Prosperity and justice after the pandemic
Article
Covid-19 has exacerbated many of the existing challenges facing the UK economy - but it has also created an opportunity to ‘build back better’.
‘Building back better’ after the pandemic must mean creating an economy that delivers both prosperity and justice for all citizens. A new consensus on economic policy is beginning to emerge with the government embracing unprecedented stimulus measures during the crisis, but to really ‘build back better’ we will have to do much more than increase investment: we need to challenge damaging concentrations of power.
IPPR’s Centre for Economic Justice has identified four key power shifts that we believe policy makers should address.
- Power needs to be shifted to employees and workers, from employers and shareholders.
- Power needs to be shifted to companies that work in the interest of society from those that extract from society.
- Power needs to shift to those who are locked out of wealth from a system that has locked up wealth.
- Power needs to be shifted to the nations, regions, and towns of the UK from Whitehall.
Related items

“I feel quite unsettled and unsafe”: Young people, belonging, and the broken promise of childhood
Young people in England feel less secure, supported and connected than a decade ago. Based on nearly 200 conversations, this blog explores why childhood feels more stressful and less joyful.
On home ground: The future of devolution
Andy Burnham has pledged to deliver “the biggest rebalancing of power the country has ever seen”. The key task for the new government is putting this into action.
The legitimacy trap
Why a more active state needs better statecraft.