Real economic growth is achievable – but getting there poses awkward questions for both parties
The British economy has performed poorly since the Financial Crash of 2008/9. Many of the issues at the forefront of this election campaign would look very different if we were enjoying economic growth of the thirty years before the crash.
Margaret Thatcher achieved the exceptional feat of raising the growth rate of a mature Western democracy. As a result typical household incomes rose faster in the 1980s than in any other decade over the past fifty years.
We need to repeat that achievement – though in very different circumstances. Torsten Bell’s excellent new book Great Britain? How we get our Future Back is an important guide to how that might be done.
He is now, it is true, a Labour candidate. But there is much which Conservatives can learn from his account. It draws heavily on the Economy 2030 Enquiry which we conducted at the Resolution Foundation, in partnership with the LSE. We work across political parties: Jeremy Hunt spoke at the launch of the Enquiry, as did Sir Keir Starmer.
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