Opinion
UK’s woes not just deep but worryingly enduring
After the massive response to the pandemic, the needed long-term vision for a country facing an uncertain future is absent. If the one big innovation is an unexpectedly large tax on corporations, what is the plan for economic growth?
Martin WolfColumnistIn his response to the COVID-19 crisis, Rishi Sunak, chancellor of the exchequer, has shown himself to be flexible and pragmatic. This Budget reinforces that impression. But it tells us four more important things. One is that the pandemic is going to leave a nasty long-term legacy.
Another is that Sunak wants to hold on to the mantle of fiscal sobriety. A third is that this government is abandoning the economic ideas it clung on to for so long. The last is that the government has no growth strategy. One might describe this as old-fashioned realistic Conservatism. An alternative label might be defeatism.
Financial Times
Subscribe to gift this article
Gift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.
Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber?
Introducing your Newsfeed
Follow the topics, people and companies that matter to you.
Find out moreRead More
Latest In Europe
Fetching latest articles