In the July 2024 King’s Speech, Sir Keir Starmer MP pledged to ‘take the brakes off Britain’,[1] signalling a renewed focus on investment, infrastructure delivery and productivity growth as central pillars of economic renewal.
Nearly two years into the Labour Government’s tenure, the direction of travel is positive. Infrastructure investment has recovered from its post-pandemic low,[2] and political attention is firmly fixed on long-term growth. However, weak productivity performance[3] and persistent delivery constraints suggest that there are continued difficulties with removing these ‘brakes’.
Here, Brevia will look at why Britain is still struggling with productivity and to get building, and why there is cause for optimism going forwards.
The Brakes
Planning
There is a growing consensus that the UK’s planning system remains a material drag on infrastructure delivery. The House of Commons Research team detailed that ‘there is evidence that the UK’s planning system delays infrastructure delivery and creates higher cost’.[4] Without a clear, unified framework, planning complexity functions as a deterrent to long-term capital investment, particularly for infrastructure assets with extended development horizons, and their very opacity operates as a disincentive to investors. As the British Chamber of Commerce observes, ‘business investment thrives on certainty, yet our planning system consistently delivers the opposite’.[5]
Productivity
The UK’s productivity challenge predates the current Government and remains the most significant constraint on sustainable growth.
In the November 2025 OBR Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO), the OBR revised down their central forecast for underlying productivity growth, from 1.3 to 1.0 per cent.[6] This downgrade sits alongside Office for National Statistics data showing productivity fell by 0.5 per cent in 2023, and a further 0.8 per cent in 2024.[7] Although not necessarily the direct result of Government action or inaction, measured productivity growth has remained weak years on from the Covid-19 and the Russia-Ukraine energy crisis, and over fifteen years on from the financial crisis. International comparisons emphasise the scale of the issue. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) data ranks the UK’s GDP per hour worked behind Germany, France and the United States.[8]
Guarantees
Regulatory uncertainty and limited long-term guarantees continue to weigh on investor confidence. Parliamentary research has noted that economic infrastructure in the UK is often slower and more costly to deliver than in comparable economies, particularly in sectors such as nuclear, rail electrification and high-speed rail.[9] The lack of regulatory certainty means investors cannot be confident that the mechanics of their investment will remain consistent. This is particularly acute in energy, where investors in wind, oil and nuclear face uncertainty over the future shape of Government support, pricing mechanisms and regulatory regimes. For capital intensive industries, the absence of stable 20-year-plus regulatory frameworks materially affects investment decisions.
The Clutch
Guarantees
The National Wealth Fund announced in January its strategic plans to invest over £100 billion into the UK economy.[10] This represents a significant step towards de-risking major projects and crowding in private capital. However, without a systemic democratisation of access to building and investment for a range of investors, it risks a peppercorn approach to upgrading national infrastructure.
Methods to increase guarantees should include a wider use of Government underwriting, structured public–private partnerships, and regulatory simplification. For policymakers, the challenge is ensuring that ambition is matched by delivery mechanisms capable of operating at scale within existing fiscal constraints.
It is notable that Reeves has committed to only one major fiscal event a year. This goes far to provide business with longer term assurances on policy certainty and Government outlook. Jake Ballantyne, Brevia’s Head of Transport and Infrastructure, explains how ‘this demonstrates a commitment by HM Treasury to provide businesses with the necessary certainty that should help longer term infrastructure projects to begin moving into the delivery stage’.
Tech
In a December 2024 speech, the then Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, the Rt Hon Pat McFadden MP, outlined a ‘test-and-learn’ approach to public sector reform, explicitly contrasting it with previous large-scale programmes: ‘Test it on people. Fix the problems. Change the design. Test it again. Throw it away and start again cheaply, if it doesn’t work. Tweak it again’.[11]
This attitude presents an opportunity for the UK to seize new innovations and efficiencies from other sectors and areas of business. If the UK can adapt and adopt innovations quickly, then they can harness emerging technologies to test-and-learn from them with the aim of increasing both productivity and efficiency. The Labour Government pledged in their manifesto, and have since introduced, the Regulatory Innovation Office, [12] which if used effectively will operate precisely to this point, in ensuring innovation and collaboration between companies and the regulatory environment. Faster adoption of artificial intelligence, wider digitisation of public services, and data-driven experimentation could deliver meaningful productivity gains across both Government and the wider economy.
