Douglas Carswell's Blog

How's that Growth Strategy working out?

Our economy shrank in the last quarter of last year. Figures out today will, I hope, show the economy grew again - albeit in a 1970s-type way.

Everyone agrees on the need for growth. The trouble is that the debate about how to achieve it is conducted almost entirely in terms of how much more government should spend.

Labour says a lot more. The Coalition says a little less more. Both - contrary to talk of cuts - aim to increase public expenditure over the coming years.

Yet real growth does not come from the state spending money - and certainly not from spending money it does not have.

We'll not see significant and sustained economic growth until we remove some of the burdens that government has imposed on Britain's wealth creators.

At present, I fear we're simply tagging along with Whitehall's established ideas about growth. Ideas, which incidentally, usually seem to include a big role for those working in Whitehall.

Where is the radicalism on deregulation and tax reduction? That should be our growth strategy.

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