The Daily Telegraph, April 18, Professor Patrick Minford
On Tuesday Liz Truss launched her new book Ten years to save the West. It is a call to arms to those of us in favour of free markets and a free society to engage with the leftward drift of our governing institutions on the key choices of the day.
Central to the debate is growth.
It is clear that for Britain to create jobs and raise living standards, the economy must grow at a reasonable pace. This is also necessary to provide essential public services like health and education; otherwise there will be insufficient tax revenues to pay for them. Accordingly, growth is now a key objective for Labour in its newly announced programmes.
British growth has been weak for a long time and looks set to continue this trend. Since 2000, UK GDP per capita has grown at less than 1pc per annum; in the 20 years from 1980, it grew at close to 3pc each year. This is a massive slowdown.
Why did it happen? First, higher growth was, in my view, the result of root-and-branch reforms to the economy brought in under Margaret Thatcher. Inflation was tamed, unions were brought under the law, the labour market was made much more flexible by cutting back interventionist regulations, major industries were restored to private ownership and destructively high marginal tax rates on business and entrepreneurs were sharply cut.
Click here to read the piece in full.