Growth strategy pains, trains and regional deals

Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government · Jan 29, 2026 · 41m

Of all its manifesto pledges, missions and milestones, Labour has been most keen to tell the public that it is ‘going for growth’. But does the government have a robust and well thought-through plan to deliver that growth? Or is it, like so many before it, struggling to really take the ‘tough decisions’ required to drag UK GDP growth rates up to meet – and indeed surpass – those of our fellow G7 nations?

This government has not been short of plans and strategies, but what it has not produced is a strategy for growth that helps it make hard choices nor the right support in place for the PM to…