UK Parliament released a Lord Speaker’s Corner podcast episode and transcript featuring Lord Jim O’Neill in conversation with the Lord Speaker, spanning global economic developments and UK policy choices. O’Neill cautioned against allowing AI developers to self-regulate and argued for deeper devolution and greater use of the “borrow to invest” element of the UK’s fiscal framework to support infrastructure and productivity. He advocated full devolution of adult skills policy, powers for regions to raise local taxes, and exploration of devolving aspects of the welfare support budget linked to critical health illness and worklessness, noting that around 900,000 people have left the workforce since COVID and that many are concentrated in northern cities and the Midlands. O’Neill suggested that extending Greater Manchester-style devolution across major metro areas could lift the UK’s trend growth rate by 0.2–0.3%, and floated reviving local authority bond markets and co-funding major transport links with central government and the National Wealth Fund. On investment governance, he backed borrowing for projects with high economic multipliers and pointed to plans to create NISTA by merging the infrastructure commission and the infrastructure project authority to provide transparent assessments of major projects, while arguing that AI could raise productivity in the NHS and social care if guided by appropriate regulation and incentives.
UK Parliament 2025-06-12
UK Parliament publishes Lord Speaker’s Corner interview with Lord O’Neill on AI self-regulation risks and fiscal devolution
On the UK Parliament's Lord Speaker’s Corner podcast, Lord Jim O’Neill discussed global economic developments and UK policy, emphasizing regulated AI development and deeper devolution. He advocated for full devolution of adult skills policy, local tax-raising powers, and exploring welfare budget devolution to enhance UK growth. O’Neill also proposed reviving local authority bond markets, co-funding transport projects, supporting borrowing for high-multiplier projects, and creating NISTA for transparent infrastructure assessments.