Ten years into Britain’s productivity crisis, the focus is increasingly on the structure of the economy. The UK has been hit by successive shocks, including Covid-19, which has led to a decline in living standards and a decrease in productivity. Structural forces, such as the overall UK investment climate and its patchy educational system, are also contributing to the problem.
The UK has never regained its lead in productivity growth, and external issues in the global economy, particularly the war in Ukraine, have exacerbated this issue. The Productivity Insights Network (PIN) has taken an interdisciplinary approach to tackle the UK’s weak performance.
The UK’s productivity has been stagnant since the 2008-09 global financial crisis, with productivity growing at an average rate between 1974 and 2008. The country has been hit by multiple shocks, including the GFC, withdrawal from the European Union, COVID-19, and the Russia-Ukraine war. This has made it harder for businesses to invest in capital and skills.
The size, ownership, and structure of a firm can affect productivity more than the sector in which it operates. Some economists blame the UK’s long tail of unproductive firms for dragging down the average, but nearly half of leading economists surveyed by the Centre for Macroeconomics point to low demand due to the financial crisis and austerity.
The government cannot be blamed for poor productivity, which is largely caused by factors outside its control. However, the budget represents a significant portion of the problem. A long-run perspective confirms that the generally low quality of UK management helps explain the poor performance of companies and the wider economy.
📹 Why Is Britain No Longer a Rich Economy? | UK Economy | Econ
It is important to understand that #Britain isn’t as rich as it believes. There’s a reason for this misconception. For the last 15 years, …
📹 The Economy of the UK Is in Serious Trouble
Disclosure: This is not financial advice. When investing, your capital is at risk. Investments can rise and fall and you may get back …
Achieving prosperity and securing financial independence is not as challenging as commonly perceived. Accumulating wealth and maintaining enduring financial security becomes significantly more achievable with the right knowledge. Engaging in financial programs and utilizing appropriate financial products represents the most reliable strategy to generate substantial income and sustain affluence over the long term.
Fundamentally, the UK is just a small island nation without much natural resources to support its relative position in the world order. Without its global Empire, it was destined to sink back to the norm, while big, productive, populous countries like China and India, who punched well below their weight in the 19th and 20th centuries rise back to where they should be in the global pecking order. As for de-industrialisation, there is no one to blame but the neoliberal economic policies of the British government itself. The article correctly noted that Britain chose finance over industry, while Asia chose industry, manufacturing and investments. For the last 40 years, ever since the re-introduction of neoliberal capitalism, the Western world had lived in a lie which undid the widespread middle class prosperity achieved in the post-war decades. Now, Europe is saddled by a proxy war on its biggest energy supplier at the behest of the US. The 2020s will not be any better than the 2010s. Most likely, it will be another lost decade for the UK and much of Europe.
I use to live in the UK, and as a Canadian, I felt there were many barriers in the UK for upward mobility. The laws and tax system favoured wealthy business owners instead of workers, who in my opinion are majority of the consumers that can shore up the economy if they had more buying power. the rich saves and the poor spends, you need more money at the hand of the poor if you want to see reliable growth.
When I hear recession I immediately think of those hundreds of resumes that get unanswered, rent unpaid, and living on the streets. Other people think of their investment portfolio going down a few percent. They don’t think of going hungry and miserable and having cold wet feet from all the rain and snow.
Managing money is different from accumulating wealth, and the lack of investment education in schools may explain why people struggle to maintain their financial gains. I personally benefited from the market crisis as I embrace challenging times while others tend to avoid them. Well, at least my advisor does too, jokingly…
I used to think every investor went broke during recessions, meanwhile some make millions. I also thought everybody went out of business during the Great Depression, but some went into business. Bottom line, there’s always depression for some, and profit for others, it all starts from having the right mindset. That said, I’ve set asides $150k to invest for future, unfortunately l’m a complete noob.
That’s what happens when you choose financial services as the backbone of your economy. It produces nothing of real value, as much as pencil pushing ever really does, and leaves one’s nation needing others to produce essential industrial goods required to keep the expected standards of living, while having nothing to trade in return.
Would love to see Britain thrive but it seems like the current situation is not promising. I think the main problem is lack of competent leadership. Their politics is also more tribal and divisive now. You have to look at my place (Africa) to see the effect of that. People stand by their politicians whether their actions are good for them or not. A lot in common with present day America actually.
UK prosperity is a myth, I live now in Bulgaria, and personal wealth is more evident, and there are two metrics the knowledgeable Jim Rikards points out, currency velocity and Debt to GDP both of which seem to be pretty good here. I have watched now for 20 years Eastern Europe and UK and see they are on opposite paths so doubling the equalisation and who knows reversal.
0:00: Britain’s GDP per capita is $46,400. 0:45: The wealth is heavily concentrated in the southeast, while the rest of the country faces low pay and weak productivity. 1:50: The financial crisis in 2008 hit Britain hard, leading to falling wages and stagnant household income. 6:00: Overall investment in R&D as a share of GDP exceeds OECD average but lags behind countries like the US, Japan, and Germany. 6:15: Underinvestment in intangible investments such as market research, branding, and training contributes to the UK’s productivity gaps. 6:35: Elevated uncertainty at both the individual firm and aggregate economy levels, following the financial crisis and Brexit result, has deterred business investments. Recap by Tammy AI
The UK has been in a perpetual state of financial crisis ever since around 2010, austerity gutted our public services, infrastructure investments, investments in job, skills, young people. Then leaving the EU ruined our trade, immigration, international connections and access to markets. Combine that with a housing crisis, one the government is incapable of doing anything about, an aging population, falling education standards, no policing or even punishment for criminal acts, the UK is on the brink of collapse at this stage. The conservatives have ruined this country in the last 13 years, it may even be beyond repair
Final point, it is TOTALLY LOST on UK Government that there is a correlation between record taxes and people working less as per non-existence productivity growth and zero GDP growth. The only net zero UK is spectacularly achieving is on people’s living standards. Sunak/Hunt Administration is horrendous.
