"Kyle was unabashed about invoking the phrase, arguing a muscular approach could accelerate economic growth. I want to make sure that the benefits of growth are felt quicker than is currently the case. We're predicted to grow 1.5% this year. That is not enough. He highlighted the recent decision to allow the 26bn state-owned British Business Bank to buy equity stakes in companies, including the announcement last week of a 25m investment in the energy supplier Octopus's software spin-off, Kraken."
"I was at Octopus yesterday. They're now employing 1,500 people in their head office in London alone. We can find other companies that are on that kind of trajectory and we can expedite their growth. Then it will create thousands of new jobs, and it will create enormous amounts of wealth, which will recycle through the economy in a really fast way."
"Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he and the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, have been talking up Britain's prospects, Kyle said ministers were taking an activist approach to industrial policy. The idea of picking winners is closely associated with the Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher's attacks on Labour's 1970s strategy and her argument that it should be the private sector that decides which companies thrive."
The UK government is taking direct equity stakes in growing businesses to boost economic growth. Ministers are adopting an activist industrial policy and openly 'picking winners' to expedite scale-up company growth. Officials cite recent permission for the state-owned 26bn British Business Bank to buy equity stakes, including a 25m investment in Octopus's software spin-off Kraken. Scale-up companies are portrayed as the fastest route to job creation and wealth generation. Predicted growth of 1.5% is deemed insufficient. The approach accepts that some investments will fail, framing failure as a route to eventual success. The Davos summit was overshadowed by tensions over potential US tariffs.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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