Report suggests UK economic model needs 'fundamental reform'

06 Sep 2017

A report published by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) has suggested that the UK’s economic model requires ‘radical reform’.

Living standards for the ‘majority of the population’ are no longer rising, the IPPR’s Commission on Economic Justice discovered. It also found that the UK is in the midst of the ‘longest period of earnings stagnation for 150 years’, with young people set to be ‘poorer than their parents’.

Productivity in the UK is 13% below the average for the richest countries in the G7, the report highlighted.

In addition, a ‘fiscal gap’ is growing between tax revenues and expenditure, which the IPPR believes will worsen as workers age and the proportion of employees declines.

The IPPR stated that the British economy needs ‘fundamental reform’, and has called for a debate on taxation, the role of the UK’s financial sector, the dominance of digital companies in their marketplace and the power held by UK trade unions.

Tom Kibasi, Director of the IPPR and Chair of the Commission, commented: ‘The British economy needs fundamental reform. We don’t have a British economic model. We have an economic muddle. The persistent economic problems we have experienced since the 2008 financial crash won’t be fixed with a bit of tinkering.

‘There is a growing consensus across business, trade unions and civil society that a radical new approach is now needed. Change should be guided by a new vision for the economy, where long-term prosperity is joined with justice for all.’