The poor working class paying too much in direct and indirect taxes while the wealthy is living their life using tax loopholes. Britain needs to reconsider the Brexit as it had lost the largest trading partner Europe. Britain definitely needs to kick start productivity, industrialisation, research and development otherwise the pound will be in the history book soon.
Read this to know about our past and achievements. Ancient India’s Achievments: 1. Ancient universities such as nalanda, takshashila, vikramshila, and much more over thousands of years ago. 2.Indians had concepts of calculus before west like infinite series for pi, power series for sine and cosine, inverse tangent series, and much more. 3. Aryabhatta invented sine function. 4. Bhaskara II gave modern definitions of sine and cosine. 5. Sushruta was one of the pioneers in surgery over 2000 years ago. 6. Maharishi Kanad, a philosopher, proposed the idea of atoms in 600 BCE. 7. Brahmagupta invented the formula to determine the area of cyclic quadrilaterals. 8. Decimal System. 9. Binary number system by pingala. 10. Ayurveda. 11. Bhaskara I stated that at the highest point, the rate of change is zero. 12. Varahamihira predicted water on Mars thousands of years ago. 13. Sridharacharya invented the modern-day quadratic formula. 14. Solutions to quadratics. Modern India’s Achievements: 1. Har Gobind Khorana synthesized the first artificial gene and demonstrated the role of nucleotides in protein synthesis. He also played a massive role in cracking the genetic code. 2. Artificial synthesis of coenzyme A by Har Gobind Khorana 3. Chandryaan 3 landing on the south pole of moon. 4. Mars Mission. 5. Sun Mission (Aditya – L1). 6. Fiber optics by Narinder Singh Kapany. 7. Jagdish Chandra Bose was one of the pioneers in wireless communication before Marconi and transmitted signals before him. 8.
Sorry this completely misses why the UK economy has a productivity problem, which is a weak labour laws and high immigration particularly from the EU. In the UK unlike france it is easier to hire a cheap worker to do a job than invest in new technology to make an existing worker more efficient. The gig economy has only accelerated this.
It’s a very interesting article. I’ve lived in England for almost 25 years. We lived in the South, now the North. And its amazing the difference, you see more poverty in the North. We help some food banks around here with endless queues of people. The contrast between London and Hull foe example is incredible. The Health system is so poor, we’re glad there is Social care, but it’s so bad managed that hurts, people waiting foe treatments for years. On the another hand, British countryside has to be one of the best in the world. Having live in Canada, NL, Costa Rica, etc, we love how they look after old buildings. National Trust, English Heritage, amazing charities that preserve their history. Nevertheless, people need to eat and work, and we can see how England has decreased in different fields. Let’s be optimistic, UK needs to be ok, they are usually the first to help other countries when they needed it. I remember the Tsunami in Indonesia, UK was there first, with the war in Ukraine, again UK there first… It’s so difficult to find the balance… Let’s pray for a better future for all… Peace and love to all.🕊️
Role of COLONIZATION in making Britain rich? . The narrator appears to be of british origin from his accent. But he does not mention the fact Britain became rich by exploiting the colonies. When Britain lost the colonies, it started becoming poor, and the worst is yet to come. Why does he not mention it at all??????
Well, if the government had not handed over £141 Billion of our tax money to their mates to boost their own share price, and instead let those particular banks fail. Set up a new bank using part of the 141 Billion to ensure, and underwrite the publics mortgages, etc. Then invest the rest of the 141Billion into public services, infrastructure etc, we wouldn’t be in the state we are now.
So much cherry-picked data my eyes were spinning. Since when have Norway and Switzerland been seen as peer economies to the UK? Or the USA for that matter? Very silly. Why should the UK be concerned that India is now a bigger economy? What has the Queen’s death to do with anything? Education system is failing on every level? When it’s rated top 10 in the world almost every index I could find. It’s true that the UK is in a low-growth phase at the moment and has various other problems, but just making things up to try to emphasise a point is a sad trick of the clickbait media.
An interesting analysis, but wrong in several key respects. 1) Immigration to the UK hasn’t decreased since Brexit. It has in fact increased to an all-time high, reaching a net 600,000 immigrants in 2022. Indeed, data published in the papers today (22/08/2023) shows that the UK remains the most favored destination for migrants in Europe. 2) UK exports have already recovered completely since Brexit, and service exports have actually increased faster than in any other G7 economy. 3) As your charts showed (but you failed to mention), UK productivity has actually grown more than French productivity over the same period, in spite of the fact that France has not pursued any “austerity program” and has managed to run up an even bigger National Debt than the UK (116% GDP vs 98% GDP). Further to which: 4) It is hard to argue that the UK has been experiencing a period of austerity when National Debt and public expenditure have increased to record levels, unless by “austerity” you mean “not hosing maximal amounts of taxpayers’ money at every begging bowl in sight”. You need to understand that high taxes impose just as much austerity on the economy as cuts to public expenditure, and arguably at greater economic cost. Yes, public services are essential for a well-functioning society, but they do not necessarily enhance economic growth; and they certainly don’t if they’re not matched by improvements in productivity – further to which, for example, the NHS is currently some 10% less productive than it was ten years ago, thus accounting for a measurable chunk of the UK’s “productivity problem”.
