Imagination needed to build a new UK economy

We are, as Larry Elliott points out, pretty well at the end of the road in terms of economic decline and decay. His crucial inference is that the challenges of progressive change will not be addressed because of the deep socioeconomic behavioural changes that are required at every level in society.

A major problem lies in the quality of British management and the cultural values they reflect. Britain has failed across a wide front in terms of investing in its human resources. See how Germany and France have in their different ways addressed these matters. Both are successful, dynamic and progressive economies. Britain is not.

It is worth remembering Margaret Thatcher’s reaction to the report prepared for her by Lord Young on German investment in training and development, and the role of the German chambers of commerce in delivering high-quality training and development. The palpable failure of British industry caused her to conclude that Britain could never generate that level and quality of institutional support. She was right then and nothing much has happened since. We are on a hiding to nothing with short-termism buttressed by defective corporate governance.

Richard Tudway

Centre for International Economics