CBI responds to shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith's speech

John Foster, Chief Policy & Campaigns Officer, CBI says:

“Andrew Griffith is right to put competitiveness and the conditions for private-sector growth at the heart of the economic debate.

“Businesses have been telling us consistently that the cumulative weight of tax, regulation, high energy costs and delays to major investment is making it harder to hire, invest and grow. So it is encouraging to see a number of issues the CBI has been pressing across the political spectrum reflected here — particularly tax simplification, reducing the regulatory burden, support for Heathrow expansion and a determination to accelerate new nuclear. If we want to see growth accelerate, businesses and investors need to see a path forward for major projects like this.

“But getting the policy framework right matters just as much as the ambition. Business prizes stability and certainty alongside lower costs. Where regulation is not working, the answer should be targeted, evidence-led reform that makes it simpler and more proportionate while maintaining the confidence businesses need to make long-term investments.

“That is particularly important on the energy transition. The UK urgently needs to bring down some of the highest business electricity costs in the developed world, but affordability and decarbonisation should reinforce rather than undermine each other.

“The positive development is that the political debate is increasingly focused on solutions for how to make the UK a fundamentally easier place to invest, hire and build. The CBI will work with parties across the political spectrum on practical reforms that pass that test.”