{"id":838518,"date":"2026-03-20T13:49:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T13:49:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/838518\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T13:49:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T13:49:16","slug":"the-guardian-view-on-labour-liberals-and-the-greens-they-agree-on-the-problem-but-not-the-solution-editorial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/838518\/","title":{"rendered":"The Guardian view on Labour, liberals and the Greens: they agree on the problem, but not the solution | Editorial"},"content":{"rendered":"

The government has raised tariffs to protect<\/a> the steel industry. It also nationalised<\/a> the UK\u2019s remaining blast furnaces last year to keep them running. Both moves point to the same conclusion: the current economic model is not working. A series of interventions from Labour\u2019s Sir Sadiq Khan<\/a> and Angela Rayner<\/a> as well as the Green party leader, Zack Polanski<\/a>, this week suggests that an economic debate on the centre-left and left of politics is under way. The disagreement is no longer about whether there is a problem. It is where the problem lies.<\/p>\n

Sir Sadiq, the London mayor, is right that Brexit has raised costs for businesses and households<\/a>. Closer EU alignment would improve trade, investment and market access. That matters. But rejoining the EU<\/a> won\u2019t on its own rebuild the UK\u2019s domestic capability. Ms Rayner points to a real institutional problem. If the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) understates<\/a> the benefits of public investment, the state may be constraining itself unnecessarily. That matters too. However, changing the OBR model is not a strategy.<\/p>\n

Mr Polanski\u2019s speech<\/a> was an important one that focused on cost pressures. War in the Gulf means that the affordability question will continue to dominate British politics. The Green party leader showed<\/a> sharp instincts in advocating policies to bring down rents and energy and household bills, as well as backing wealth taxes. His critique of conservative fiscal rules reflects the broad, well-grounded dissatisfaction<\/a> with the government\u2019s self-imposed constraints. Mr Polanski\u2019s emphasis on prices, redistribution and fiscal room matters. But he did not deal with productive capacity.<\/p>\n

Since 2008, Britain\u2019s economy has been characterised<\/a> by both weak productivity growth and a persistent current account deficit<\/a>. The UK is now highly dependent on imported energy, food<\/a> and manufactured goods. Real wages have stagnated<\/a>, reflecting both flat output per worker gains and a decline in labour\u2019s bargaining power<\/a>. Together these have created a petri dish for a chronic cost of living crisis and alarming levels of wealth inequality<\/a>. The question is whether Britain continues to treat economic policy as being about managing constraints or breaking out of them.<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s steel policy begins to answer the deeper question of what Britain needs to make. It plans<\/a> to impose 50% tariffs, invest up to \u00a32.5bn in the sector and target 50% domestic sourcing of steel used in the UK. All this points to supply security and industrial muscle being valued alongside price. That should be welcomed. Despite the government\u2019s green steel strategy<\/a> remaining incomplete, the announcement suggests a growing openness to a more activist state \u2013 one that manages the trade deficit, shapes industry and reduces reliance on fossil fuels. But this shift has been forced on ministers after their earlier reliance on cheeseparing pro-market solutions proved both unpopular and unworkable<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Clearly, parts of the political system are beginning to recognise that productive capacity matters and that the market will not reliably provide it. Some have the institutions in their sights: the Liberal Democrats were not wrong in pointing out that the Treasury<\/a> is too centralised and too short-termist in its thinking. Reforming the OBR<\/a> is no bad idea. Redistributive measures are needed urgently and price caps would relieve immediate pressures. Britain has no shortage of diagnoses for its economic malaise.\u00a0What it lacks is a coherent plan.<\/p>\n