Thread by @nickclegg

1/ For the country’s sake I hope Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves succeed in restoring growth to the British economy. But ruling out even the option of joining the EU’s Customs Union, on the basis that “low growth, which has been at the heart of the economic problem in this country for 14 years, started well before Brexit”, is a peculiar rewriting of recent history. theguardian.com/politics/artic…

2/ The truth is the UK economy – pandemic aside – suffered two massive shocks in recent times: the 2008 financial crisis, in which the economy shrunk by a whopping 6%, on Labour’s watch; and Brexit, which will reduce long term GDP by around 4%, caused by the Conservatives. The Coalition Government of 2010-15 did an impressive job steadying the ship between these two calamitous events, and by 2012 the UK was the fastest growing G7 economy

3/ Labour likes to suggest that longer term problems – especially weak productivity – all started in 2010 when they lost the election. But that’s also not true. Productivity slumped in 2008 and has barely recovered since, in common with many economies across Europe, a “productivity puzzle” which has left many economists scratching their heads.

4/ There’s a lot to like in Starmer and Reeves’ emphasis on economic stability and competent policy making. But sustainable growth will be much more easy to come by if our open trading economy is able to trade more freely with our nearest neighbours – geographical proximity remains the biggest single determinant shaping how much countries trade with each other. Tinkering around the edges with the EU as currently proposed is not enough, if Labour are serious about growth, they need to be bold.