Blog: “The Economy 2030 Inquiry” – Charlie Woods, SUII
“The 2020s look set to be the decisive decade during which the UK will need to renew its approach to achieving economic success” – The launch report for The Economy 2030 Inquiry
It’s a bit of an understatement to say the 2020s have been quite a roller coaster so far! While the start of the decade has certainly been momentous it doesn’t look like things are going to let up any time soon.
Economic development activity has been dominated by Covid. In the short term this has involved helping people, business and places cope with the immediate challenges. Medium term activity has focussed on trying to understand the longer term implications and make sensible recovery plans. While longer term work will implement these recovery plans to make whatever the new normal might look like be more inclusive and sustainable – never losing sight of the inherent uncertainty involved and trying to learn from experience and elsewhere and adapt to new information and ideas.
On top of dealing with Covid there’s also been a growing recognition in all sectors of the urgency of ensuring a socially just transition to a net-zero world before it’s too late. This is going to upend and transform all aspects of our societies and the economies that serve them over the next ten years and beyond – this will bring huge challenges, but also plenty of opportunities.
At the same time that all this has been going on the consequences of Brexit have been unfolding on trade, labour markets, regional policy, funding regimes etc. (See the recording of our recent eveny ‘Brexit and Beyond’ for more on this)
An important new initiative has recently been launched to try and make sense of what’s going on, better understand the nature of the challenges and opportunities involved and make policy recommendations. The Economy 2030 Inquiry is a collaboration between the Resolution Foundation and the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics. It aims to deliver a two-year national conversation involving research, public involvement and political engagement, to develop proposals for change.
Strategic leadership will be provided by a distinguished group of commissioners from across a range of sectors and the Inquiry will be overseen by an advisory group, which includes Gary Gillespie of the Scottish Government.
The Inquiry was launched recently with the publication of a report outlining the plans for the inquiry and setting the scene for the work. It concludes:
“The potential prize, as well as the obvious peril, of the decade ahead is clear. One way or another, whether by omission or commission, the 2020s will be the decisive decade that will determine the UK’s trajectory into mid-21st century.”
As we roll out our new strategy EDAS plans to keep members abreast of the output from the Inquiry and seek out opportunities to engage with its work.