Prosperity

The UK has some of the highest levels of wealth concentration in the developed world. However, high barriers to entry mean most of our mature economic markets are dominated by a few big players gaining excessive returns through anti-competitive practices.

Prosperity

Prosperity (Cont.)

This conspires against the small and emerging businesses we need to generate growth and spread prosperity. We believe that the future lies in the shaping of a genuinely social, free and open market. This means that on the one hand, financial transactions are linked to a wider social purpose. On the other, we need an entrepreneurial state to drive innovation forward.

Prosperity is damaged by the disparity between the asset rich and the asset poor. This is to the detriment of society, fostering political and civic disengagement and imbalances of power. Assets must be secured for all through an ownership-based economy, in which everyone’s space is economically underwritten. To help people build their lives on a firm foundation, we must ensure all have free and equal access to public services at the point of need.

Finally, practical and adaptable education is key to personal development. The skills gap is a major barrier to prosperity, which precludes many from entering the workforce. Early specialization in schools fails to produce the well-rounded skill sets necessary in a fast-changing economy. Employment and education should be tied firmly together to focus on the creation of soft skills, character and resilience. This will better enable individuals to pursue their personal goals and ensure British business is well supplied with a broad spectrum of skilled labour.

Prosperity Workstreams

Projects
Conservative anti-poverty month

ResPublica, with the support of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, are organising a Conservative anti-poverty month, with five online panels spread over four weeks in June,...

Projects
Lifelong Education Commission

The Commission has its own dedicated website, where all research and updates can be found: www.lifelongeducation.uk   Former Universities Minister Rt Hon Chris Skidmore MP...

Projects
All politics is local

Underlying the recent rejection of past decades’ political certainties is the belief among many communities that they have been cut off from the wider country....

Projects
Recognising and revitalising cultural identity

Culture, the arts and creative industries are vital to economic prosperity and social reform. Too often, culture is overlooked by policy-makers as they seek, wrongly,...

Projects
Towards a new housing settlement

An affordable, secure, and comfortable home is a foundational block of any good life. But we have an increasing deficit in housing supply, caused by...

Projects
Regional manufacturing and the Industrial Strategy

ResPublica is developing a vision for a place-based industrial strategy that addresses the UK’s regional productivity problem, and responds to competitiveness challenges post-Brexit. Working in...

Projects
Unlocking Industrial Strategy

ResPublica welcomes the government’s Industrial Strategy, particularly the emphasis on working across departments, importance of place and support for sectors, while seeking to reach parts...

Projects
Corporate Governance for Long-Term Prosperity

ResPublica is examining whether Britain’s models of corporate governance are delivering for the country and for business. There is growing concern that short-term decision-making is...

Author(s)

Advisory Council