Ending Stagnation

The final report of The Economy 2030 Inquiry

The UK has great strengths, but is a decade and a half into a period of stagnation. The combination of slow growth and high inequality is proving toxic for low- and middle-income Britain. The result is a country falling behind its peers, where taxes, rather than wages, are rising, and living standards were under strain long before the cost of living crisis struck. The task facing the UK is to embark on a new path.

A new economic strategy for Britain must leverage rather than downplay its strengths, confront rather than ignore its weaknesses, face-up to rather than wish-away trade-offs, and align rather than silo agendas stretching from industrial policy to tax reform and the net zero transition.

Over the past three years, the Resolution Foundation has been collaborating with the Centre for Economic Performance at the LSE on The Economy 2030 Inquiry, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, to investigate, understand and confront these economic challenges. The project is culminating in a major new book and conference – Ending Stagnation – where we will set out and discuss Britain’s path to a fairer and more prosperous future.

Over the course of an all-day conference, we will hear from leading UK politicians, economists and policy makers as we debate the future of the UK economy, including keynote speeches by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, and the Leader of the Opposition, Keir Starmer.

What is the role of trade policy in a growth strategy?

Read the Remarks for Economy 2030 Inquiry from Swati Dhingra, Associate Professor of Economics at CEP LSE.

Livestream

Slidepack

Download a copy of the slides here.

Agenda

9.30am – Welcome

9:50am – The case for ending stagnation

10.20am – Jeremy Hunt MP in conversation with Zanny Minton Beddoes

11.30am – Getting growth up

• Emily Fry, Economist at the Resolution Foundation
• Dr Swati Dhingra, Associate Professor of Economics at CEP LSE
• Tom Riordan, Chief Executive of Leeds City Council
• Dame Sharon White, Chair of the John Lewis Partnership
• Professor Diane Coyle, Director of the Bennett Institute for Public Policy at Cambridge University
• Dr Anna Valero, Distinguished Policy Fellow at CEP LSE (Chair)

12.15pm – Getting inequality down

• Lindsay Judge, Research Director at the Resolution Foundation
• Mark Drakeford, First Minister of Wales
• Christina McAnea, General Secretary of UNISON
• Andy Haldane, Chief Executive of the Royal Society of Arts
• Gavin Kelly, Chair of the Resolution Foundation (Chair)

1pm – Lunch

2.15pm – Keir Starmer MP in conversation with Zanny Minton Beddoes

3.10pm – Steering economic change

• Gregory Thwaites, Research Director at the Resolution Foundation
• Martin Wolf, Chief Economics Commentator at the Financial Times
• Professor David Edgerton, Professor of History at King’s College London
• Stephanie Flanders, Head of Bloomberg Economics
• Lord David Willetts, President of the Resolution Foundation (Chair)

3.55pm – Closing remarks