Labour must rethink growth strategy to curb rise of far right, says top economist
Defeating far-right populism will require Labour to radically overhaul its “arid” approach to raising living standards in left-behind communities, the former Bank of England chief economist has said,Andy Haldane warned that Labour’s growth plans were failing to support parts of the country where voters feel neglected and disenfranchised,With ministers under pressure to respond to a summer of unrest, he said the “single most important thing” Keir Starmer’s government could do was to rethink its economic approach before the autumn budget,He said: “We need a story of growth that isn’t aridly told from 30,000 feet, but speaks to the lived experience and to the prospects and opportunities of workers in the everyday economy,“A sense of people progressing in their lives, of being invested in, is the absolute foundation stone of curbing disaffection with the incumbent parties – and therefore doing something to turn the tide of populism.
”Calling on the government to devolve more power to regional mayors and prioritise investment in skills, training, transport and affordable housing, Haldane said it was “self evident” that a change in course was required,No governing party since 1983 has seen its polling fall so far in its first year in power,Support for Nigel Farage’s populist Reform UK has surged, with backing from more than a quarter of voters,Earlier this year Haldane told the Guardian that the Reform leader was the closest Britain had to a “tribune for the working class”, as he warned Labour to do more to invest in struggling local areas,Starmer has said Britain will “never surrender” to far-right protesters who use the English flag as cover for violence and intimidation, after Saturday’s march in central London and a summer of flag demonstrations.
Haldane was speaking to the Guardian to mark the launch of a report for Claire Ward, Labour’s directly elected mayor of the East Midlands, which urged the government to hand more power to the region to boost the local economy,Ward said events at the weekend showed many people were “simply fed up with not getting change” a year into a Labour government,“They are fed up with not seeing delivery on the ground, of not having opportunity to access skills, good jobs, and the public services they want to see,And I understand that,It is the reason why government and ourselves in the region have to go and make sure we are delivering as quickly as possible.
“We have an opportunity to do that at local level in the region and I expect government to lean into it and give us the support to do so.And that will help people.”Setting out 10 recommendations for Derby, Nottingham and the surrounding area, the report found that closing an investment gap between the East Midlands and the rest of the UK could unlock £200bn in economic benefits by 2035.The report from the Inclusive Growth Commission – chaired by Haldane and produced by the Royal Society for Arts thinktank – called for more investment in social connections, skills and transport links.Using an “opportunity escalator” toolkit to analyse the strengths of the local economy, it said the region’s top 18 new industrial sites could boost 30,000 low earners’ wages by £6,700 a year.
Haldane said Labour had done “precious little” to invest in skills in its first year in power,In Starmer’s reshuffle earlier this month after the exit of Angela Rayner, the brief of overhauling the skills system was handed to Pat McFadden, the work and pensions secretary,Haldane said: “We need to think completely afresh about our skills infrastructure, from early years to adulthood, to give people sense of not being afterthoughts, of them not being left out,“Without that people’s sense of dissatisfaction will only continue and possibly even grow,A sense of people progressing in their lives, of being invested in, is the absolute foundation stone of curbing disaffection with the incumbent parties and therefore doing something to turn the tide of populism.
”The government was approached for comment,
Premium bonds might beat the bond market bullies | Letter
I read the article by Larry Elliott with interest and thought I could suggest one small act of rebellion that is easily in the chancellor’s hands and could raise substantial sums of money (Let France be a warning, Rachel Reeves: stand up to the bond market vigilantes, or they’ll come for Britain next, 11 September).At the moment, interest on the vast majority of government borrowing is paid to banks, pension funds and other lenders, a significant proportion of which are based overseas. Interest paid on those borrowings varies, but can exceed 5%.While we are largely in the hands of these “bond market bullies”, we have our own bond market that is available to tap into. At the moment about £130bn is held in premium bonds, which pay out an equivalent interest rate of 3
Labor’s Measuring What Matters is a worthy goal – but one that has utterly failed to live up to its promise | Greg Jericho
This week, the Bureau of Statistics realised its latest series of Measuring What Matters in an attempt to assess things beyond the mere economics. It comes off the back of the bureau’s first attempt to measure productivity in the non-market sector. Both raise questions of what we value and also whether our focus is where it should be.In 2020 the then shadow treasurer, Jim Chalmers, announced an ALP government would develop a wellbeing framework that would seek to “measure what matters”. It was a worthy goal mocked by the then treasurer, Josh Frydenberg
UK overall inflation remains at 3.8% in August, but food price growth climbs for fifth month in a row - as it happened
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Taking the biscuit: consumers spend more but get less as chocolate prices rise by 15%
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Ben & Jerry’s co-founder quits, accusing Unilever of silencing social mission
The Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Jerry Greenfield has stepped away from the ice-cream brand after nearly 50 years, claiming it has lost its independence and accusing its parent company, Unilever, of having “silenced” its social mission.Greenfield said in a letter posted by his co-founder, Ben Cohen, that he could no longer “in good conscience” remain an employee of a business that he argued had been muzzled by the UK-listed Unilever, despite an agreement protecting its social mission when it was taken over in 2000.“It is profoundly disappointing to come to the conclusion that that independence, the very basis of our sale to Unilever, is gone,” he said. “If the company couldn’t stand up for the things we believed, then it wasn’t worth being a company at all.”Greenfield, who along with Cohen has no control over operations but had remained an employee to help maintain its founding social mission, called it one of the “hardest and most painful decisions” he had ever made
Barratt Redrow warns of budget uncertainty affecting property market
Britain’s largest housebuilder Barratt Redrow has warned of a “tough market” and expects little growth in the next 12 months amid uncertainty around property taxes.David Thomas, the executive of the company, which was enlarged by Barratt’s £2.5bn acquisition of Redrow last October, cautioned that “the housing market remains challenging and we anticipate limited growth in 2026”.High mortgage costs have squeezed homebuyers’ budgets. The Bank of England is widely expected to keep its base rate at 4% on Thursday
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