Managing the Economy

Few chapters of this book require more substantive revision than ‘Managing the Economy’. The 2006 edition recorded that New Labour had ‘captured the record of economic competence previously enjoyed by the Conservatives, with a record of low inflation and relatively low unemployment’. However, the next paragraph struck a more cautionary note:

Yet critics allege that the real structural weaknesses of the economy have not been addressed. Productivity … remains poor compared with Britain’s main competitors. Manufacturing industry continues to decline. British economic prosperity seems to depend on a consumer boom, fuelled by mounting debt. (Leach

et al.

, 2006, p. 366)