Prosperity & living standards: where the UK parties stand
Is the economy growing, with real opportunities to get on?
Independent, source-checked analysis of how each party’s policies would affect this — judged on the evidence, without telling the system who proposed them. How this works.
Labour — 33 policies affect this: 16 mixed · 14 helps · 2 genuinely contested · 1 little effect. Compare interactively →
Accelerate National Infrastructure Development — helps. A decade-long infrastructure push with committed spending and streamlined planning should raise productivity and living standards over the long run, though delivery risks and historically slow UK infr…
Improve Digital Connectivity — helps. Pushing to complete gigabit and 5G coverage by 2030 would extend proven economic benefits — higher productivity, more firms, and better remote-work opportunities — to the areas still unconnected. Beca…
Integrate Local Transport and Support Sustainable Aviation — helps. Integrated transport and aviation modernisation point toward real economic gains — better connectivity, new SAF industry jobs, and reduced delays — but the policy is mostly aspirational language with …
Drive Innovation, Regulate AI, and Support Diverse Business Models — helps. This package of AI, R&D, and data policies could meaningfully boost UK productivity and economic opportunity over the long run, but most benefits depend on implementation details that are not yet sett…
Support Small Businesses and Post Offices, and Address Horizon Scandal — helps. The policy targets real drags on small-business productivity — late payments, procurement barriers, and regional finance gaps — that evidence confirms cost the economy billions. But many measures are …
Conservative — 26 policies affect this: 12 mixed · 8 helps · 2 hurts · 2 genuinely contested · 2 little effect. Compare interactively →
Expand Free Childcare for Working Parents — helps. Expanding free childcare should boost workforce participation — especially among mothers — and cut a major cost barrier to working more hours, meaningfully lifting living standards for eligible famili…
Maintain Six-Day Royal Mail Postal Service — hurts. Keeping a full six-day postal service sounds good for businesses, but the evidence shows Royal Mail is already losing hundreds of millions of pounds a year under this model, which pushes up stamp pric…
Maintain Record Flood Defence Funding — helps. Maintaining £5.6 billion in flood defence funding is forecast to avoid £32 billion in wider economic damages and protect hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses, boosting long-term resilience an…
Introduce a Legal Cap on Migration — hurts. Binding caps that cut migration year-on-year would likely reduce the labour supply that has driven UK workforce growth, lower aggregate output, and push up government borrowing — all of which drag on …
Support Farmers and Food Security — helps. This package offers real but modest support to farm sector productivity and rural business dynamism — particularly through planning reform and procurement changes — but much of the budget increase may…
Liberal Democrat — 35 policies affect this: 15 mixed · 15 helps · 3 genuinely contested · 1 little effect · 1 hurts. Compare interactively →
Universal Gigabit Broadband Rollout — helps. Universal gigabit broadband rollout is well evidenced to boost productivity, business formation, and economic opportunity, especially in rural areas — but the biggest gains depend on closing remaining…
Expand British Business Bank — helps. Expanding the British Business Bank aims to close funding gaps for SMEs and crowd in private investment, with a track record suggesting real economic gains — but most benefits take years to materialis…
Freeze Rail Fares and Simplify Ticketing — helps. Freezing rail fares saves existing passengers around £600 million in a year and can reduce commuting costs, supporting real living standards — but benefits flow mainly to higher-income rail users and …
Extend Rail Electrification and Improve Stations — helps. Extending rail electrification, improving stations, and delivering Northern Powerhouse Rail could meaningfully boost productivity, widen labour markets, and raise living standards in the North — but t…
Boost Bus Services and Empower Local Authorities — helps. Giving councils more power over bus routes and keeping fares capped could restore connections that help people reach jobs and opportunities, but weak local authority capacity and uncertain long-term f…
Reform UK — 43 policies affect this: 17 mixed · 11 hurts · 7 genuinely contested · 4 helps · 4 little effect. Compare interactively →
Freeze non-essential immigration — hurts. Freezing most immigration would likely reduce GDP, shrink the workforce, and lower living standards over time — particularly by cutting the tax base and slowing productivity. Near-term wage effects fo…
Impose an Employer Immigration Tax — hurts. Raising employer National Insurance to 20% for foreign workers would increase labour costs for many businesses and likely reduce productivity and economic dynamism, while the promised wage boost for B…
Restrict international student visas — hurts. Restricting international student visas further would deepen an already severe funding crisis in UK universities, damaging research capacity and local economies — especially outside London. The policy…
Halt interest payments on QE reserves — hurts. Stopping interest payments on QE reserves could save some public money, but experts warn it would likely damage the Bank of England's ability to control interest rates, push up borrowing costs for bus…
Replace the 2010 Equalities Act and scrap DE&I rules — hurts. Scrapping anti-discrimination law would likely reduce labour-market participation and opportunity for large groups of workers, harming aggregate living standards and productivity — but the size of the…
Green — 18 policies affect this: 14 mixed · 4 helps. Compare interactively →
Increase DEFRA budget and fund nature-based solutions — helps. Investing £1.5bn in nature-based flood prevention, river restoration, and soil health is projected to reduce costly flood damage and improve agricultural productivity over the long term, but most gain…
Reform the Home Office and simplify visa applications — helps. Faster, cheaper visa processing and free NHS access for migrants could make the UK more attractive to skilled workers and entrepreneurs, modestly boosting productivity and living standards over time. …
Invest in local arts, sport, and culture — helps. Investing £5bn in arts, culture, and sport reverses a decade of cuts to sectors that contribute meaningfully to the economy and local living standards, but the actual growth effect on prosperity at po…
Rejoin the European Union — helps. Rejoining the EU Customs Union and eventually the Single Market would likely recover some of the economic output lost since Brexit, boosting productivity and living standards over time — but the full …
Achieve a zero-carbon economy through energy transition and green investment — mixed. This policy involves very large green investment that could boost productivity and living standards over the long run, but near-term costs and risks — from phasing out nuclear, forced financial divest…