#9 Inside Labour: AI can transform the UK – the government now needs to place it central to its missions
Yesterday’s AI Opportunities Action Plan sets out a welcome vision for how artificial intelligence can reshape our economy, our public services, and our place in the world.
The Prime Minister endorsed the plan and signed up to the fifty recommendations. The government now needs to implement them at pace or risk being left behind.
For fourteen years under the Conservatives, chaotic government meant the UK’s potential was too often stifled by short-termism and bureaucratic inertia.
Under financial pressure and with a populist Right snapping at its heels, this government can’t afford to languish as a defender of the status quo.
The government must be insurgents, disrupting the old failing methods. Embracing AI gives them this chance.
AI is not just a tool for marginal efficiency gains but an opportunity to radically restructure the state, driving economic growth while building a smarter, fairer, and more responsive public sector.
Unleashing AI to Boost Economic Growth
Economic growth has been the elusive prize these last fourteen years, with stagnant productivity holding Britain back.
AI offers a chance to break that cycle. Indeed, the IMF suggests that embracing AI could boost productivity by up to 1.5 percentage points annually — a potential windfall of £47 billion a year for the UK economy over the next decade.
Establishing AI Growth Zones - dedicated hubs designed to accelerate planning permissions and infrastructure investment - is an encouraging step. These zones could help decentralise growth, spreading opportunity to areas that have long felt left behind.
Yet this will only happen if the government goes beyond rhetoric. Growth Zones must not be token gestures; they need real teeth. Fast-tracked energy connections, streamlined planning processes, and financial incentives must be accompanied by serious commitments to skills training. If Britain is to become the go-to destination for AI firms, we need a workforce equipped to drive innovation. That means working with local leaders to genuinely deliver on skills with lifelong learning, apprenticeships, and retraining programs.
The £14 billion of private sector investment announced alongside the plan is a good start, but it must be leveraged as a catalyst for much greater public-private collaboration. If properly harnessed, AI can generate the kind of high-quality jobs that raise living standards and deliver real economic dividends for working people.
Revolutionising Public Services
The public sector, too, stands to be transformed by AI. In the NHS AI-powered diagnostics can catch disease earlier, freeing up doctors and nurses to focus on care. Local councils could use AI to streamline planning consultations to deliver desperately needed housing more quickly. These are not futuristic fantasies; they are possibilities within reach if we act now.
Integrating AI into public services requires a wholesale rethink of how government operates. The digital centre within the Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology (DSIT) is a step in the right direction, but its success will depend on breaking down the silos that have traditionally hindered innovation. Every department must embrace AI not as a niche experiment but as a core element of its mission.
Restructuring the state
Ultimately, AI is not just a tool for tweaking existing systems; it is an opportunity to rethink the state's purpose and operation. With AI, we can move away from one-size-fits-all solutions toward personalized, data-driven policymaking that delivers better outcomes for citizens. But this requires a government willing to challenge entrenched interests and rethink outdated bureaucratic structures.
I would go further to push AI delivery across central Departments. It’s welcome that Number 10 has taken on Matt Clifford as an AI advisor for one day per week. Why not formalise the role into a designated, full-time, permanent National AI Advisor?
Investing in AI infrastructure—from the proposed supercomputer to the National Data Library—is essential. But so too is ensuring that AI adoption does not exacerbate inequalities or create new forms of digital exclusion. The government must commit to transparency and fairness, ensuring that the benefits of AI are shared by all and not concentrated in the hands of the few.
The Global Race for Leadership
Finally, we must recognise that this is not a race we can afford to lose. The government is right to highlight the UK’s unique position, straddling the dynamism of the US and the regulatory stability of the EU. But to truly lead, we must think bigger. That means not just attracting investment but shaping the global AI agenda, ensuring that Britain sets the standards for ethical and responsible AI development.
This will require leadership in an increasingly uncertain world. The government’s commitment to a twentyfold increase in computing capacity by 2030 is ambitious, but it must be matched by similar ambition in areas like cybersecurity, data governance, and international collaboration.
The AI Opportunities Action Plan yesterday isn’t just another policy initiative; it is a generational opportunity to reshape our economy and society for the better. If we embrace it fully, AI can deliver not just growth but renewal — creating a smarter, fairer, and more dynamic Britain.
Jonathan Ashworth
Chief Executive, Labour Together
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