0.4% Quarterly Growth Is Hardly Some Sort Of Triumph

Growth Commission member Ewen Stewart has issued the following response to the GDP figures for the second quarter of 2026 that have been issued this morning:

“It is a sorry path when 0.4% GDP growth over an entire quarter is celebrated as some sort of triumph. It is not.

“While this modest level of growth in the three months to June is of course to be welcomed, it is in reality pedestrian in the extreme given the scale of technological revolution gripping the world. Productivity should be increasing by leaps and bounds. But it is not, because government has largely crowded out private enterprise.

“We now have a new Prime Minister and Chancellor. They need to reverse the damage that has been done by their predecessors – particularly in relation to wholly uncompetitive energy prices and restrictive employment legislation that is damaging growth and opportunity. Failure to do so will only prolong the country’s agony of relative economic stagnation.”