil the broth – and British policy has too many cooks.

The problem is that there are so many different organisations which need to be consulted before you can get approval to launch any major new project in Britain. As well as applying for planning permission, which is unnecessarily difficult in itself, those who want to spend money here must consult with a never-ending list of NGOs for environmental impact assessments, consultations, stress tests, and all sorts of other paperwork.

Those things are important! But there is no reason for them to each be done by separate organisations. If Starmer wants to run government efficiently, he should have decisions made centrally in government departments, as they were a few decades ago – instead of processing applications piecemeal through other organisations like Natural England, Historic England, Sports England, and so on.

NGOs being involved in the governance process is bad for everyone. It means the projects don’t get built and our earnings stay low compared to America’s. But it is also bad for the NGOs themselves, because it distracts them from the charitable work they should be doing.

From Oxfam to Save the Children to Amnesty International, countless NGOs have found themselves tangled up in political lobbying about tax and other complicated policy issues in recent years. They have important work to do tackling poverty – they should not have to worry about politics. Starmer should streamline the government’s processes to free up charities to get back to what they do best.

That way, charities can focus on their missions and, crucially, NGOs will no longer clog up the pipeline of government. Starmer needs to govern Britain himself, not rely on NGOs to do it for him. That way, Britain will become a more inviting destination, meaning more things can be built, and faster. That benefits everyone. The ball is in Keir Starmer’s court to make it happen.

Jason Reed is a policy analyst and political commentator for a wide range of media outlets around the world.