3 May 2025, 10:57 | Updated: 3 May 2025, 11:02

By Jeremy Hunt

The local elections this week were devastating for the two major parties as large numbers voted for ‘none of the above.'

Last July voters told us why they didn’t want to vote Conservative and we have started the long and painful journey to regain trust with those who rejected us.

But much more shocking is the speed with which the country has fallen out of love with Labour so soon after its landslide. We were put in the sinbin mainly for our failures on immigration.

But for Labour, it is failures on the economy that has seen them join us.

There were plenty of economic challenges when we left office. But we did leave Labour with an economy that had successfully weathered the storms of Covid and Ukraine. Inflation was down from 11% to 2%, we avoided a deep recession and we were growing faster than any other G7 country.

We were at least starting the long journey of raising productivity – and therefore living standards – by cutting business taxes to boost investment. We were getting people back into work through childcare and welfare reform.

Donald Trump has upended the international order but we must be honest that he is not the main cause of the problems we face.

Because our economy is a big services exporter we will not be as badly impacted by tariffs as countries that depend on manufacturing exports.

Yet last month, the IMF downgraded the UK’s........

© LBC