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Chancellor appoints growth adviser: "A part-time growth adviser won’t fix a full-time growth crisis"

ended 01. September 2025

BUSINESS owners have criticised the appointment of a part-time growth adviser by the Chancellor Rachel Reeves. Professor John Van Reenen will work on a part-time, unpaid basis for one year starting this month, but one business owner said “a part-time growth adviser won’t fix a full-time growth crisis", while another asked for the public to be shown ”real previous business productivity success outcomes". 

John Van Reenen, the Treasury announced, will help deliver the government’s mission to kickstart economic growth and raise living standards right across the country, under the Plan for Change. The London School of Economics Professor will advise the Chancellor, as a productivity expert.

Van Reenen previously worked as Chair of the Chancellor’s Council of Economic Advisers before returning to his role as Ronald Coase School Professor at the London School of Economics. He will now report directly to the Chancellor as a direct ministerial appointment, continuing to focus on the Plan for Change’s growth mission.

The Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, said: “We have fixed the foundations by securing economic stability, delivering three major trade deals and becoming the fastest growing economy in the G7 - but we still have work to do to build an economy that works for working people. John’s continued commitment will help us deliver the government’s mission to kickstart economic growth and raise living standards right across the country.”

John Van Reenen said: “I am delighted to continue working with the Chancellor in this advisory role - utilising my research and experience to help drive forward productivity, investment and ultimately growth into the UK."

But business owners have been unimpressed by the appointment. Clive Bonny, MD at Strategic Management Partners, said the public should be given hard examples of success: “When making such a key appointment, may the public be shown real previous business productivity success outcomes?"

Riz Malik, Director at Southend-on-Sea-based R3 Wealth, was withering: “The country is going to pot and we are now thinking about appointing a growth minister for one day a week? The current administration had years in opposition to plan and prepare and it is evident that neither was done. We don’t need another appointment. We just need one resignation.”

Stephen Perkins, Managing Director at Norwich-based Yellow Brick Mortgages, was also sceptical: “This appointment hardly adds credibility to the forthcoming policy announcements.”

Scott Gallacher, Director at Leicester-based Rowley Turton, said the appointment was little more than symbolism: “A part-time growth adviser won’t fix a full-time growth crisis. It all feels a little too little, too late. Labour had 14 years in opposition and still didn’t arrive with a grand plan for growth ready to go from day one. A part-time, unpaid adviser might be better than nothing, but it hardly screams urgency or ambition. That said, we desperately need something."

7 responses from the Newspage community

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Riz Malik
Independent Financial Adviser at R3 Wealth
The country is going to pot and we are now thinking about appointing a growth minister for one day a week? The current administration had years in opposition to plan and prepare and it is evident that neither was done. We don’t need another appointment. We just need one resignation.
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Clive Bonny
MD at Strategic Management Partners
When making such a key appointment, may the public be shown real previous business productivity success outcomes? Academic leaders of universities have not shown fiscal skills in managing their own deficits in the last three years.
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Sam Kirk
Managing Director at J-Flex Rubber Products
Yet again the Government turns to an ‘expert’ armed with theories rather than actual experience of growing businesses in the real world. This obsession with academics shows they simply don’t understand that you can’t deliver growth on paper: you have to deliver it in practice. In theory, this might sound clever. In reality, it’s proof they haven’t got a clue how to get Britain’s economy moving.
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Stephen Perkins
Managing Director at Yellow Brick Mortgages
This appointment hardly adds credibility to the forthcoming policy announcements.
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Scott Gallacher
Director at Rowley Turton
A part-time growth adviser won’t fix a full-time growth crisis. It all feels a little too little, too late. Labour had 14 years in opposition and still didn’t arrive with a grand plan for growth ready to go from day one. A part-time, unpaid adviser might be better than nothing, but it hardly screams urgency or ambition. That said, we desperately need something. The UK’s productivity problem has been holding us back for years. Businesses and markets will want to see more than symbolism if confidence is to return.
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Rohit Kohli
Director at The Mortgage Stop
If Rachel Reeves really had a plan for growth, she wouldn’t need to draft in an academic one day a week to tell her what to do. Businesses have been shouting for months about the barriers holding them back, but instead of listening, the Chancellor has chosen a symbolic appointment. Reporting directly to her makes the optics worse: it looks like she’s run out of ideas and is hiding behind theory. For a government that promised delivery on growth, this sends exactly the wrong signal.
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Samuel Mather-Holgate
Managing Director & IFA at Mather and Murray Financial
There is a time for planning, and a time for action. That time is now. Labour have been in power for for well over a year and their plan for growth hasn't materialised. This is mainly due to the strangulation of the private sector through a hike in the cost of the workforce through significant national insurnace rises. If Ven Reenen has anything about him he'll jump to it, tell Reeves she's running with the devil with this policy and should stop dreaming if she thinks growth will be inspired off the back of British business. Although there might be an eruption from the electorate if Labour break a manifesto policy to raise tax on working people, there won't be a flight to Panama, and the easiest way if balancing the books would be an equalisation of NI between employer and employee.