UK growth blueprint spotlights tax, planning and welfare reforms

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UK growth reforms blueprint

Highlights

Hunt proposes ending the state pension triple lock, fiscal rules to limit spending growth, and welfare reforms to boost UK workforce participation.
He argues that ambitious tax, planning, and energy reforms could raise UK GDP per head by 10% and create £160 billion fiscal space for tax cuts or investment.
Hunt criticizes institutional inertia and ministerial turnover for stalling reform, urging bolder structural changes rather than revisiting Brexit or relying on short-term fixes.

Policy agenda for faster growth

As reported by Financial Times, Hunt argues that the UK is failing to make full use of assets such as its large financial sector, leading universities and technology base because work, investment and innovation face too many barriers. His book presents growth as achievable if ministers are willing to pursue difficult structural reforms rather than rely on short-term fixes.

He starts with taxation, calling for the removal of income tax “cliff edges” and making a broader case for lower tax rates. But he also says the disruption that followed the 2022 mini-Budget shows stronger growth and lower spending need to come before any major further tax cuts.

That approach is paired with proposals to curb spending growth, including ending the “triple lock” on the state pension and adopting a fiscal rule under which spending does not rise faster than the economy. Hunt also backs welfare changes aimed at moving more people into work, including prioritising treatment over benefits and tightening eligibility linked to moderate and low-level mental illness.

On investment and infrastructure, he says Labour should be more ambitious about increasing building activity and supports a zonal planning system that gives developers greater clarity over permitted land use. In energy, he advocates exploiting North Sea oil and gas reserves while cutting red tape that slows grid connections and nuclear and renewable projects.

Implications for the UK economy

Hunt estimates that his package could raise GDP per head by 10% and nearly double Britain’s current growth rate, potentially creating about 160 billion pounds of room for tax cuts or public service investment. The argument is that supply-side reforms, if matched with tighter control of public spending, can improve both fiscal flexibility and the economy’s productive capacity.

The book also includes a frank assessment of why more of these ideas were not pursued when Hunt was chancellor. He says politicians need to be bolder, criticises what he describes as institutional scepticism in Westminster towards new growth policies, and argues that frequent ministerial turnover weakens the state’s ability to deliver reform.

Though Hunt supported Remain in the Brexit referendum, he largely avoids reopening that debate and instead focuses on domestic policy choices. That keeps the emphasis on practical reforms in tax, planning, welfare and energy that he presents as central to restoring stronger UK growth.

In our earlier coverage of Scott Bessent’s Houston speech, we outlined how the U.S. administration is positioning expanded domestic energy production as the backbone of its broader growth agenda. The remarks linked higher oil and gas output and faster permitting to job creation, investment and industrial expansion, while also framing abundant energy supply as strategically important for future power demand and national security.

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