Workforce
At the 2025 Labour Party Conference, Keir Starmer made a point in his keynote address to discuss a change in the goals for the education standards in Britain. He argued that Tony Blair’s pledge for 50 per cent of children to go to university is no longer ‘right for our times’.[13] Instead, there would be a push for young people to complete apprenticeships and other technical qualifications. This shift in political tone puts an emphasis on skilled qualifications that link to jobs. When taken together with the September 2025 announcement that Skills England will move to the purview of the Department for Work and Pensions (away from Department for Education),[14] we can see a clear step change in the role of further education in upskilling the workforce in order to find employment, rather than for the telos of academia. Academic Jane Parry concluded in her research for The Parliamentary Office for Science and Technology (POST) research service that ‘labour mobility is a concern in workforce planning. Supply issues are acute in industries such as social care, where nearly 10 per cent of jobs were vacant in 2022/23, and in construction, which has an ageing workforce and where supply has been hit by Brexit and changes to visas’.[15] Rebalancing education and skills policy towards practical, job-linked qualifications is a necessary step in addressing persistent mismatches between labour supply and demand.
The Accelerator
Recent data suggests that investment conditions are improving, albeit from a low base. ONS analysis shows that total market sector investment in infrastructure rose to £20.3 billion in 2024 (in 2022 chained volume measures), an increase of 16.9 per cent on the previous year.[16] Government infrastructure investment also increased, reaching £28.9 billion in current prices.[17]
The UK has begun to ease some of the constraints holding back investment and infrastructure delivery, but the brakes are not yet fully off. Capital availability is improving and institutional tools such as the National Wealth Fund provide a foundation for progress. The decisive test will be whether planning reform, regulatory certainty and workforce alignment move quickly enough to convert intent into output.
This being said, developments in the Straight of Hormuz and wider regional conflicts could lead to a rethink of funding envelopes for a range of departments. If the Government are able to weather the storm and keep to their fiscal targets, then the UK has a path to sustained productivity growth. If they do not, investment risks remaining episodic rather than transformative.
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[1] Gov UK, King’s Speech to unlock growth and “take the brakes off Britain”, 17 July 2024, link
[2] ONS, Infrastructure in the UK, investment and net stocks: July 2025, 8 July 2025, link
[3] OBR, Forecasting Productivity, November 2025, link
[4] House of Commons Library, Infrastructure in the UK, 27 June 2025, link
[5] British Chamber of Commerce, Planning For Business And Growth, January 2026, link
[6] OBR, Forecasting Productivity, November 2025, link
[7] ONS, Productivity flash estimate and overview, UK: January to March 2024 and October to December 2023, 14 May 2024, link
[8] OECD, Productivity Levels, January 2025, link
[9] House of Commons Library, Infrastructure in the UK, 27 June 2025, link
[10] National Wealth Fund, National Wealth Fund to drive more than £100 billion into the UK economy, 26 January 2026, link
[11] The Rt Hon Pat McFadden MP, Reform of the state has to deliver for people, 9 December 2024, link
[12] Peter Kyle MP, Announcing the Regulatory Innovation Office, 8 October 2024, link
[13] BBC, PM sets new target for under-25s in university, college or apprenticeships, 30 September 2025, link
[14] Parliament.UK, Machinery of Government – Skills, 16 September 2025, link
[15] UK Parliament, Labour market and workforce planning and supply, 28 January 2025, link
[16] ONS, Infrastructure in the UK, investment and net stocks: July 2025, 8 July 2025, link
[17] ibid
