Britain | The British economy

Labour is bungling its growth “mission”

Blame poor preparation and a habit of picking the wrong fights

The construction site of HS2 in Birmingham
Photograph: Getty Images
|3 min read

One of Britain’s few growth industries of the past few years has been the study of why the economy isn’t growing. Analysts have produced forests of papers about the problem. Few economic maladies have been so exhaustively examined.

Explore more

This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Pains growing”

From the July 5th 2025 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition
An illustration of Ed Miliband clutching a briefcase with his tie flying crookedly over his shoulder.

Where are all the briefcase wankers?

The nerd:jock ratio in government is askew

 A general view over Court One as Karen Khachanov serves against Taylor Fritz of United States

The court that could thwart Wimbledon’s ambitions to grow

What hope for the rest of Britain?



Macron beats Trump to London

A royal welcome for a republican president

Britain is already a hot country. It should act like it

A land of long holidays, cool homes and tree-lined streets awaits