Growth warning should inject some urgency into Tories’ economic plans
PERHAPS it was the fact that Boris Johnson was so close to losing his own that has converted him to the cause of expanding home ownership. Either way, he’s a welcome addition to the cause to – in the words of the popular twitter meme – build some bloody houses. The question is whether, scarred by his political near-death experience this week to add to his actual near-death experience during the pandemic, he’s minded to turn welcome words into action and give some impetus to Britain’s desperate quest for growth.
House-building is one vitally important part of that process. So is giving financial services firms certainty in their relationship with the European Union, and so is actually moving forward with post-Brexit freedoms to reform regulations like Solvency II – rather than consulting on them. Above all though, the surest path to economic growth since the dawn of time has been to encourage investment and reward labour.
That means – yes – looking properly at the tax code. It is not just absurdly complicated but seems almost perfectly designed to limit, rather than enhance, growth. If there are some readers of Morning Wire boring of our oft-repeated call, it is only being so often repeated because it continues to be worth shouting about.
Yesterday’s OECD figures should focus the minds of those in government, and all of Westminster. So far the evidence is not compelling that it has.
Yesterday’s Prime Minister’s Questions degraded into a battle between Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer to commit more cash to the NHS. If they think the health service is in trouble now, just wait until years of stagnant economic growth take their toll. With an ageing population, an ever-growing state and higher taxes than ever, the need for a genuine uptick could not be greater. Former Conservative governments have left their legacy with supply-side reforms. Boris may wish to join them.