Chris pushes Chancellor to increase public R&D

The UK has had the worst productivity growth in the G7 since 2008. The Office for Budget Responsibility says that a 10% increase in UK R&D capital would equate to a 1.9% long term increase in productivity. These are very significant numbers given that the OBR’s 0.3% productivity downgrade in the budget has resulted in a £16bn blackhole. Yet, according to the OBR, the government is not increasing R&D enough to materially improve productivity - I challenged the Chancellor on this in the budget.