The UK’s main annual inclusive growth conference returns in 2021. Hosted by the BBC’s Ritula Shah and broadcast online on 20th October (12:00-16:30h), we will explore how – as we emerge out of the pandemic - to make this a pivotal moment for green, inclusive growth. Following the party conferences, and with a Levelling Up White Paper, COP26, Spending Review and Budget all due, we find ourselves in the middle of a number of key policy developments unfolding at the same time. CPP’s half-day conference will create space to step back and take stock with some of the leading thinkers, practitioners and policy makers from the UK and beyond.

Acting now for green, inclusive growth

In March 2020, Covid-19 took hold in the UK, overshadowing the challenge to ‘get Brexit done’ and creating a huge shift in the political and economic landscape. Governments across the world have had to navigate risk and policy complexity on an unprecedented scale. Domestic priorities have been sidelined, international policy processes postponed, and prolonged uncertainty is here to stay. Unfortunately climate change doesn’t sleep, and its impacts are becoming ever more real. We now need urgent action to save our climate: ensures the transition to a green economy is just, and in which as many people as possible can contribute to and benefit from growth. Against this backdrop CPP’s annual conference will discuss we need to do to deliver inclusive growth in the new reality.

Before the pandemic, Boris Johnson’s newly elected government pledged to level up the regions and nations of the United Kingdom. As we look forward to detailed plans on how the government will define and deliver on levelling up before the next election, CPP holds steadfast to the view that green, inclusive growth must be the foundation for ‘building back better’. This is a powerful opportunity to reset the assumptions and tools underpinning our economic and social policy framework, which have neither served all of us well in the past, nor have they always served the needs of the planet.

Key questions

Is there a consensus on the need to ‘build back better’ from the global pandemic and what it should mean in practice?

What have we learned since the start of the pandemic that can reset and reinforce our commitment to green, inclusive growth?

What are the implications for the shape of capitalism and the role of business?

How must we rethink the design and delivery of our physical and social infrastructure to increase the productivity and shared prosperity of our communities – particularly those ‘left behind’ in previous decades?

How should our renewed understanding of the relationship between health and wealth shape the government’s levelling up agenda?

How can we bolster efforts to level up education, skills and employment prospects for young people, laying the foundations for inclusive growth over generations?

How do we deliver a green industrial revolution while ensuring vulnerable communities are not left behind again?

Join us to discuss these questions with our network of mayoral and local government practitioners, academics, business, think tank and charity leaders. We will examine these new and evolving challenges facing families, business and policy makers, and identify innovative solutions for inclusive growth in an era of heightened uncertainty and insecurity.