The IPPR should be thanked for identifying our failures as an economy on the cusp of a ‘decade of disruption’. While the scale of the analysis is to be praised, the thinktank is yet to outline the scale of the solution

The report released last week by the centre-left thinktank IPPR commission on economic justice comes not a moment too soon. In hosting a commission bringing together public intellectuals, representatives of industry, finance and tech, the IPPR seeks to publicise our failures as an economy on the cusp of a “decade of disruption”. The topography of the economy features some very low valleys: as a nation, the UK is not generating rising prosperity for a majority; a high employment rate masks an increasingly insecure “casualised” labour force; and Britain remains a pretty unequal place. The UK is damned as a low productivity economy, investing less than our rivals, with an overall current account deficit that ranks the largest of all the G7 countries.

While a picture can be painted that Britain is doing all right, this does not reflect many people’s experience. Although GDP has risen about 10% since the crisis, disposable income per person has been roughly flat. For some, hope is draining away: a survey by the Resolution Foundation found that 48% of respondents think millennials will have a worse standard of life than their parents.

While the scale of the analysis is to be praised, the commission has not outlined the scale of the solution. This is about big vested interests. At the root of the UK jobs crisis is the City’s role in the decline of the absolute number of middle-skilled positions.

The financial industry is just too big for the good of the economy – leaving Britain bereft of an industrial base and unable to generate millions of jobs. Finance’s cartel-like tendencies have stunted the growth of business by charging exorbitant fees for raising capital – thereby robbing companies of the cash to invest. We need labour-absorptive industries to create decent jobs. Regulatory action to stop finance siphoning off capital for itself is a necessary step to take.