“Growth is the only way out of the fiscal hole”
Conservative Home: 8th May 2026: PopCon Director, Mark Littlewood, looks at what lessons were learned from the Liz Truss economic plan.
While the 2022 "mini-budget" failed, Mark Littlewood argues that its core principles remain the only viable path to UK economic prosperity. Drawing on Eric Morecambe’s famous analogy, he suggests the "sheet music" (the policy ideas of tax cuts and deregulation) was correct, but the execution was flawed.
To fix the economy, growth must become the absolute priority, necessitating a radical shift in political strategy and sequencing. He warns that "mouthing a desire for growth is akin to engaging in a rain dance" if politicians aren't willing to make the hard sacrifices required, such as prioritizing aggregate wealth over equal distribution.
The first essential step, he suggests, is massive fiscal consolidation—potentially cutting public spending by a quarter to find £400bn in annual savings. Only with these cuts can a government successfully implement deregulation and tax reductions.
He advocates for a return to Laffer curve logic, arguing the UK should be "entirely practical—even predatory—about increasing tax receipts" by lowering top tax rates to attract global millionaires and high earners. By applying a strict "growth test" to all new regulations and repealing existing red tape, the state can transform from a nation of "compliers" into one of "producers."
If the next government delivers the reforms in the right sequence next time, the result could be a prosperous economic "symphony."