Rachel Reeves summons regulators to Downing Street to push growth agenda
Rachel Reeves is expected to pile pressure on UK regulators to do more to support growth when she summons bosses to No 11 on Thursday.The chief executives of watchdogs including the Competition and Markets Authority, communications regulator Ofcom, water regulator Ofwat, and the energy regulator Ofgem, are due to meet the chancellor and business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, in Downing Street, as they face accusations that their work has been a barrier to investment.The Office of Rail and Road, the Environment Agency and the Civil Aviation Authority are also expected to appear at the midday meeting.The discussion comes weeks after Reeves, Reynolds and the prime minister, Keir Starmer, wrote to 17 regulators in the UK on Christmas Eve, ordering them to put forward pro-growth proposals.Thursday’s meeting is the first in a series of check-ins with those regulators, as the government reviews their plans and progress.
Ministers and officials across government will be engaging with other regulators, including the Financial Conduct Authority and the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), about their proposals in the coming weeks.Regulators were put on notice in October, when Starmer used a speech at the government’s investment summit to promise that he would “rip out the bureaucracy that blocks investment” and ensure every regulator in the UK “takes growth as seriously as this room does”.Reeves later told City bankers at the Mansion House dinner in November that the post-financial crisis regulator had “gone too far” and resulted in “unintended consequences, which we must now address”.Thursday’s meeting will take place hours after data showed the UK economy returned to growth in November, with GDP rising by 0.1% in the month.
However, economists had expected growth of 0,2%,In a statement released before the meeting, Reeves said: “Growth is the No 1 mission of this government so we can put more money in people’s pockets and help fund our public services,The economic headwinds we face show the importance of pressing ahead with our programme of reform to kickstart economic growth,”Sign up to Business TodayGet set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morningafter newsletter promotionBut she added that that can only happen “if we tackle the barriers to investment and deliver the necessary reforms to make Britain the best place to do business”, including “looking at regulation across the board and “doing what is necessary to reform it”.
“That is the challenge the prime minister set regulators last year and today’s meeting will be about taking this agenda forward because we expect every regulator, in whatever sector, to get on board,”The head of the PRA, Sam Woods, told MPs this month the Bank of England planned to slash the “reporting burden” on UK banks and allow insurers to make riskier investments without initial approval as part of its pro-growth changes,The central bank said it had made efforts to make the City more competitive internationally, having removed the cap on banker bonuses and softened capital requirements as part of new Basel 3,1 rules,
Bank of England delays rules designed to avoid banking crash by a year
The Bank of England will further delay capital rules meant to prevent another 2008-style crash, as it weighs the impact of Donald Trump’s return to the White House and the chancellor Rachel Reeves’s call for regulators to help drive UK growth.The Bank’s regulatory arm said it was delaying the date by which banks had to implement Basel 3.1 rules by a year, to January 2027.The Bank’s regulator, the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), said it made the decision after consulting with the Treasury, and that it had taken “competitive and growth considerations” into account.It marks the third delay by the central bank, which is buying time to see how far the Trump administration will go in watering down regulations
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