There is a way to look after people, the planet – and Britain’s growth. It’s what we call the ‘wellbeing economy’ | Jamie Driscoll

There is a way to look after people, the planet – and Britain’s growth. It’s what we call the ‘wellbeing economy’ Jamie Driscoll Imagine the UK with a 20-year investment plan, with green homes and fast transport. We already have the tools to make it happen

I know a physics graduate making flat whites; a 30-year-old living in his childhood bedroom who feels like a failure; a lad in Blyth who turned down a job 15 miles away because there’s no bus, and for young people his age car insurance is almost £2,000 a year. Britain’s young people are our greatest resource, and we are failing them because capital markets won’t allocate investment where it is needed. Saying “hope” in a conference speech sounds warm. But people need a plan.

The first priority of any government is the security of its people. Financial markets are sending price signals that AI booms and share buybacks are more important than clean energy or warm homes. We fund aircraft carriers and artillery shells. But wind turbines and council houses are part of our national security, too. Imagine a country with a 20-year investment plan, with retrofitted homes and fast transport connections that leave nowhere behind. That’s a future filled with the potential of proud work for young people.

But four words run Britain: “We can’t afford it.” Governments call this mindset “prudence”. My response to it is Hostage Nation , my plan to fix Britain. This is a report that lays out how to source the finance, shows what we need to build – and tracks why it would make us more prosperous and resilient. I joined the Green party to achieve this vision. As we approach the party conference, I hope this will become official Green policy that we’ll fight the next election on.

Nine sets of fiscal rules have been broken and abandoned since the financial crash. Andy Haldane, a former chief economist of the Bank of England, said current fiscal rules were “far from optimal; in fact I’d go as far as to say silly”. The Institute for Fiscal Studies said in 2024 that changing policy based on fiscal headroom projections was “almost literally mad”. What if we’re not really hostages to the bond market? What if politicians have got Stockholm syndrome instead?

Bond markets are just complex betting shops. That’s their business model: guess the future, and price accordingly. That price changes when the US Federal Reserve raises interest rates or the strait of Hormuz closes. Why do we let bookies decide whether we build railway lines? Give a country nothing to build and struggling people will find someone to blame.

Businesses want customers more than they want tax cuts or light-touch regulation. I once asked the chief executive of a global engineering firm if he would invest in green hydrogen. “I’m not investing half a billion in a plant and staff unless I can sell it for 20 years,” he said. No government gave that signal.