Choose your fighter: mission-driven government or radical incrementalism? Evangelical academic or nerdy policy wonk? Economist Mariana Mazzucato’s idea of reconceptualising government around a few long-term goals inspired Keir Starmer’s five “missions”. Former chief executive of the Resolution Foundation Torsten Bell suggests a more pragmatic approach, set out in this book, published midway through the election campaign. He has just become MP for Swansea West, and will be a key figure in Labour’s Treasury. However, the new government will have to decide – in rhetoric and action – which is more convincing.
Bell’s case for “radical incrementalism” rests on three pillars. First, that the UK is in deep trouble; we’ve combined abysmal levels of productivity growth, resulting in stagnant real wages and slow growth in living standards, with persistently high levels of inequality and rising levels of severe deprivation. As he notes, “this should be enough to put to bed the zombie idea that Britain faces a trade-off between growth and equality: being ‘more normal’ means becoming more prosperous and more equal.”
