The Tories' legacy of waste

The legacy of this Conservative government is spelled out in all its gory detail in the latest report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies. In short, it shows that the past 15 years – all but one under the Tories – have been the worst for income growth in generations. The cost to the British people and to its economy has been staggering.

Median incomes rose by just 6% between 2009/10 and 2022/23. In the 50 years before the credit crunch we would have expected incomes to grow by 30% over 13 years. So we are on average 24% poorer than we would reasonably expect to be.

“Absolute poverty” has fallen, but at a fifth of the speed seen in the 13 years before the Tories came to power. And when you look at other measures of deprivation, things are far worse – for instance, the share of working-age people saying they were unable to heat their home rose from 4% to 11%.

It is true that the after-effects of the credit crunch have continued to plague many countries, but the UK has managed particularly badly. It has gone from having one of the fastest growth rates of working age incomes before 2007, to being one of the slowest.

UK incomes grew by 6% between 2007-19. in the United States it was been double that at 12% and poor old sclerotic Germany nanaged 16%. No wonder everyone in these countries looks richer and better-off than we do in the UK. They are, and they are accelerating away from us.

In short, the UK’s problem is low productivity. With that there can be no real income growth, and this government has been a total and utter failure at increasing productivity.

The solutions are easy enough to see. According to the IFS they include better taxation, better education, and more investment, all of which the Tory Party seems incapable of delivering. Then there are two things which it finds impossible to deliver, political stability and better relations with the EU.

A sustained period of political stability might include things like keeping ministers and even prime ninisters in post for sustained periods of time, not lying, reduced corruption, not believing in economic fantasies which when introduced crash the markets and then have to be reversed immediately, not believing that austerity is a sensible policy especially when many of the cuts have to be reversed at huge cost – like recruiting 20,000 police officers to replace the 20,000 you fired.

You might also consider a planning system that works, so you can build enough homes for your workers. Or rejoining the EU and getting rid of billions of pounds worth of red tape and barriers to trade on the back of British industry.

And if not rejoining, then at least negotiating smoother, cheaper borders and agreeing with EU rules and standards, something the Tory Party treats as nothing short of treason.

After 14 years of Tory misrule, ideological obsession, sabotage, and stupidity, the UK is not just failing domestically to grow income, wealth and well-being; it is falling behind. It is considerably poorer than its rivals and the gap is getting ever bigger.

The Tory party is incapable of understanding it is the reason that has happened and therefore it is impossible for them to fix it.