Can Trussonomics work for Britain? Voices has the answers

As a journalist, I sometimes feel like I’ve hit the jackpot for working through an unrelentingly momentous period in history. At other times, I just feel really, really tired – but we shan’t go into that.

Between Partygate, war in Ukraine, the implosion of Boris Johnson’s premiership, the Tory leadership race, the election of Liz Truss as prime minister, the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the snowballing cost of living crisis and what looks like the most irresponsible Budget (sorry, “fiscal event”) in my lifetime, 2022 has never provided a dull moment.

On Voices, we rise to every event and seek to bring you the most insightful analysis and opinions on the major stories of the day from a diverse range of perspectives.

You can see this in our new series, which examines whether the prime minister’s economic ideology, exemplified by last week’s mini-Budget, is right for Britain.

As part of Trussonomics: Can it work? Grace Blakely writes here that “attempting to cure the disease of Thatcherism with yet more Thatcherism” won’t work in a “rigged economy” like our own, while Emily Carver from the Institute of Economic Affairs argues that Truss and her chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, promise “an unashamedly pro-growth economic strategy”.

For Sean O’Grady, the jury is out on Trussonomics, but he warns that it has the potential to “kill the party as well as the economy”. Hamish McRae’s analysis compares Truss’s tactics to relevant examples in the US and Europe – concluding that the promise of growth is far from a done deal.

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In the same vein, Phil McDuff examines “trickle-down economics”, arguing that we should be sceptical of centre-left politicians who point out its failures because they cannot, ultimately, bring themselves to break with the neoliberal myth that underpins it.

With Truss and Kwarteng’s mini-Budget promising an “unsustainable”, souped-up version of Thatcherism, and to lay financial offerings at the altar of the very wealthiest members of society in the middle of a cost of living crisis, it is likely that Trussonomics will provide many more opportunities for astute, engaging and high-quality comment from our writers in the near future.

Yours,

Harriet Williamson

Voices commissioning editor