The Government's Plan for Growth

Apparently the expected White Paper on Growth has been delayed until the end of this year. Two things are wrong with this:

1) Governments don't drive economic growth.  As I've said before, they can only create the conditions for it. The idea of having such a paper comes instead from the need for a narrative on growth, and instead of getting on with creating one the government is going to give us this red herring of a White Paper.

2) Policies and decisions affecting economic growth are being made all the time - a specific White Paper is unnecessary and represents a fruitless attempt to capture at one moment in time the vast wealth of government policy that is relevant to the economy. Yet until it is published, everyone will be waiting for it and uncertainty will remain in the air.  Uncertainty is not good for growth.

So I think this is the wrong thing in terms of government communications and in terms of what is needed to drive growth.  The government doesn't need a White Paper on Growth. What it needs is a clear set of priorities - the most common challenge for leaders of every kind of organisation - and a large dose of common sense, one of the greatest virtues a Minister can have. This is already evident in some areas. Look at transport, where 15% cuts are being made to help trim the deficit but investment in those transport schemes that most help economic growth is going ahead. A sensible compromise that meets the government's priorities.

Where is this not happening?  I've already mentioned a few things in my earlier post, but let me just set out three areas where I am most keen for some sensible thinking and action:

Planning: lots of uncertainty and delay, which impacts on growth far more widely than just the housing sector. Obtaining planning permission with some degree of certainty and within reasonable timescales is key to many domestic and international investment decisions.

Regulation: when was the last time you heard Vince Cable even talk about the need for more effective, streamlined regulation? In his speech to the CBI he only refers to regulation that is specifically to do with enforcing competition rules - ignoring the swathe of other regulations businesses, including SMEs, have to keep up to date with. The BIS website section on regulation doesn't have anything new to say on the topic either.

RDAs/LEPs: Uniting the CBI and TUC at this moment in time is quite an achievement and shows what a mess this area of policy is at the moment. I have some sympathy on this one, because really it is an illustration of what happens when central government leaves something local up to local authorities and local businesses to sort out among themselves. Local authorities are not yet equipped to take up this role, but they never will be if central government always steps in. Having said this, there is still a need for regional and national co-ordination and that is properly BIS' job.