Billionaire businessman and philanthropist John Caudwell has challenged the government to adopt his visionary Covid Economic Recovery Plan
With the UK’s Coronavirus ‘hibernation’ nearing an end, billionaire businessman, philanthropist, entrepreneur and Phones4U founder John Caudwell has laid out a visionary plan to rebuild the UK economy after the deepest depression of our lifetimes.
At the beginning of the pandemic, Caudwell successfully lobbied the Chancellor for the extensive package of support, including grants, loans and the job furlough scheme, to protect British businesses and livelihoods as the country went into lockdown.
He now urges the Government to borrow a further £500 billion to £1 trillion to invest in Britain’s future rather than consider any form of return to austerity.
Such an unprecedented scale of borrowing is possible – for the first time in living memory –because of the unique set of circumstances induced by Coronavirus and the resulting global economic plight:
- Interest rates at an all-time low across the world
- Deflation or very low inflation for many years to come
- Very little risk of a run on the pound as nearly all countries are similarly affected
This borrowed treasure chest should then be invested wisely to provide maximum value: creating immediate short-term jobs while at the same time fostering business and enterprise that will provide long-term employment and growth.
The four investment imperatives to achieve this, says Caudwell, are:
1. Renewable energy – establishing the UK as a world leader in this field, including the founding of a thousand-acre ‘Renewable Energy City’ to rival Silicon Valley
2. Infrastructure – fibre-optic cables, road, rail, shipping and housing
3. Industry – attract inward investment in jobs and wealth through subsidies and inducements
4. Apprenticeships – five-year schemes for young people with leading businesses across all sectors
John Caudwell said, “The Government have two choices: one is grim and destructive, with years of austerity following the ‘old wisdom’, the other is visionary with a bright future.
“People will ask: can we really afford to borrow up to another trillion pounds, taking our national debt to over £3 trillion and about 120% of GDP? I say: can we really afford not to?
“If we don’t stimulate the economy in the way I’m suggesting, the cost to Britain will be hundreds of billions of pounds per year in reduced GDP, reduced government revenue, reduced corporate profits, increased unemployment costs and, as a consequence, substantial increased government spending anyway.”
Leave a Comment