Manchester Airports Group among businesses calling on Chancellor to close UK investment gap

A group of major transport businesses, leaders and infrastructure investors have written jointly to the Chancellor John Healey, calling on him to cultivate the conditions needed for long-term private investment in the UK.

The letter, the signatories of which include the CEOs of Manchester Airports Group, the Global Infrastructure Investor Association and Channel Tunnel owner Getlink, comes in response to a report by Oxford Economics that revealed the UK has lagged behind almost all major economies in investment for 25 years.

Authors of The UK’s Investment Shortfall estimate the UK has missed out on nearly £2 trillion of spending on growth-boosting projects, and could result in British households losing out on £1,540 per year in disposable income by 2040 as a result of lost productivity if the investment gap between the UK and other G7 economies is not closed.

The report reveals that in every year since 2000, the UK has sat at – or near – the bottom of the G7 for the amount invested by both the public and private sectors. In 2025, the UK invested 18.9% of GDP compared to an average of 22.5% among the 38 OECD countries. Averaged over the past 25 years, only Greece ranks lower. Oxford Economics cites high public debt and Government fiscal rules as requiring businesses to shoulder more of the burden for closing the investment shortfall.

 Innes McFee, CEO of Oxford Economics, said:  

“The UK has been stuck in a low-growth rut since the late-2000s financial crisis, and it has become the country’s defining economic problem.  

“A large part of the explanation lies with investment. For many years the UK has put less into new machinery, buildings, infrastructure and technology than its counterparts in comparable economies, so the capital available to each worker has grown more slowly and output per hour with it.  

“This report was commissioned by some of the biggest infrastructure operators and investors in the country. They encounter the barriers to investment described here in their day-to-day decisions, and wanted them set out clearly, measured against the economy as a whole, and put before those in a position to act on them.  

“The obstacles are, for the most part, of the UK’s own making, and that is a reason for optimism. Conditions can be improved, and the reward is a larger, more productive economy and higher living standards that endure.”  

The report finds that UK public sector investment is set to run around 2.6% of GDP over this Parliament, its highest level in more than 40 years, helping to narrow the gap with the G7 average. However, it concludes that public investment alone cannot close the UK’s investment gap, with barriers to private sector investment limiting its overall impact. 

Ken O’Toole, CEO of MAG, commented:  

“The growth of our airports has helped raise living standards across the country. Our previous investments have created thousands of jobs and opportunities, often for those who find themselves not in education or training. 

“The connectivity these investments have enabled has helped businesses in the North, South and Midlands access international markets and attracted global firms to our regions, generating high-value jobs in fast-growing industries. 

“We have the capacity and ambition to do more. We are ready to help reverse the UK’s long-standing under-performance on investment and help ensure growth is felt in every postcode. But our ambition must be matched by a Government that understands the conditions business needs to invest. The Budget is an opportunity to demonstrate that.”