Battered by Brexit, alarmed by poverty, the City is finding a new sense of purpose

theguardian.com:

K eir Starmer and Liz Truss agree on one thing: it is imperative the country discovers the elixir of growth – that it creates jobs, vitality, opportunity and crucial tax revenues. But wherever you look for a source of potential growth, you draw a blank. The Bank of England worries that the underlying growth trend has sunk to the lowest levels for more than a century – 0.7% a year.

What to do? Nobody beyond the wilder shores of Tory libertarianism believes in the sugar rush of unfunded tax cuts and Starmer’s embrace last week of a “mission-driven” government that will partner with the private sector to drive growth came with fine words but little substantial content. Help, however, may be coming from an unexpected quarter – a City of London increasingly anxious to engage and support British business, partly in its own interests and also because a number of its prominent leaders share the same concern that Britain is trapped in an economic cul-de-sac and that the economic and social consequences are unacceptable.

It’s a historic moment. Working on the Advancing Purpose report published last week for the Purposeful Company thinktank (full declaration: I am co-chair), I was gobsmacked by the concern expressed by leading City figures, not only about low growth and investment, but the spillover effects on poverty, wages and life chances.

There is an urgent need to reverse what is happening and the City must play its part. As the report discloses, our top insurance companies want to create a £50bn private sector national wealth fund to invest in British business – in hi-tech startups, green technologies, fast-growing companies and to help anchor our established best. It would be stronger still if done in partnership with a