The furore over Keir Starmer citing Margaret Thatcher as one of the defining prime ministers of the 20th century has somewhat obscured the question of the “meaningful change” a Labour government would deliver. The purpose of referencing prime ministers who delivered transformative change – whether we agree or disagree with their means and ends – is surely to position the next Labour government in the tradition of great reforming administrations. Ultimately, history will be the judge, but as we look towards a possible Labour government for the first time in 14 years, what meaningful change is the party arguing for?
The scale of the challenge facing Labour is daunting. Only this week, the Resolution Foundation’s Economy 2030 inquiry powerfully demonstrated that the British economy faces continued relative decline unless we urgently correct our course. Some of our malaise dates from the post-financial crisis era and the political and policy choices made in its aftermath, most notably austerity and a botched Brexit. But, depressingly, much of it is attributable to long-running structural weaknesses in the UK economy which predate the 2008 financial crisis, such as the lowest investment in the G7 over the past 40 years and high inequality between people and places.
The consequence of all this is that our middle and lower earners are far worse off than their counterparts in similar-sized economies. As the Resolution Foundation charted, typical households in Britain are 9 per cent poorer than their French equivalents, while low-income families are 27 per cent poorer.
