Businesses must step up to break down barriers in a time of constrained government spending

Transcript

Christian Fraser, BBC:

Justine Greening, who knew money wins elections?

The problem for Rishi Sunak, and he might have some sympathy here for Joe Biden, is that he doesn't have much headroom and he doesn't have enough headroom to cut the taxes. Is it too little too late for Rishi Sunak in terms of the economy?

The Rt Hon Justine Greening:

It may well be, Christian. And I think actually here in the UK, we've seen a very similar challenge to President Biden, where a lot of money has been announced for levelling up, which is improving access to opportunity, particularly in social mobility cold spots across the UK.

But actually not enough of it in a sense has actually got through to the front line. And there's been a debate really about whether it's been the right kind of investment. We've seen, for example, High Speed 2, which is a big rail line being planned to connect London right to the north of the UK and provide more capacity. A big part of that was cancelled.

And so it's become a very political topic, but actually in a sense, the promise of leveling up, and I think the promise that Joe Biden has made to people in terms of investment to create jobs is the right one.

But I think as both countries have found, actually delivering it is far harder.

I think the other issue here for me is this sense that politics has all the answers. Yes, of course, tax incentives and government spending can drive change. But actually, Christian, part of this is companies themselves are starting to ask strategically how their opportunities can change lives for the better.

And they're really thinking in that way when they're working out who they're going to recruit, where they're going to perhaps work with schools and all of that.

There's a far bigger agenda, I think, that can really shift things faster in a sense than big ticket government programmes.