City minister Tulip Siddiq: Fixing the foundations of our economy is ‘now a national mission’

Tulip Siddiq MP is the new economic secretary to the Treasury, better known as the City minister. In her first words to a business newspaper in this role, she tells the Square Mile she is committed to the City and the growth of the UK’s financial sector.

Since taking the reins of government, we’ve made it clear that growth is no longer the Labour Party’s mission.

It is now a national mission.   

We’ve taken immediate action to fix the foundations of the economy, announcing long-needed planning reform and creating a National Wealth Fund within days – both of which will unlock billions of pounds of investment in the UK.   

But we know more needs to be done and there’s no time to waste.   

As the City Minister I’m excited to harness the potential of our financial services – a national asset that will be at the heart of our growth mission.   

Our capital markets are some of the best in the world by a range of measures.

But if we want Britain to be the best place to start up and scale up a business, we need our equity markets to be competitive and do more to support the growth ambitions of our most innovative companies.   

The FCA’s once-in-a-generation reforms to the listing rulebook is a significant first step, bringing the UK in line with international counterparts, and Raspberry Pi’s recent listing offers encouragement.    

I made clear in opposition that this government would commit to improving the international competitiveness of the financial sector in the UK, and the listing reforms put that commitment into action.  

We now need to build on this, together with business and the regulators, to truly reinvigorate our capital markets.   

By doing so we will ensure the UK’s position as a global leader, unlock investment and deliver the growth we need to make people in every part of the country better off.