What else, if not growth?
LIZ Truss has gambled on growth — but what alternative does she have? We don’t hear one from her critics, for all their hysterical rage.
Britain cannot keep plodding along with minimal GDP rises, suffocated by high tax and a forest of regulation, while forever redistributing the meagre proceeds to the lowest-paid.
That is a tired socialist recipe for stagnation which our most recent Tory PMs also signed up to because they thought it would win votes.
It is the “managed decline” defeatist Remainers apparently wish to oversee . . . that sure road to Britain becoming forever the sick man of Europe.
Growth is now paramount. Our post-Brexit economy simply must be more dynamic and grow much faster to benefit everyone, rich or poor.
We need lower taxes and far less red tape to gain an advantage over the competition. Breaking free from the EU gave us that chance. It was a central argument for Brexit. Only now do we finally have a PM prepared to cash in on it.
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First, yesterday, Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng had to take emergency action on energy bills for households and businesses and did so. No sane person argues with that bailout.
Next he had to reverse the damaging rise in National Insurance imposed in April and the looming hike in corporation tax, sure to hammer investment.
Political gambles
He rightly did both.
His doubling of the stamp duty threshold is great for buyers. But lack of supply keeps prices sky-high. Where is the house-building revolution?
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Kwasi’s 1p off the basic rate will benefit all income tax payers. Excellent.
But cutting the highest rate from 45p to 40p and lifting the cap on bankers’ bonuses are big political gambles if they fail to attract more job-creating, taxpaying high-fliers to Britain.
The highest tax rate will only be back where Labour kept it for almost the entire 13 years they were last in power. But both decisions make it simple for Keir Starmer to portray Truss as a PM for the rich.
Her economic gamble is clear. This mini Budget will either kick-start a more prosperous era in time for the next election or add billions to our already terrifying debt pile for no real gain. The Tories will get the credit or blame.
Politically, it’s a no-brainer. Truss has to present herself as a new type of Tory. Being Continuity Boris or Theresa won’t revive the party’s fortunes. So this mini Budget IS a big departure.
And we have to salute a Government which couldn’t care less what the Left, or Twitter, think if its decisions are making Britain better off.
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We wanted radicalism. Here it is.
Buckle up, though. The economy is in a dire state — and the road may be bumpy.