Economic Recovery & Competitiveness

The UK is facing a unique decade in its economic history: a decade which has started with the significant economic disruption wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic and a nascent post-Brexit trade and regulatory framework.

Both are going to catalyse profound changes to the UK business environment, and accelerate other key drivers of challenge and opportunity, including digitalisation and the rise and rise of ESG. 

Now is the time for the UK to reshape and adapt its economy and develop a distinctive trade, tax and regulatory regime to increase the UK's global competitiveness and make it an attractive place to invest and do business.  In doing so, the UK will have to weigh up the opportunities of change with the risks of divergence from the known rules of the EU, and it will have to look to global standards and frameworks. Whether it succeeds – and whether you succeed in seizing those opportunities – depends on active, constructive engagement that aligns your business purpose and model with a forward-looking policy environment.

An economic realignment built on digitalisation, innovation, environmental and social responsibility and sound governance is achievable.  Many businesses are leading the way on one or more of these, but it is critical that your strategy brings them together, and recognises that business action and governmental action can work hand in hand.

The economic crisis caused by COVID-19 has already prompted the UK government to intervene in a whole range of ways, including changes to the insolvency regime, direct intervention in certain sectors, and partnerships with the finance sector to support businesses. Coupled with a more active industrial strategy, a commitment to infrastructure investment, specific measures to incentivise innovation in sectors such as life sciences and fintech, and further rules to encourage ESG reporting, government policy will be a central driver of competitive opportunity for businesses.

The challenges and opportunities are interlinked: digital solutions can facilitate environmental sustainability and accountability; good governance and transparency will be key to addressing concerns about the risks – to privacy, to democratic engagement, to communities – of digitalisation; a sustainable economic regrowth with have to address these challenges, and the new sectors and services they can create globally.

This is the task ahead for us all.

How we can help

The UK2030 programme is focused on using our expertise and experience to help strategic decision-makers in businesses adapt to the challenges and opportunities afforded by the UK's economic recovery and changing regulatory environment.

Now is a great time to share with Government business’s perspective on what changes would really be game-changing.  We can help companies and organisations with formulating strategy as well as with the refining and presenting of their ideas to the right decision-makers drawing on our experience working at the intersection of business and government.

We have an established track-record of assisting regulated businesses in navigating the complexities of the UK regulatory regime and advising on the ever-changing rules and regulations that they need to comply with.

We can help you:

•  Understand: the business environment today and also take a strategic view on how it could develop and what impact that could have on your future business;

•  Engage: engage effectively with the parts of government departments, regulators and legislators that will shape the policy and regulatory environment in which you operate; and

•  Act: making and implementing the right decisions on engagement with, and operation and investment in, the UK market.

Our UK2030 programme will evolve over time, offering new useful content and tools to support your decision making – please use this hub as a valuable resource and sign up to receive tailored alerts via Engage. Please select Global Market Issues.