ONS: Number of UK ‘high growth’ firms has fallen by 15 per cent since 2014
The number of UK firms considered to be “high growth” job creators has plummeted by 15 per cent between 2014 and 2020, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The figures, compiled by Labour, showed that 14,190 firms were considered to be high growth at the end of 2014 and that this number fell to 12,090 by the end of 2020.
The ONS considers high growth in this instance to mean an average 20 per cent increase of employees per annum over three years.
The figures for London are less stark than nationally, with a 3.6 per cent dip over the same period.
A Whitehall source argued that the figures were inflated by the pandemic, which saw the UK economy face its largest single-year collapse in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for hundreds of years.
Labour is pinning the blame on the UK’s sluggish economic growth since the 2008 financial crisis.
The UK has also lagged behind other G7 countries on private sector investment in this period.
Shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds is set to outline his priorities for the portfolio tomorrow in the first major speech he has given since being promoted in Sir Keir Starmer’s November reshuffle.
Reynolds said “British businesses best days lie ahead” and that a Labour government would ensure the private sector “has a partner on your side, growing our economy, ensuring business rates support investment and setting out an ambitious industrial strategy”.
It comes amid concerns over the future prospects of the British economy, with Confederation for British Industry (CBI) chief Tony Danker saying last week that the country would soon be stuck in a “vicious cycle” of “high spending, high taxes and low growth”.
Soaring inflation, a heavier tax burden and swelling energy bills are also set to erode consumers’ real incomes, according to the EY Item Club’s winter economic forecasts this week.
The organisation, which uses the same modelling as the Treasury to examine the UK economy, has downgraded 2022 growth to 4.9 per cent from 5.6 per cent.
The Treasury was contacted for comment.