The Telegraph, 14 August 2022, Roger Bootle
It is now not long before a new Prime Minister takes office. Amid the flurry of plans and promises, it is high time to sketch out the nature and scale of the challenge that lies ahead. Of course, we are currently passing through a period of acute difficulty, associated with high energy and other costs.
Moreover, the pressure from this factor will only get worse over coming months. Yet believe it or not, this crisis will pass.
The really important questions concern what happens then. Make no mistake, before this crisis hit us we were already in a bad way, with productivity growth down to nugatory levels and overall performance weak. What is the essence of this problem and what needs to be done?
I have been rereading Nigel (now Lord) Lawson’s memoirs of his time in government in the 1980s, entitled “The View from No 11.” They make fascinating reading. Most people will know that, beginning in 1979, Mrs Thatcher’s government faced a tough task trying to improve the performance of the public sector.
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