A year into Labour rule, the UK economy shows resilience despite government missteps, but Starmer’s statist instincts and fiscal misfires risk stalling the very growth he promises to deliver, says Eliot Wilson

Sir Keir Starmer has little in common with Liz Truss, but the two Prime Ministers agreed on one issue: the UK will only become more prosperous and living standards rise through substantial and sustained economic growth. As Labour’s manifesto last year declared, “to grow our economy… will be at the heart of everything we do.” Truss had previously identified the fundamental challenge as being stuck in a “high-tax, low-growth” cycle.

The government needs growth now more than ever after a chaotic ten days in which economic and fiscal policy has owed more to Mr Bean than to Maynard Keynes. Desperate last-minute concessions to potentially rebellious Labour MPs over the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill, including the minister agreeing from the despatch box to scrap whole clauses, wiped out savings hoped to total £5bn.

It now seems inevitable that autumn’s Budget will include more tax rises, though Labour will endeavour to frame them as consistent with its manifesto pledge that it “will........

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