New Chancellor John Healey should recommit to economic growth as the Government’s number one priority
On the appointment of John Healey as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Government announced today by Andy Burnham, Growth Commission Chairman Shanker Singham said:
“I congratulate John Healey on taking office as Chancellor. As he finds his feet at HM Treasury, he should recommit to wealth creation and economic growth as the number one priority of this new administration.
“Delivering economic growth is the ultimate fulfilment of a government’s social duty. History shows us that human flourishing is the result of deliberate choices, robust institutions and the relentless generation of wealth. For the last twenty years, too many of our political leaders have abandoned the hard work of making those choices and as a result economic growth has stalled.
“For too long, the British economy has suffered from all kinds of regulatory distortions and barriers to economic activity. We see public restraints, unnecessary licensing and rigged regulations that serve no public purpose other than to insulate wealthy incumbents from the healthy gale of rivalry. Nowhere is this more apparent than our obviously failed planning system, which is in dire need of fundamental reform. Nonetheless, we need a regulatory state that is unafraid to intervene to protect property rights, people’s security and the ordinary process of free exchange without distortions.
“Moreover, if he truly wants to grow our economy, he can only do this by opening our borders to international competition, smashing behind-the-border regulatory barriers and allowing willing buyers and sellers to interact freely. Only then will a wave of productivity be unlocked that this country has not seen in a generation.
“Fundamentally the new Chancellor needs to understand that policies which suppress growth do not protect the poor and vulnerable; they actually plunge them further into hardship. Whether a policy will create wealth and deliver economic growth should be the test of every decision he makes in office.”
