The City grandee said that years of poor decision-making and political instability have hampered public and private sector investment and hindered growth prospects for the UK.

He told City A.M.: “Where we’re headed right now is into a very, very difficult national debt situation, into an inter-generational crisis and to lives on the street that are increasingly difficult. These are all things that need to be confronted now.”

He said the bodies, which include the British Business Bank and National Wealth Fund, could “undoubtedly play a role” in helping bridge the investment gap, adding: “They need to be clear in their mandates, they need to be very joined up in their thinking [and] they need more scale than they have right now.”

He added that the majority of investment must come from businesses if the UK is to catch up with other countries, following a spate of recent macroeconomic shocks like the Iran War, which has caused firms across the UK to put investment plans on ice.

The intervention comes following a new report from the 2030 Prosperity Alliance, which raised the alarm over underinvestment in the UK economy.

The first paper, titled ‘Neglect’, in a series of five reports taking on “giants that stand in the way of economic growth”, warns that over the past three decades the average G7 economy has invested £2 trillion more than the UK.

It also found that the majority of the issues deterring private sector investment have come from self-inflicted causes like regulation and the country’s politics.

Haythornthwaite said: “The private sector has to step up as well. This is about business partnering with whatever government is of the day. But to do that, business has to be able to price the future. And if you’re pricing the future you need stability and predictability, which is not something that has been enjoyed in recent times.”