Economy looms large as United Kingdom heads to polls
Economy looms large as United Kingdom heads to polls
This story was produced by our colleagues at the BBC.
Since the last U.K. general election in 2019, there’s been a fall — or stagnation — of real incomes on a scale unprecedented in the last 60 years. A housing crunch is also weighing on the minds of British voters.
Another visible sign of tough economic times? Food banks, even in prosperous Epsom, just south of London.
Bex is a pantry manager for Good Company, a charity based in Epsom. “About 50% of our members are working and 50% of members are not,” she said. “But people’s income is just not matching their outgoings at the minute, and people aren’t able to make ends meet.”
When the Conservatives first came to power in 2010, just over 60,000 people used food banks. Now it’s nearly three million. One client at the pantry, a woman who works for the U.K. National Health Service, said both she and her partner earn good salaries but are “not benefiting really from it.”
But it’s not just individuals and families feeling the squeeze — businesses are too.
Companies in Britain have been impacted by the war in Ukraine and COVID, but many businesses —including exporters — have also been affected by Brexit.
Mark Brearly is proprietor of Kaymet, which makes tea trays and carts sold around the world. “It’s just got a lot more difficult to get our stuff over to Europe,” he said. “It’s slower, it’s more expensive. It’s a giant pain in the neck.”
Businesses and individuals alike agree that what Britain really needs is stronger economic growth. I asked Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, to find out whether either of the main parties has a credible plan for getting Britain growing again.
“Not obviously, no,” he said. “It’s worth saying that the U.K. is by no means the only country whose growth has slowed a lot since the financial crisis; ours has slowed more than many others.”
“We have had some ideas from Labour. They want to liberalize our appallingly sclerotic and expensive planning system,” he said. “The Conservatives are more focused on trying to find space for some more tax cuts over the coming period; we’re not getting a deep discussion of any of those.”
Johnson has said that during the general election campaign, politicians aren’t being honest with voters. “What I mean is that we’re not being told what’s actually likely to happen in terms of tax and spending over the next few years.”
“To get debt falling by the end of the Parliament, we are going to have to either increase taxes beyond where they are at the moment — and they are already at a historic high in U.K. standards — or cut spending across a range of public services,” he said. “But neither party is seriously addressing those choices.”
So whoever wins the election will inherit a challenge: Britain’s national debt is high, growth forecasts are low, and its public services under pressure from an aging and ailing population. Perhaps whoever wins can draw some comfort from polling — which suggests voters’ expectations are low.
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