Don’t let the joy around the economy’s 0.5 per cent flicker fool you: this isn’t economic growth – it’s an empty promise.
The growth figures for February far outpaced predicted 0.1 per cent expectations, it’s true, and the government – naturally – is patting itself on the back.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves [pictured with her boss, Prime Minister Keir Starmer] calls it an “encouraging sign,” while promising to go “further and faster” to boost growth and raise living standards.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
But for the millions of people in the UK living on the margins, that’s just another slogan — one that hides the growing inequality, political short-sightedness, and cruelty at the heart of government policy.
The tariff timebomb the government failed to defuse
It isn’t very long since Vox Political urged that the UK needed a practical, forward-thinking response to Donald Trump’s sweeping 10 per cent tariffs on UK goods. That creative strategy never came.
Instead, British businesses — like Mitchell Barnes’ 3D printing firm, referenced in the BBC’s article — are responding the only way they can: by relocating jobs and investment to the United States.
That’s not resilience. It is retreat. It is an escape plan.
And it exposes the fundamental problem with this government’s economic vision: it is reactive, not proactive.
Despite boasting about growth, ministers have no answer to global economic shocks beyond empty reassurances and recycled soundbites.
A growing economy means nothing if you’re left behind
Even if this growth continues – and economists say that’s unlikely – it won’t lift the lives of the people who need help the most.
Reeves has made it clear who she’s targeting to fund this fragile recovery: sick and disabled people, demonised using a fabricated £8 billion fraud figure.
In reality, it’s not benefit claimants draining the economy — it’s the unchecked extraction of wealth by those at the top. But rather than narrowing the chasm between the richest and poorest, this government is widening it.
The wealthiest households are sitting comfortably while:
- Food bank use hits record highs
- Housing insecurity grows
- Energy bills eat into pay packets
- Disability and sickness benefits are slashed under false pretences
What good is a growing economy if the benefits don’t reach the people doing the work or those who need support to survive?
No cause for celebration
It is no wonder Reeves says the government is “not complacent.” Complacency would imply some achievement.
But this one-month uptick is no victory — it’s a brief flicker, dangerously close to going out under the weight of tariffs, tax rises, and a policy agenda that treats the vulnerable as expendable.
Until there’s real, inclusive economic planning — that protects British industries, invests in communities, and tackles obscene wealth inequality — the public has no reason to share the government’s optimism.
The truth is simple: there is no prosperity while millions are being pushed into poverty.
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Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
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Cruel Britannia is available
in either print or eBook format here:
The Livingstone Presumption is available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
This isn’t economic growth – it’s an empty promise
Don’t let the joy around the economy’s 0.5 per cent flicker fool you: this isn’t economic growth – it’s an empty promise.
The growth figures for February far outpaced predicted 0.1 per cent expectations, it’s true, and the government – naturally – is patting itself on the back.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves [pictured with her boss, Prime Minister Keir Starmer] calls it an “encouraging sign,” while promising to go “further and faster” to boost growth and raise living standards.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
But for the millions of people in the UK living on the margins, that’s just another slogan — one that hides the growing inequality, political short-sightedness, and cruelty at the heart of government policy.
The tariff timebomb the government failed to defuse
It isn’t very long since Vox Political urged that the UK needed a practical, forward-thinking response to Donald Trump’s sweeping 10 per cent tariffs on UK goods. That creative strategy never came.
Instead, British businesses — like Mitchell Barnes’ 3D printing firm, referenced in the BBC’s article — are responding the only way they can: by relocating jobs and investment to the United States.
That’s not resilience. It is retreat. It is an escape plan.
And it exposes the fundamental problem with this government’s economic vision: it is reactive, not proactive.
Despite boasting about growth, ministers have no answer to global economic shocks beyond empty reassurances and recycled soundbites.
A growing economy means nothing if you’re left behind
Even if this growth continues – and economists say that’s unlikely – it won’t lift the lives of the people who need help the most.
Reeves has made it clear who she’s targeting to fund this fragile recovery: sick and disabled people, demonised using a fabricated £8 billion fraud figure.
In reality, it’s not benefit claimants draining the economy — it’s the unchecked extraction of wealth by those at the top. But rather than narrowing the chasm between the richest and poorest, this government is widening it.
The wealthiest households are sitting comfortably while:
What good is a growing economy if the benefits don’t reach the people doing the work or those who need support to survive?
No cause for celebration
It is no wonder Reeves says the government is “not complacent.” Complacency would imply some achievement.
But this one-month uptick is no victory — it’s a brief flicker, dangerously close to going out under the weight of tariffs, tax rises, and a policy agenda that treats the vulnerable as expendable.
Until there’s real, inclusive economic planning — that protects British industries, invests in communities, and tackles obscene wealth inequality — the public has no reason to share the government’s optimism.
The truth is simple: there is no prosperity while millions are being pushed into poverty.
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Be among the first to know what’s going on! Here are the ways to manage it:
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (bottom right of the home page). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
5) Follow Vox Political writer Mike Sivier on BlueSky
6) Join the MeWe page at https://mewe.com/p-front/voxpolitical
7) Feel free to comment!
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
Cruel Britannia is available
in either print or eBook format here:
The Livingstone Presumption is available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
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