Go for growth

The populist right sloganeer about growth, invoking Thatcher and Reagan, promising Singapore-on-Thames and unleashing animal spirits in the economy. But the British people have paid the price. The right's recent record has been disastrous and expensive: Brexit and an 8% hit to GDP; more than a decade of higher costs and lower living standards; government borrowing at its highest levels in peacetime. What, then, is the progressive plan for growth, one that champions the creation of wealth, spreads prosperity widely, cares for society and sustains the natural world? Over the coming pages and in the months to come, The Observer is asking people to help us find the answers.