Prime minister Liz Truss is proud to declare that she is “prepared to take unpopular decisions”. Her argument is that it is sometimes necessary to do so in order to reform the economy so as to promote growth. That is a perfectly valid argument, especially as the economy enters recession, as the Bank of England has confirmed, if the decisions are the right ones and will indeed have the desired effect.
What the prime minister seems to be doing, bizarrely, is more akin to pursuing unpopularity for its own sake. Moving away from the senseless populist boosterism of the Boris Johnson regime is one thing, but launching an “unpopulist” government? That is quite another.
It is quite a list of vote-losing initiatives, whatever their eventual, marginal effects on economic growth might be. According to the unattributable briefings, the Truss government seeks to jam seven years’ worth of action into the two or so years left in office.
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