With markets tumbling, inflation soaring, the Fed imposing large interest-rate hike, while treasury yields are rising rapidly—which means more red ink for portfolios this quarter. How can I profit from the current volatile market, I’m still at a crossroads deciding if to liquidate my $125k bond/stocck portfolio..
Look at a graph of how many horror movies were released, oh wow seems like horror movies became hundreds of times more popular in 1990’s, wrong. There had just been made more movies. Take a look at a graph comparing Norway’s and US’s real estate. They both changed, and so did Britain but Britain relatively stayed the same and Norway grew, comparing them in such key is just stupid. Britain has problems but you’re dramaticising data
You can’t compare the UK (little island /w few natural resources) to the other anglo sphere countries which have huge land masses full of natural resources. It’s ony natural Britain has receded in the global rankings… Granted, Brexit & the tories have made it worse than it is though. The UK simply can’t compete anymore with giants like Australia, Canada & USA. The torch has been passed on… P.S. I see how you conveniently didn’t mention New Zealand when talking about other anglosphere countries; the only other anglosphere country which isn’t much better off than the UK, and without vast natural resources.
The economy is worst because, the Britain has 1. World’s worst housing system 2. Worlds worst rules for the people 3. Lac of technical skills 4. Importing every single product from outside rather than producing it like from tissue paper to tea powder 5. Finally Brexit 😂 seriously bro… how the gov even have a thought of that when we are 100% dependent on Europe. Due to that we are out European council and paying more taxes for imports 6. For sure we can see the poverty with in no time
Britain robbed a lot of countries during colonization and collected an enormous wealth. You should be able to understand how the funds were pumped during Industrial revolution in England which made them a leading economy. Its the blood, sweet and heritage of many still developing countries struggling with poverty. What goes around will comes around.
Denigration of foreigners? Just have a sensible immigration policy, with a focus on integration and not on trying to demographically change the face of the population. Unfortunately that ship has sailed but I’m pretty sure had the house been in order in this area, we wouldn’t have voted Brexit. The reality is, immigration is still through the roof, showing it is the establishment in both the UK and the EU which turn a blind eye/pave the way.
On 28 September 1976 – Denis Healey arrived at London’s Heathrow airport on his way to the International Monetary Fund annual meetings. Waiting in the VIP lounge, gin-and-tonic in hand, the UK chancellor of the exchequer learned that the pound was plunging. Healey headed back to the Treasury and announced that Britain was applying to the Fund for a record $3.9bn loan. The British government, observed the Economist, ‘is bust’. Whatever happened to the wealth gained through the Empire?
Comparing the UK to Norway ( population about 5.5 million) the US ( population 332 million) is a strange way of measure your GDP against. Why not France a very similar country ( population about the same, economy used to be at a similar level etc.) maybe to painful and humiliating for a world leading nation ( 6th 7th economy in the World). Or perhaps the Benelux countries together about half the population of Britain. A GDP of about 2.45 trillion only slightly less then Britain. The Benelux counties also have excellent healthcare and education. They are also suffering under the same setbacks as Britain ( high energy costs, high inflation and mediocre governments) they manage to keep everything functioning and remain relatively prosperous compared to the race to bottom Britain is engaging in. Britain is truly world leading in all the wrong categories. Inflation, poverty inequality, last to recover from Covid, highest number of Covid related deaths and long term illnesses because of covid.highest shortage of productive workers especially in healthcare, transport and agriculture. I can’t help wondering if it is even possible to turn all these negatives around and get black to where the country was before the 2008 crisis. The EU has managed it.
You need to change your mindset on who you vote for it seems Britains Political Arena needs to be looked into by the PEOPLE! Changes need to be made in order to restore Britains economy back to where it was so your old people can eat they Built this country surely they deserve better treatment than what theyre getting! Power to the People! As us Maori in NZ would say…..KIA KAHA (stay strong) And God Bless you and Palestine❤❤❤
I visited London last year for the very first time and I found London to be so beautiful and clean compared to California cities. Obviously all cities have good/safe parts and dangerous ones too. But my impression of London is that there is still so much wealth there and it was pretty affordable too. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’d rather live in London than in the U.S.
Puzzled🤔….if we were realy a poor country then how can we afford to support institutions like the monarchy and hold extravaganzas like coronations/royal funerals etc. Also if we were poor i dont think our betters who sit in the house of lords would accept a daily attendance allowance of £300 plus accomodation etc, they would decently waive any payment.
Britain has been in significant decline since WWI when it lent every penny Treasury had to France. France stopped repaying any of that sovereign debt in 1931 and even though the debt is now over a trillion, and doubling every 14.5 years, there’s no way that the French will be called on to pay because Parliament are a gang of cowards.
BRITAIN has fallen, just as BRITTANIA have fallen when ROME left . UK became real HELL on EARTH for its citizen last 10 years, like it is not even same country, that it once used to be. The speed of that change is unbelievable… 14th increase of interest rates ? This will impact mortgage holders as well as renters. Quality of living is experiencing constant decline for the past decade
For all the austerity measures that have been implemented, why were there basically no tax cuts for the working class, sure personal allowance was increased a couple of grand but still losing 25% (thats just income tax, not VAT or anything) of your pay packet, whilst public services went down the shitter. The austerity that was implemented wasn’t to save money, but it was just so the government could redirect a higher percentage of tax into their friends pockets. The entire of the UK looks at london with disgust, its the marie antoinette of the 21st century.
