Return to Growth Volume One

Book excerpt: The UK has, in recent years, been suffering from what is nothing short of an economic crisis. Growth has now completely stalled in those western democracies, the UK included, where high government spending and high taxes have steadily burgeoned, decade after decade. Free-market economies now threaten to leave us behind in terms of wealth, opportunity and standards of living. At the end of Rishi Sunak's 2024 government, expenditure was at 45 per cent of GDP and taxes were 36 per cent and rising – yet still nowhere near sufficient to cover public expenditure. The government's net annual borrowing is now a completely unsustainable 4.4 per cent of GDP, with our overall national debt growing rapidly and alarmingly. In this arresting and powerful manifesto for economic change, Jon Moynihan analyses the UK's decades-long stagnant economy and looks at what can be done to resuscitate it. Combining rigorous research with unparalleled business experience, he explores the key dynamics affecting economic growth, ranging from government borrowing, expenditure, tax and regulation to the way national resources are deployed on non-productive and futile, growth-stifling endeavours. Ultimately, Moynihan shows that unless we act now to reverse the decline, by radically restructuring our economy to stimulate economic growth, the UK risks stagnation, financial collapse and a long-term disintegration in our standard of living. Ignore his warning at your peril.