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\t\tImage generated by ChatGPT\t<\/p>\n\t\t\tWednesday 15 April 2026 5:10 am
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\t\t\tTuesday 14 April 2026 1:38 pm\n\t<\/p>\n
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Most Brits do not realise they are poorer than the average Americans, Swiss, Australians or Singaporeans. When asked to rank the UK among 50 US states on GDP per capita, on average people placed the UK 7th, richer than 43 states. The truth is far more miserable \u2013 we are last, says Callum Price<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a school of thought building in Westminster policy and political circles \u2013 and beyond \u2013 that for things in the UK to get better, they first must get worse. The logic is that voters are not yet ready to embrace the radical changes that are necessary to fix our malaise; the medicine required does not yet have the requisite spoon full of sugar to go down.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Look at Argentina, where there is currently underway the sort of economic revival that politicians dream of delivering on the back of fundamental free market reforms. But pre-Milei, Argentina was wrestling with inflation in the triple figures \u2013 do we have to get there before we can take our own chainsaw to the state and unleash the market to deliver the prosperity we want and need?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Possibly not. Major new opinion research published this week by the Institute of Economic Affairs<\/a> by Freshwater Strategy shows that the British public overwhelmingly want growth. Two thirds think that the UK is heading in the wrong direction, and 87 per cent said that we should focus more on economic growth, against just nine per cent that said the UK is already wealthy enough.\u00a0<\/p>\n These figures make one thing abundantly clear: the de-growthers have lost. Growth is valued by all demographics, groups and age ranges, and across the political divide. Voters for all the five main political parties held the UK economy growing as an important goal: between 79 per cent (Green Party) and 96 per cent (Tories and Lib Dems). There is no appetite to cash in our winnings and call it a day \u2013 not least because after an average annual growth rate of just 1.5 per cent for almost two decades, few people feel like they have won.\u00a0<\/p>\n More than two thirds, 65 per cent, rate the economy as poor, 46 per cent believe it is contracting. One focus group respondent stated \u201cthe country is going downhill so fast\u201d, while another asked \u201cwhy is everything getting more expensive when my pay isn\u2019t going up?\u201c.\u00a0<\/p>\n People tended to blame a range of factors for the economy\u2019s problems, from market-first explanations like high taxes and too much red tape, to state-led explanations like lack of government investment and companies prioritising short-term profits. This is the kitchen-sink problem, people are willing to do anything to get growth.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tRead more<\/p>\n