You forget that the wealth Britain enjoyed was at the expenses of whole societies and their suffering across the globe . Now Asian countries on the rise, colonialism has ended yet it effects and power balance still at work, third world countries say enough . So the UK has no option other than dying in peace or change the whole capitalist system! But they will choose the first over the latter anytime
Its embarrassing that people still think our government is incompetent. All that we are enduring is by design, it has been for hundreds of years, its nothing more than a slave colony. The hubris and willful avoidance of any systems that would improve productivity is mind blowing, at one company we were 4 years behind on orders, the answer they can wait another 2 years, we had a team of Rolls Royce engineers come in to guide the company down a more productive route, after two years of employing there system we were no better off. Another business we had specialist teams from Porsche Lamborghini and Rolls Royce, after months of effort they all said sorry we are going back home your production is broken beyond repair. It doesn’t help that a large proportion of these work forces can’t put two words of English together.
The concentration of finance and austerity over investment has led to an upward flow of wealth out of the greater community. As the article explains the circulation of wealth in the greater community is what drives business creation, hence growth in GDP. Adam Smith recognised this in Wealth of Nations. The failure of Brexit is IMO due to continued opposition to it from the Establishment, which rather than embracing it has determined to make it fail to prove they were right.
mostly correct, but the notion that “migration” as a broad factor is beneficial to economies is bogus, figures also show this, high skill migration is good for an economy today and low skill migration is good for cheapening heavy industry, agriculture, …. but in truth neither have much influence on the people you are pleading for, if low skill jobs pay less due to more competition these people suffer most of all, if a highly educated Indian becomes a banker in London that’s potentially one less Brit studying and somehow managing to climb to that role your analysis is correct your solutions lack any nuance or are plain ideological drivvle, if you want to save your economy you do focus on investment but very specific investments that are certain to increase HDI for those down on their luck now means focussing on getting them in good jobs, how did britain do that during the first industrial revolution? by heavily protecting it’s edge for as long as possible, a prominent Ghent entrepreneur eventually managed to smuggle a brittish weaving machine to Ghent and had the machine duplicated, britain ensured that their technicians, engineers, anyone that could bring their advancements to other countries was kept from leaving, many managed to anyway, over time Europe industrialised and what did all those countries do? they imposed tarifs on Brittish manufacturing and machine building to promote their own as much as possible, Britain still benefited from trade, they remained cheaper than anyone else exporting but their edge was waning, despite that they remained the leaders in inovation for some time a new steam engine suddenly making it possible for steamships to travel long distances at record speeds on mostly or even solely coal, before steamships relied largely on sails when you have the edge than you are all for free trade, if your economy is developing than you need tarrifs, and here we see how the US and the west in general really screwed over Africa (well their governments never really even tried to get out of it (Japan managed it despite being banned from having tarrifs until 1900 or 1901.
Over the last decade or so British administration has offered a master class on how not to run a country – uncontrollable immigration, unstable government, national healthcare mismanagement, and less than stellar economic decisions have been a few salient features!! So the sun will eventually set on the British empire!!
I only disagree with the last sentence. There is no hope for the UK. The badly educated poor kids are joining the workforce, some well educated will leave it. A shrinking economy is ruled by increasingly corrupt and completely incompetent politicians that have to deal with a divided society, shrinking tax revenues and rising interrest rates. Hope died last a couple of years ago.
I live in ireland. Many from UK who visit say much the same, despite its challenges, esp. housing, they see how the country has now passed out UK in €€/capita, in political stability, in societal cohesiveness, entrepreneurial dynamism etc. Its open economy began to separate from Britain’s back in 2000 and continues upwardly. Being a fully paid up EU member state is one of THE main reasons for its success. In so many ways on so many levels, Brexit has and will continue to be, a drag on the UK, and will more than likely lead to its breakup.
If you read The Economist, you’d be fooled into believing that Britain is the only country in the European Union that handles its economic and military affairs “right”. France, Italy, Portugal, The USA, etc… all disasters. I visited England many years ago. I found it expensive, the people far ruder than New Yorkers, the city of London filthy, and there was nothing there (unlike Paris) that would make me want to visit again. The country bites off more than it can chew. Its economic power has long been overrated, and now after Brexit, in question. Their only military accomplishment after World War II (in which Germany once again was nearing the crap out of it and had to be rescued by the USA), was the Falklands in 1982 (and again with heavy US assistance and Argentine incompetence). They spent a lot of money in the Gulf wars and Afghanistan and in return they got a pat on the back from the Americans; their “Special Relationship” that amounts to the weight of the center of a donut. For decades they’ve neglected their own people, and now they are paying the price.
Well old colonial wealth went into tax havens and some crumbs were thrown to the working class … now even those crumbs are not available, so they extract that in the name of poor immigrants, renters, buyers of property and everyone who is late to the game… Wonder at some point the feeding frenzy has to end !
This article makes the same problem as most other articles on this topic. It assumes that the UK’s problems are because of Brexit without explaining how or why. The logic goes: 1. Brexit 2. ??? 3. Bad economy Economists fail to explain exactly how Brexit is the cause. They of course fail because it isn’t. The problems facing the UK Economy all predate Brexit. Low investment, poor productivity, high imports, housing shortage, lack of adiquate policing, etc etc all predate Brexit. Brexit certianly made things worse, but blaming Brexit won’t fix those issues nor would reversing it.
