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Sir James Dyson said Britain was full of \u201craw potential\u201d<\/p>\n
SEBASTIAN REUTER\/GETTY IMAGES FOR DYSON<\/p>\n
Britain today is a declining power, an impoverished hellhole where free speech is all but a distant memory. At least that\u2019s how this country is described by some internal and external critics. Life is more nuanced than the black-and-white opinions served up by unreliable algorithms or populists of all colours chasing clicks and votes often suggest. Last week Britain was forecast to have the world\u2019s fifth biggest economy again by 2040.<\/p>\n
But instead of diving into defensiveness, we might first acknowledge that some of the country\u2019s critics do have the kernel of a point. The UK economy has been stagnant for far too long. The average income risks trailing behind that of countries like Poland<\/a>. Our public services fall short of the standards voters expect. The country\u2019s inability to control its borders has become a running sore. Police priorities often appear perverse. No wonder the national mood has become \u00adcrotchety and sour.<\/p>\n And yet none of this is a reason to give up on Britain. Perhaps we might take heart from the words of an American entrepreneur, Peter Thiel, who said recently that the UK \u201chas the greatest room for improvement of any European country\u201d. Or perhaps adopt the thoughts of a homegrown business genius. \u201cThere is so much raw potential in our country that can be realised,\u201d wrote Sir James Dyson in The Times<\/a>, \u201cif only we embrace aspiration and inventiveness.\u201d Thiel and Dyson have a point. For all its struggles Britain still has many attributes: superb universities, innovation in science and technology, cultural heft and political and legal stability. These qualities have become suffocated by an ineffectual state. We have nurtured a dangerous addiction to welfare. Layers of bureaucracy and environmental proceduralism have made our planning laws a blocking device. Poor energy strategy over decades has landed us with ruinous costs.<\/p>\n After the Tory party psychodrama, Sir Keir Starmer\u2019s government was elected on a change manifesto. So far it has fallen short. The Labour prime minister is undermined by internal plotting and his own political fragility. He has so far failed in his key goals of ending small boat migration, engendering growth and bringing down the cost of living. And yet Labour still does not have a good reason to dump its elected prime minister<\/a>. A thrashing in May\u2019s elections may hasten his end, but for now Starmer can pull considerable levers of change. Top of his list must be to accelerate reform of the state. It is the private sector that will bring about growth and the state must help, not hinder. The Planning and Infrastructure Act is a step in the right direction. But Labour has a tendency to give with one hand and take with the other. It loosens planning but tightens employment laws, making life difficult for companies and jobseekers. It makes a welcome U-turn on inheritance tax for farmers but provokes a silly new fight over trail hunting.<\/a><\/p>\n