Keir Starmer and Liz Truss agree on one thing: it is imperative the country discovers the elixir of growth – that it creates jobs, vitality, opportunity and crucial tax revenues. But wherever you look for a source of potential growth, you draw a blank. The Bank of England worries that the underlying growth trend has sunk to the lowest levels for more than a century – 0.7% a year.
What to do? Nobody beyond the wilder shores of Tory libertarianism believes in the sugar rush of unfunded tax cuts and Starmer’s embrace last week of a “mission-driven” government that will partner with the private sector to drive growth came with fine words but little substantial content. Help, however, may be coming from an unexpected quarter – a City of London increasingly anxious to engage and support British business, partly in its own interests and also because a number of its prominent leaders share the same concern that Britain is trapped in an economic cul-de-sac and that the economic and social consequences are unacceptable.