While you diagnosed all the issues the UK faces and the economic reality, your conclusion was woefully wrong. Firstly, immigration has increased since we left the EU. Net migration in 2021 was over 600k, more than twice as high as the already obscene 235k per year average from 2000-2019. How you arrived at that conclusion is mind-boggling. Also, I never hear anything good about housing costs in America or indeed anywhere in the Anglosphere. Both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts in America are subject to obscene house prices just as bonkers as those in the south east of England for example. The same is true in key cities in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. While the UK in particular has a massive NIMBY problem which the current government has every interest in maintaining, you also cannot deny the impact large scale immigration has and is having on house prices. If there are more and more people chasing fewer and fewer homes, that drives up overall prices and also rents. End result is that people’s spending power is hit harder and they have less to spend. Naturally, this harms the economy as a greater share of people will only be able to spend on essentials and less and less on luxuries.
‘Paying down the deficit’. ‘Reduce the national debt’. These statements assume the country owes money. To whom are we indebted? No one! The national debt is simply a measure of how much money has been created by the government and the banks that has yet to be taxed out of the economy. It means that we have £2.8Tn in the non-government side of the economy. Most of this money resides with the wealthiest, giving the illusion that the UK is a rich country. Further, much of that wealth is hoarded in physical assets like land and property, or financial assets like shares, stocks and bonds, all of which effectively take money out of circulation, storing it to make the asset holders more money in the form of rental fees, dividends and interest payments. State spending has collapsed, which is a political choice because the government, as sole creators of GBP, can always pay. The Conservative mantra is always ‘small state, market leads’. The Tories exploited the global banking crisis to blame the then Labour government for ‘bankrupting’ the country, seize power and shrink the state with its austerity policies and enrich the private sector. Only when people start to understand that policy choice shapes how the country is run, government can always find the money but simply chooses not to, and that our constraints on spending are the tangible resources available, will the tide begin to turn.
This is 100% what is happening in Canada right now. Our government cut spending after the recession and “balanced the budget”. That got a crackpot elected who just throws money at everyone with no direction towards productivity growth. Now we have no productive industries and are likely to get another Austrian inspired leader smack in the middle of the recession. We liked it so much the first time that we’re going back for seconds 😔
Immigration has not declined since Brexit. It (net legal immigration) is now out of control at over 600,000 per annum. Not to mention illegal immigration. Already overstretched public services, housing and other infrastructure is even more thinly distributed putting even more strain on those at the bottom of society. This analysis is completely incorrect in this regard.
There is one common factor to all of this – the horrendous mismanagement of the UK economy by the Conservatives – the governing Party – since 2010. Time and again, faced with the choice of prudent financial management and ideology, they have chosen ideology. The result has been a ‘death spiral’ of low ambition, low productivity and poor education. It will take 30 years to recover from this, and this is why it is desperately important to educate the next generation in good citizenship so that we can re-learn the art of electing Governments that govern by the will of the people in the interests of the people.
I don’t think the uk will exist for much longer, Scotland, Wales and even NI will eventually stop putting up with them and leave the “union”. The whole island needs to reset, at least S, W and NI can leave… but England … well you guys really need to reform the government, get rid of Westminster, the monarchy etc… and start again too. We all deserve better than this….
Low worker productivity hinders growth and high housing costs erode quality of life. Housing should be a primary concern. Governments for at least 20 years have not met their targets to build new homes. That has made the UK end up with the lowest number of dwellings per 1000 people in all Europe. The fundamental cost for everyone is having an affordable place to live. It is the most basic aspect of your life. It is not being met. Costs have skyrocketed, and that has made the average British person much poorer than they should be. A root and branch reform of planning and building should be undertaken to liberalise and quality of life will improve greatly just off the back of this. Imagine that tomorrow you had let’s say 15 percent of your rent or mortgage returned to you each month. How much better would your life be over one year? In France’s second city Marseille, average 1 bed apartment rent outside the city centre is about 600 euros. It’s at least 20 percent more than that in nearly any of the UK’s major cities, from Birmingham to Cardiff to Edinburgh. It’s cheaper in Paris to get an outskirts apartment than it is in Milton Keynes or Bournemouth for goodness sakes..
When Prime Minister David Cameron tried to get a Brexit referendum out of the way quickly after years of a failing austerity programme, he failed to catch that the Brexiteers were successfully blaming his policy failures on the EU. Then, the absolute worst of the Tory party jumped on Brexit to further their careers and agendas. The UK faces two lost decades in a row and the bulk of the fault lies firmly with the Tories. Policy failures, gambling with a referendum, constitutional crisis in ignoring Scotland and NI, unprofessional governments, it’s a national disaster
ITS TIME TO SAVE OUR NATION REFORM UK Decent honest hardworking people, who want nothing more than safe communities for their children and a cohesive society without political infighting and greed. 300.000 unemployed AGAINST 750.000 MIGRANTS What do you expect. £290 million to RWANDA CANCER Patient waiting list is a crime by the the current government. Pensioners with no heating. Renting prices have caused greed with no stability for families and landlords. REFORM UK are our only chance, i have been conservative my whole life and have watched them and Labour destroy our nation beyond recognition, they have taken our values and identity away and refused to consider the everyday family, who have only ever asked for fair pay and a working public service for all their hard earned tax. The current government have constantly lied and kept the nation divided refusing to give the good people of our nation any respect whatsoever and this must now STOP and once again become a nation of pride and togetherness. REFORM must be given the opportunity to make sweeping changes and yes, it will be a huge task,,,, but with hope and support from our nation i truly believe it is possible. STAND AND BE COUNTED and vote REFORM UK
Productivity is lower because the country doesnt make anything! What are you going to invest in? Rainmaker at banks? Houses? Stores that have annihilated by AMZN? What exactly? Brexit was the revenge of most Brits against globalization which OVERPROMISED AND UNDERDELIVERED! The moment finance went down the tubes in 2008 so did the UK! What a coincidence! You cant have a country whose growth industry is finance. UK is Canada without the natural resources!!!!!
