How the recovery can unite the country – CBI director-general Tony Danker

It may seem that to talk now of the decade ahead is misplaced. But I think it’s what the crisis demands. Build Back Better is easy to say but it is much harder to do. It needs a vision, a plan and a consensus as a nation to pursue it.

I don’t think we did that after 2008. We stabilised the economic system immediately. But our productivity growth flatlined. And our society divided rather than united. So, what will we take from this crisis? Where, in our darkest times, have we made real shifts for the better?

Most notably – of course – in the aftermath of the Second World War, when post-war reconstruction gave birth to the NHS and the creation of the welfare state.

Let’s be clear. The scale of the shocks we’re facing today – Brexit, Covid and the climate imperative – demand a similarly dramatic moment of unity and foresight.

Each shock alone is enough to force fresh thinking. Taken together, they make 2021 as pivotal a year as any we can remember. I believe we must, and we will, come together to forge a better decade. More 1945 than 2008.

Yet, I am also a pragmatist – a businessperson. Above all, I like governments and businesses working together – something our competitors do far better than us.

But we also have some problems – longstanding and perhaps endemic. Regional inequality, persistently low levels of business investment, still no clear pathway on skills, and weak productivity growth – the semi-secret sauce of a nation’s economic success.

Productivity in London is almost one third (32 per cent) higher than the UK average, and over 50 per cent higher than in Yorkshire and the Humber – hitting living standards and wages.

And while the Government’s levelling-up approach has focused on public sector investment, there is little yet in place to tackle the business sector competitiveness of our regions.

But perhaps our greatest recurring weaknesses is our inability since 1945 to unite around a shared vision and economic plan of where we want to be.

For decades, we’ve oscillated between the view that either government should run the economy, or that government should just stay out of it. And then as industrial strategies have become more popular – they were each forged by politicians and officials with businesses added in later.

We at the CBI have been active champions of them all. Yet they have never been co-created. And we have failed to sustain them. The turnover in economic Ministers is faster even than ever decreasing CEO tenure – with five Business Secretaries and four Chancellors in the last five years.

We have been short term – both sides – and failed to unite around a shared plan to realise our potential. History will judge how we used this moment to map the path to get to 2030.

So, here’s what we propose: first, a national economic vision and strategy. Second, let’s do this together – business and government in genuine partnership – with unions and civil society, too.

Third, and finally, it’s business with agency not just advocacy. Yes, government must let us in to help forge the vision and plan. But meanwhile, we uniquely can make things happen.

We will come forward with plans in the spring to share with government and others on what the lofty goals I’ve talked of mean in concrete terms to sectors and firms across our economy.

I know the crisis is far from over, but I believe we have learnt enough already to know that we need a better decade than the last.

In 2020, according to several now released surveys – trust in business went up. It definitely didn’t happen in 2008. During this crisis, business has acted in the service of the nation – in the service of employees above all, especially in supporting their mental health – and also in the service of customers and communities.

Let me finish, therefore, with one ask. We can ask government to do better – and we will.

But we have it within ourselves to make a better decade. In our firms we can pursue growth, and growth that’s shared. We can make our companies and industries competitive, dynamic, inclusive and sustainable. We can practice what we preach.

And we can start right now.

Tony Danker is the new director-general of the CBI. This is an edited version of his policy speech this week.

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