Make Britain Prosperous Again

Britain is one of the few countries in the world actively trying to make itself poorer.

Britain is one of the few countries in the world actively trying to make itself poorer.

We sit on substantial oil and gas reserves. We possess world-class engineers, scientists and industrial expertise. We remain home to some of the world’s leading universities, financial institutions and technology businesses. Yet despite these advantages, Britain increasingly behaves like a country that has lost confidence in its own ability to generate wealth. While our competitors focus on producing more, building more and competing harder, Britain seems increasingly preoccupied with restricting, regulating and delaying.

The consequences are visible in the economic data. Before the financial crisis, British productivity growth averaged roughly 2 per cent annually. Since 2008, it has largely stalled. Between 2010 and 2024, productivity growth averaged just 0.58 per cent per year. The result has been weaker wage growth, slower economic expansion and mounting pressure on public finances. A country cannot sustainably raise living standards if it fails to become more productive.

For most of modern history, prosperity rested on a simple principle: societies become richer when they produce more. They extract resources, generate energy, build infrastructure, manufacture goods and reward innovation. Economic growth was not viewed as morally suspect. It was the foundation of higher living standards, stronger public services and greater social mobility.

Somewhere along the way, Britain lost sight of this basic truth.

Today, much of our governing class appears more comfortable managing decline than pursuing abundance. Politicians routinely complain about weak economic performance while presiding over a system that frustrates investment and delays major projects. HS2 has consumed tens of billions while delivering a fraction of its original ambition. Heathrow’s third runway remains trapped in planning disputes. Uncertainty surrounding projects such as Rosebank and Jackdaw has raised questions about whether Britain remains serious about developing its own energy resources.

Few areas illustrate Britain’s confusion more clearly than energy policy. Reliable and affordable energy underpins every modern economy. Yet Britain increasingly approaches energy policy as though production itself were a problem.

Despite years of political rhetoric, oil and gas still account for roughly three-quarters of Britain’s total energy consumption. These fuels remain central to heating homes, moving people and powering industry. The real question is whether Britain should produce more of these resources itself or become increasingly dependent on imports.

Yet Britain increasingly behaves as though domestic production is less virtuous than foreign production. New North Sea developments are frequently portrayed as environmental scandals, while importing liquefied natural gas attracts far less scrutiny. We restrict domestic extraction, outsource production and then congratulate ourselves for reducing emissions at home.

This contradiction lies at the heart of Britain’s economic malaise. We celebrate the closure of domestic industries while remaining dependent on the products those industries once supplied. We have become remarkably skilled at exporting jobs, investment and industrial capacity while convincing ourselves that doing so represents progress.

Britain has achieved genuine success in decarbonising its electricity system. Renewables generated more than half of Britain’s electricity in 2024, while wind became the country’s largest single source of generation. These are real achievements. However, transport, heating and large parts of industry remain heavily dependent on oil and gas, even as indigenous energy production continues to decline.

Meanwhile, many competitors are moving in the opposite direction. Norway continues to develop oil and gas resources while building one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds. The United States has embraced a new era of industrial policy centred on energy security and manufacturing. China continues to expand power generation and industrial production on a vast scale. These countries understand that economic strength still depends on production, industrial capability and access to abundant energy.

This reality will become even more important in the decades ahead. Artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing and data centres all require vast amounts of reliable power. The countries that dominate the twenty-first century will not simply be those with talented software engineers or sophisticated financial sectors. They will be those capable of generating enormous quantities of energy at competitive prices.

Yet Britain’s energy costs are moving in the wrong direction. UK industrial electricity prices are among the highest in the developed world. British manufacturers can pay several times more for electricity than many American competitors. It is difficult to build a globally competitive manufacturing sector when one of the economy’s most important inputs is among the most expensive in the OECD.

Britain should continue investing in renewable energy, grid modernisation and next-generation nuclear power. If Britain is serious about energy abundance, competitiveness and decarbonisation simultaneously, nuclear must be central to the conversation.

The deeper problem, however, is cultural as much as economic. Britain has developed an increasingly unhealthy relationship with growth itself. We have elevated process above outcomes, regulation above production and symbolism above prosperity. Building things has become difficult. Expanding infrastructure has become controversial. Ambition is often treated with suspicion.

A country cannot regulate itself into prosperity. Wealth is ultimately generated by people who build, invent, produce and invest. The societies that succeed are those that make these activities easier, not harder.

Britain’s future prosperity will depend on whether it rediscovers this principle. The challenge is not to abandon environmental goals, but to recover a belief in growth, production and abundance. A successful Britain should be building more homes, constructing more infrastructure, producing more energy, investing more capital and creating more high-productivity jobs.

The countries that succeed in the twenty-first century will not be those best able to moralise about economic activity. They will be those capable of generating abundant energy, building infrastructure, supporting industry and rewarding productive work.

Britain can either rejoin that world or continue congratulating itself on managing decline more elegantly than its competitors. For too long we have mistaken restraint for virtue, scarcity for sustainability and stagnation for responsibility. The real challenge facing Britain is not technological, environmental or even economic. It is psychological. We need to decide whether we still believe this country deserves to be rich.

Decline is a political choice. Prosperity can be one too.

Albie Amankona is a broadcaster, financial analyst and political activist. He is the co-founder of Conservatives Against Racism and a member of the Conservatives LGBT+ National Executive. He regularly appears across broadcast media and can be followed on X through @albieamankona.