The Budget alone cannot deliver growth – the UK must confront deeper barriers

In the aftermath of Rachel Reeve’s Budget, one question cuts through the headlines: can Britain get its economy growing again, asks Professor Malcolm Prowle.

In the aftermath of yesterday’s Budget, one question cuts through the headlines: can Britain get its economy growing again?

According to University of Gloucestershire’s Professor Malcolm Prowle, the answer is ‘no’ - not without confronting deeper structural, political and societal barriers.

Speaking at a public lecture Prowle warned that: “No Budget, however ambitious, can deliver sustainable growth on its own”.

Speaking to students, business owners and members of the public, Prowle reminded the audience that the UK’s stagnation predates the financial crisis.

Before 2008, GDP growth typically hovered around two per cent - the level needed to sustain public services and living standards.

Since then, productivity has stalled, real wages have flatlined, and the effects are clear: strained services, widening regional inequalities and long-term wage stagnation.

Prowle argued that the biggest obstacles to growth lie beyond any single fiscal event.

Alongside global pressures such as geopolitical in…