Yesterday’s Queen’s speech exposed a fundamental misunderstanding at the heart of Conservative economic policy. It is not the case, as their actions imply, that the key to unlocking higher levels of growth is to reduce the so-called ‘burdens on business’. The deregulatory initiatives in the Queen’s speech, portrayed as part of a growth agenda, will …

Waiting for the economic recovery is beginning to feel a little like waiting for Godot. You keep being told it’s going to appear but it never actually arrives. This week was no exception, with the independent Ernst & Young ITEM club forecasters telling us the economy would only grow by 0.4 per cent this year, …

The run-up to this year’s budget will be dominated, as always, by issues of tax and growth. As is usual for the time of year, campaigners are full of whizz-bang ideas to fiddle with the tax rates to further their own interests or cause. And with the economy bumping along the bottom, MPs will be …

At this year’s Fabian New Year conference, the pollster Deborah Mattinson described eloquently the economic policy problem facing Labour. She described the public’s reaction to our policy ideas: ‘That’s fine but how are they going to pay for it?’ Before we can begin to communicate our vision for Britain, we need to deal with the …

As shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, Labour’s credibility on deficit reduction and fiscal discipline is my central concern. It’s a tough brief – but one that now, even more than ever, is pivotal to the party’s future success. Credibility matters because it is the precondition for everything we in the Labour party want to …

Yesterday we learnt that the Tory-led government’s reckless economic plan has failed. The government will borrow a staggering £158 billion more than they planned a year ago. Borrowing is up because the economy has stalled, unemployment is set to increase further while inflation is hitting families and businesses. As the economy flatlined, the chancellor blamed …

Three numbers in the last week should be ringing alarm bells in the government. First, the IMF downgrade of growth in 2011 to just 1.1 per cent; second, unemployment up 80,000 in the three months to July, leaving youth unemployment at its highest level since 1992; and third, record borrowing levels in August, which at …