Why isn’t Britain growing?

  • May 3, 2013

Will Straw from the IPPR think tank will speak about the British economy in a webinar next week.

An associate director of the UK’s leading left-of-centre think tank will talk about British economic policy at a Gates Cambridge webinar next week.

In a talk entitled “Why isn’t Britain growing?”, Will Straw, Associate Director for Climate Change, Energy and Transport at The Institute for Public Policy Research, will discuss the drivers and challenges of British economic growth in the 21st century.

The rescheduled event will start on 28th May at 9pm via webinar.

Most recently Straw commented on the Office for National Statistics figures in late April showing the UK had avoided a triple dip recession, saying the recovery was “far from secured”. He said: “All the growth was driven by services. The construction sector contracted and production grew at a tiny 0.03 percentage points. The manufacturing industries fell by 0.3% in Q1 2013, following a decrease of 1.4% in the previous quarter. Britain may have avoided a third recession in quick succession but the recovery is far from secured and the ‘march of the makers’ is yet to materialise and the North of England could still in recession.”

Straw’s area of expertise at the IPPR includes globalisation and international economics, climate change, energy and transport and economic policy, especially growth, innovation and productivity.

In addition to his IPPR work, Straw is founder of Left Foot Forward, Britain’s leading left-wing blog, where he worked as editor until December 2010. He is a Visiting Fellow at the Center for American Progress in Washington DC, where he worked from 2008–09 as Associate Director on Economic Growth, leading the Center’s work on the US stimulus package, globalisation and innovation.

Previously, he was a Fulbright Scholar at Columbia University, where he gained a Master of Public Administration in the Program in Economic Policy Management. He worked for four years at HM Treasury, primarily on enterprise and growth policy. He is a former President of the Oxford University Student Union.

To register for the webinar, click here.

Latest News

Gates 25@25 films launch

  Twenty-five Gates Cambridge Scholars are taking part in a 25th anniversary tribute on film, talking about the impactful work they are doing around the world. The 25@25 film series […]

Safeguarding future generations

Panpailin Jantarasombat [2025] has spent several years working for the Thai government, at the UN and more recently on trade negotiations and legal affairs. Last year she worked on an […]

New Trustee and Honorary Treasurer for Gates Cambridge

Gates Cambridge is delighted to welcome Tamsin James as its new Honorary Treasurer and Trustee. James, who is Bursar of Churchill College, will take office in August, stepping into the […]

Exploring the benefits of bilingualism

Minhee Lee is fascinated by languages and, more recently, by linguistics. Her academic research has looked at everything from how polite language forms shape our perceptions of whether something is […]