Lib Dems vow to end 'computer says no' economy to boost growth

Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper has warned the UK's economic growth is being held back by a "computer says no" approach.

She unveiled a 30-page growth plan aimed at removing barriers to business as part of her speech to the Lib Dem conference in Brighton.

Cooper, who is also the party's Treasury spokesperson, said too many ideas, start-ups and research started in Britain but ended up being taken overseas.

She also outlined a new Growth and Defence Partnership with the EU to reverse the economic damage of Brexit, that she claimed is currently costing the UK £90bn a year in lost tax revenue.

Speaking on stage in Brighton, she said: "We build brilliant start-ups, and watch too many leave to scale somewhere else. We produce world-class research, and too little of it becomes a British product."

"Britain has the potential," she went on. "The system holds it back. The computer says no.

"This plan tears down the barriers to investment, to innovation, and to skills."

Cooper called for the creation of a digital one-stop-shop service for businesses and investors, combining tax, regulatory, legal, Companies House, and general business services.

Creating this within a new Department for Growth would simplify red tape and help small and medium-sized businesses compete and grow, she said.

Cooper said a new Growth and Defence Partnership with the EU, would be the "single biggest growth lever we could pull" by deepening ties with Europe.

"It could turbo-charge our economy and start to reverse the economic damage of Brexit which is currently costing us £90bn a year in lost tax revenue," she said.

"In power, we will strike the deal on the single market, we will strike the deal on a customs union, we will strike the deal on defence."

She claimed the Lib Dems would say "what no other party dares to say" that Britain "belongs at the heart of Europe, and we will take her there."

Seeking to differentiate the Liberal Democrats from rival parties, she said her party would avoid "more punishing tax hikes from Labour or painful spending cuts by the Conservatives and Reform UK".