The UK, became a commodity based economy in around 1976/77, with North Sea Oil. That combined with the catastrophic socialist regime at the time, the Labour Government had to call in the IMF, banana republic World, if you think interest rates are unacceptable now in 1978 our banks lending rate was 23%, yes not 2 or 3% 23%. All the wealth lies in the City, without it the UK would have sunk without sight. So the currency/money, 97% of is held by the Banks. Hence the saying ” Banks are too big to fail”. They are.
A successful country like Germany has Leaders and Followers. That’s why they were formidable troops in WW2. The UK now has no leaders worth their salt and the populace underbelly are either ragged, slothful, near do wells or grasping avaricious anti socials. WW2 was fought for freedom, justice and a future. There is nothing to look forward to now. No future, just decline and obscurity. Paradoxically, who would invade the UK now there is nothing here??? Why bother with a nuclear deterrent? we may as well save what we have and fill in a few potholes. The country is riven North to South and our backs to the wall culture has gone forever.
When I was in UK. I saw empty boarded up streets under a constant grey sky, litter everywhere. Homeless people sleeping in doorways. People who think nothing of going to Tesco dressed in their pajamas with cat whiskers mask on their faces. Opioid addicts out of their mind and women so drunk they urinated on the streets. It’s a sad declined countr
Not a word about loosing the Russian markets, loosing Russian suppliers of all energy, food, fertilizers, semi finished goods and so on or the massive spend on Ukraine. So stupid is as stupid does and the UK can hope all it wants while by PPP Russia is now the number one economy of Europe and growing.
Depressingly true. Patriotism is for the weeds, I’m sick of this country, the outright negligence of the government is only matched in stupidity and naivety by their voters closed mindedness. An entire generation’s ability to thrive and survive has been wasted. Thanks to Brexit, even the hope of emigrating is harder. There is literally not one aspect of British life that is better now than pre 2008. Labour screwed up, yes, but dear god what on earth have the Conservatives done since?! They’ve turned a broken arm into an amputation. Yet the people persisted with this death march. We never learn, the Conservatives are hapless, and the “Reform” are rotten to the core. God help us, even if we don’t deserve it.
Huh, imagine wanting to cut ties to- and remove the free, un-tariffed trade with your main source of consumer goods and food. Who could have ever thought that adding additional profit margins, tariffs, shipping fees and taxes to your imports would severely increase the prize of your imports. Brexit was such and absolute brain rot of a decision. I don’t know what people were thinking when passing that. The question must have basically been something like this: “How much more do you want to pay for your goods and your food.” “Yes please!” It reminds me of this lovely sentence as quotation from Winston Churchill. “The best argument against Democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.”
The Tories are the reason for this – no one else is. I don’t think most British people (especially English people) realise just how much damage they have done to the UK over the last decade. The scale of this damage is enormous. I wish more English people would wake up and see what the Tories have done. Sadly, too many have been gaslit, and as a result, walk around with their eyes closed – oblivious to the carnage that’s around them. The Tories have literally destroyed everything. NOTHING is better now than it was in 2010….nothing. The UK no longer works properly, or functions like a proper democracy; because the Tories have turned the UK into an Autocracy, and have created a deeply dysfunctional, and polarised society. We are no longer a friendly country – either to outsiders or with our regular neighbours. And instead have become a sad, hate-filled country who resent our neighbours intensly. We have virtually no friends in Europe. This is all down to the Tories….and their sidekicks, the right-wing British media. The transformation from a country admired around the world, to one that’s not liked, and the butt of jokes, is now complete. Thanks to the Tories and what they’ve done over the last 13 years. This isn’t a rant, but the truth. It’s time more people woke up and smelt it. Yes, it stinks – but it’s the reality.
It goes without saying but cutting on social spending among the poor, elderly and disabled which increasingly make up more and more of the UK – is having a compounding effect on business confidence and consumption. Not only that but the UK operates under some of the highest tax burdens in it’s history. Making this dual policy of cutting the amount of available consumer spending AND taxing consumers and businesses at the highest levels in british history truly disastrous for any attempt to turn this ship around. Again and again, businesses are told to hire british workers to fill missing places in it’s labour pool and again and again they come up short cause businesses have no real interest (or incentive) to train british workers and instead import millions of third worlders who are ready to go and can easily be threatened with deportation if they step out of line. These third worlders from Pakistan don’t spend money like brits do, and instead send their wages back to their family. Everyone including Labour with Shtface Starmer on board is in abject denial.
Is there nothing else happening in your part of this big wide world that we all live in? Why are you so obsessed about the UK? Is your own country such an economic marvel, a total paragon (or paradox) of virtue? Seems rather silly to me, nowhere is perfect, if nowhere (or even somewhere) was 100% perfect would it not logically follow that everyone in the world would want to live there because of that, the country would end up chock-a-block, busting at the seams, overrun with people of all nationalities, a modern-day Tower of Babel!! We are doing the very best that we possibly can given the circumstances in which we have to work in, that should be patently obvious to anybody that can see beyond the end of their nose.
