Our National Growth Debate is well underway!
We’ve heard @Ed_Miliband in conversation with GGF’s @prafulnargund on plans to delink electricity prices from gas,
and @darrenpjones speaking to @annemcelvoy about civil service reform, AI, and productivity.
It is hugely encouraging to see that vision now moving into concrete MoD plans.
Learn more in our report, 'Bringing Defence Home', here 👇
https://t.co/uJIi1GCq2f
Fresh from our event with John Healey, the MoD is drawing up a new offset regime so overseas defence giants have to create British jobs and invest in UK communities when they win contracts - exactly what we campaigned for in our Sovereign Capability Scheme.
Excl: Foreign defence giants will be forced to create British jobs if they want to cash in on lucrative UK military contracts under plans being drawn up by ministers.
The MoD is weeks away from unveiling an "offset" policy requiring overseas firms to give something back to Britain when they win defence deals - through factories, apprenticeships, UK suppliers or other investment.
https://t.co/fvkKcaWOrc
At the event, Healey explicitly picked up these ideas, arguing that defence spending must “work twice” for Britain and crediting the Good Growth Foundation’s work in helping shape that agenda.
This is something @TheJobsFndn has been campaigning on for the past year, as have the @GoodGrowthFdn.
We have proposed a one-year Employer NICs exemption for businesses that hire someone moving from welfare into work.
When I raised this proposal in the Lords Chamber last year, I was pleased to see that it received positive responses from Conservative, Labour and Lib Dem Peers.
I’m pushing for a Great Northern Oyster Card with @GoodGrowthFdn and for a Youth Triple Lock, too.
Cheaper public transport. Better opportunities. A fair start for every young person.
Time to transform the North and give the next generation the hope they deserve.
We were equally delighted to host the launch of GM’s Good Growth Fund last year; the exact sort of ambitious policymaking - we would say! - that Britons want and expect.
“In this new era, economic security and national security are two sides of the same coin.”
GGF’s @prafulnargund set out with Defence Sec @JohnHealey_MP why defence pounds must “do double the work”: strengthening our security and building resilience at home.
The rising defence investment under this Government comes with a fundamentally new Labour approach.
A Back British mission to boost skills, productivity and innovation across our UK communities.
At @GoodGrowthFdn this week, I laid how.
We’re proud that Healey is supporting our calls for offsetting international defence contracts and backing British businesses.
Read the report in full below
https://t.co/uJIi1GCq2f
Defence Sec @JohnHealey_MP takes up core ideas from our report ‘Bringing Defence Home’ – making defence investment “work twice” for Britain by strengthening our security while backing British SMEs and innovation.
Huge thanks to @lara_spirit and Prof John Bew as well for an insightful in‑conversation that set all this in a wider strategic context - discussing why, in a more dangerous world, Britain’s economic strength and national security have to be built together.
It was a pleasure not only to host Defence Sec @JohnHealey_MP yesterday, but also to see him support many of the approaches we set out in our new report, 'Bringing Defence Home'.
That’s why we are proud Healey has taken up our ideas to support British SMEs and introduce offsetting, so money spent on international defence contracts is reinvested in UK skills, supply chains and communities.
https://t.co/uJIi1GCq2f
Every pound we spend on defence must work twice: for national security, and for British industry.
That means Backing British: good, unionised jobs, skills for our young people and hope for communities across Britain.
Good to speak to @GoodGrowthFdn this evening.
As he agrees, national and economic security are inseparable.
Every pound spent on defence must do double duty - growing the next generation of UK innovators does exactly that.
Fantastic to have Defence Sec @JohnHealey_MP set out his plans to back British businesses at GGF.
His commitment to supporting SMEs and introduce offsetting reflects what we’ve been advocating: bringing defence home.