The elephant in the room that looms over Labour’s plans for growth

In a fractious, polarised and acrimonious debate about the future of the country, there is at least one thing on which politicians in Britain, from hard left to far right, can agree: the main problem is sluggish economic growth. He and Ms Reeves have made their lives even more difficult by promising “to secure the highest sustained growth in the G7 – with good jobs and productivity growth in every part of the country making everyone, not just a few, better off”. Without pushing growth higher, or at least making such an idea look realistic, the prime minister may find that his ambition to preside over a “decade of renewal” is rudely interrupted by another wave of disappointed voters at the next general election. Equally uncomfortably, politics and some unambiguous words in Labour’s election manifesto mean that all but the most minor adaptations to the Brexit deal are ruled out for this parliament at least – no return to the single market and the customs union, which would trigger a spurt of trade and investment; nor to the free movement of labour that would immediately boost the UK’s agricultural, hospitality and care sectors. The chancellor, the business secretary Jonathan Reynolds, and the health secretary Wes Streeting – in particular – should revisit the “Chesterton’s Fence” principle before they get the shredder out.