It’s the dying, death trows of an empires end, America is going too, all empires collapse and the more recently built ones collapse faster than their predecessors did… Britain and Europe are totally unrecognisable compared to a few gererations back, Britons and Europeans have no place to call home….
finance over industry, that, that right there is a huge aspect of all of this at the end of the day money whether metal or paper is nothing but a means to represent the vallue of goods and services industry, agriculture all round production, what we actually consume that is what matters furthermore finance is great for big investors, bankers etc. but what do they want from the since delapidated north of England or Scotland or Wales?? they go to London restaurants, holiday arround the world, buy houses in the south of England or holiday homes around Europe and holy GDP(and GDP/capita) remains the cited source, we aren’t doing badly, look at our average income, no no don’t peer behind the curtain to look at overall and God forbid regional median incomes. it is insane, just a while back a guy commented on a article about Poland becoming richer compared to the UK stagnating “no london will be the economic powerhouse because we are the frontrunners in AI development, just see” maybe the GDP will rise, but what does that matter, after all if you are not developing the tech, producing it or investing in it you aren’t getting much out of it, and where industry even with automation is a big potential employer, software by no means is, it is a product that when developed and brought to the market doesn’t need any production facilities, it can be bought and downloaded from anywhere.
God k have never heard something so stupid. No the U.K. isn’t a poor country or a poor economy. Far from it. Most of its growth however doesn’t filter down to the bottom, and it’s not growing much as the moment for a number of factors. Saying the U.K. is a poor country based on gdp per capita is laughable
Erm people coming to this country hasn’t declined. Inflation isn’t in double digits, energy prices have come down. Trade is down but not massively, same levels as we were a decade ago. Still the sixth richest nation on the planet. And investment in this country from abroad is the same as it was before the financial crash. So no the U.K. isn’t a poor country or economy.
The Tories crave austerity and cuts for the majority and greater wealth for themselves and their rich chums as anyone noticed how many of these MPs have increased their personal wealth ?? Who are they actually serving if not themselves and their chums they public money as been diverted in this massive wealth transfer SCAM sadly many will continue to believe the many lies printed in the Tory MP media how much more damage and money transfer are the people of the UK going to allow, recently some official stated that people need to accept that they would become poorer this is your Tory mindset keep voting for tgf likes of Johnson Mogg and Sunak or any other Tory then they are correct you will become poorer that’s fact as they strip away ever more tax money from public services and their inflation policies are really damaging the whole of the UK
Why cant UK have fixed rate mortgages for the term of the loan as in other countries.The transport system is not particularly developed but it’s extremely expensive My other gripe is the council tax.which is grossly unfair,the land should be charged by how many sq metres you have,not the stupid system they have at the moment where the poor pay a huge amount compared to the rich.The propaganda machine works to cheat people but keep the rich exceedingly rich at the expense of the poor its scandalous.
Why Is Britain No Longer a Rich Economy? – Used to be rich pre 2008, since global financial crisis all went down hill – Real household income fell greatly > Peeps aint spending money they dont have > U.K growth stall – High Tax but bad public service. Peeps voting for close economy instead of open prosperous one – Bristish productivity rate dropped to the lowest among the G7 – Business not investing into local > Not confident with the british economy – U.K goverment bailout causing 1 trillion debt & 31 billion incentive for the country. Resulting in budget deficit – U.K goverment implement higher taxes, cutting spending and lower government spending to combat budget deficit – The poor gets poorer. 1 in 3 kids live in poverty – Brexit decline foreign investment & immigration – Overall fcked from the inside
Whilst I agree with many of your comments your points about austerity are incorrect, the UK has in fact spent far to much on encouraging people to sit at home. Whilst times where good we should of spent out money on investment and paying off our debts so that now times are hard we could of reduced our taxes which is the main reason the UK is in such a bad position now. We need to forget our obsession with Brexit, s**t happens get over it there is nothing we can do about it and stop obsessing about the rich, they never pay taxes, never have and will just leave the country, we need to start worrying about the working people and get them working. There is no shortage of labour and no shortage of housing its just in the wrong place. Although difficult problems to fix we are in a better position than many and rather than crying over spilt milk, Brexit, we should concentrate on our strengths and get on with it, but sadly we don’t seem to have the politicians able to do anything about it.
Talk all the nonsense you want . The reason Britian is poor and no longer productive is its joining and reliance on the E.U . The endless subsidies in all areas of production in the UK. This turned the country into an produce nothing culture. We are now paying the price. Since waking up from this clear strategy of the french and German member states of the E.U. weakening countries to their own gain hiding behind a E.U commen market we now have a chance to reset and start producing again. All we need is real leaders not these arse holes we are presented with whose only aim is to line the pockets of themselves and families.
The public, and business sector has lost faith in the Country’s leadership. It seems that the political Parties are more engrossed on their own positions, rather than taking the Country forward. No clear plan. Backwards and forwards policies. Reducing confidence and work ethic. Sounds like a depression to me.
