If James Carville, President Clinton’s adviser, was right with his oft-quoted remark that “the economy, stupid” is what matters to voters, then this government is making some brave decisions. Growth is important, naturally, but it is not pre-eminent and Boris Johnson is not even hiding the fact. “We will not pursue growth at the expense of the government’s wider objectives,” his Build Back Better industrial strategy states. Following the Tory surge in last week’s local elections, Rachel Wolf, a partner at the policy consultancy Public First who ran the 2019 Conservative manifesto, wrote: “It is crucial that ‘economic investments’ do not trump . youth clubs .

Source: The Times May 10, 2021 15:56 UTC