ALL COUNTRYS ARE SPYS HOW DO YOU THINK INDUSTRYS KEEP THERE EMPLOYMENT GOING BY PINCHING OTHER PEOPLES IDEAS BESIDE CHINA HAS THE BEST INDUSTRY AT VERY COMPETITIVE PRICES FOR EXAMPLE IF YOU BOUGHT A HOOVER MADE IN THE UK WELL THEN CHINA WOULD SELL IT TO YOU THREE TIMES CHEAPER AND THE VALUE IS EXCELLENT THATS WHY THE UK ECONOMY IS GOING NO WHERE BECAUSE WE ARE LIVING IN THE PAST THANKS TO THE TORIE GOVERNMENT.
💰 Britain’s GDP per capita may seem high, but the wealth is concentrated and the economy has struggled since the financial crisis. 00:00 Britain’s GDP per capita is $46,400. The wealth is heavily concentrated in the southeast, while the rest of the country faces low pay and weak productivity. The financial crisis in 2008 hit Britain hard, leading to falling wages and stagnant household income. 📉 The UK lags behind in R&D investment and intangible investments, leading to productivity gaps with other countries. Elevated uncertainty and austerity measures have hindered business investments and economic growth. 06:00 Overall investment in R&D as a share of GDP exceeds OECD average but lags behind countries like the US, Japan, and Germany. Underinvestment in intangible investments such as market research, branding, and training contributes to the UK’s productivity gaps. Elevated uncertainty at both the individual firm and aggregate economy levels, following the financial crisis and Brexit result, has deterred business investments.
It’s very sad to see how Britain has declined. I left more than 40 years ago, spending most of that time in Hongkong. Enjoyed the golden years of the 80s and 90s before the dead hand of Marxist China ended them. Politics have also played a negative role in Britain. The great turning points have been the 2008 financial crash, Brexit and Covid. The shambolic Conservative government of the last 14 years has also played a significant role in this decline. I visited Britain recently after being absent for more than 10 years. Not good. A shabby country divided over irrelevant woke issues instead of concentrating on what really matters. No leadership in government or the institutions. “We are the hollow men. Leaning together. Headpiece filled with straw.”
income tax bands have not risen over the last few years. Therefore british citizens are discouraged from working more as they will be taxed 40% once they earn over £50,270 .Also IR35 has had a detrimental effect on the self employed and these people now choose to go overseas or retire early as they see their take home pay drastically reduced. They see no incentive to work more as the gains are much less. If the british government would raise their tax band according to inflation then it would be a win-win situation for the tax payer as well as the government – we would not be so poor as a nation. Better still, scrap IR35 altogether to give the economy a boost. I don’t think Rishi Sunak will scrap the IR35 as he was instrumental to setting it up and desperately wants it to be a success . IR35 has been a failure and this can be seen in the failing economy. The self employed don’t want to go back to work!!!
Britain had some colonial power in the previous century. But after that was over, they needed to switch their economic strategy. In a way that is similar to smaller countries like South Korea or Belgium. Manufacturing, exports, etc. But when Brexit was ratified: It made trading with their neighbors more complicated. Therefore, decreasing their economic abilities. However, there has been some promising things recently. Like the wind farm projects.
Whenever I go to London there’s always something being built, something being renovated, new start ups coming out of everyone’s ears. Go to any other major city in the UK you will see very little of that, if any at all. London has sapped up the UK’s economic prosperity in recent years, time to invest in the rest of the country!
this is such a one-sided account on the last 13 years. to continue high levels of spending, you risk losing the confidence of your creditors (via bonds). clearly austerity went on for too long, but it was a necessary condition of restoring stability + eating up some of the deficit. why has austerity persisted? mainly a combination of piss-weak tory leadership, even more piss-weak opposition, natural destabilisation from Brexit, and another unforeseen crisis in covid. I wish labour had sorted themselves out, otherwise we wouldn’t be in this situation. they’re just as accountable as the tories. Corbyn? Are you kidding me?
All good stuff, but why do you have a clip of Brown and Darling standing at lecterns when talking about austerity? Darling’s reforms were gradually working after the crash, but then the Tories got in, and Osborne introduced austerity, which killed the recovery stone dead. The narration and the visuals don’t match, and it’s a bit unfair on New Labour – who I’m not a big fan of, but fair’s fair!
GDP outside a manufacturing or export of materials is just an indicator of how expensive things are to live there…. It doesn’t really equate to true wealth… You have 1 person with all the wealth, but 70 million people, the GDP per capita is not an indication of the distrubution of wealth. Most of the UK ‘GDP’ is high cost of housing, high taxes, and high rents, high fuel, high energy cost (due to tax), and consider that GDP.. Most of the UK has non productive assets
Right about austerity, but wrong about Brexit and its impact; immigration, trade and investment are all up since Brexit. The UK is not in recession and is growing faster than most of its peers, and had the fastest growth in G7 last year and is projected to have it again the year after next – 2024. The UKs economy will be the single biggest European economy, overtaking Germany in 15 years according to estimates. The problems with post-2008 growth are almost universal in developed countries; the UK’s productivity and investment positions were damaged severely by austerity that much is true – but that seems to be tapering off now and productivity is actually, slowly rising ahead of peers like France. Give it five years and revisit.
Side note the US Spends alot per Capita but very unequal and very ineffective. Even Employed people and their companies spend more money than the average in germany, but are less healthy. cause often cause of co pay and other things people often see a doctor to late, make diseases worse than they would have been with early treatment and more expensive. For example Japan spendig is so low cause their people except for depression and mental illness are very healthy, not much overweight, not much smoking, recently the finance minister made a statement young people should drink more cause taxes ond alcoholic drinks has been falling since 20 years in a row.