🎧 Sunakonomics

Episode summary: This week we discuss the government’s post-Budget economic strategy and the new dividing lines in British politics. Have the Tories stolen Labour’s clothes? Is there a new consensus emerging on tax and pend? What can Keir Starmer do to carve out a distinctive economic position? Plus we consider whether a new Labour leader in Scotland can kickstart a revival of the party’s fortunes there. With Helen Thompson and Chris Brooke. Talking Points: Rishi Sunak’s plan in the short-term is to concentrate on economic recovery and to end pandemic support in a reasonably—but not entirely—gradualist fashion. - In the medium-term, he’s saying there has to be an emphasis on paying for the pandemic and bringing the level of debt as proportion of GDP back down. - Sunak wants the Conservatives to go into the next election as the party that claims to be serious about the economy, ie, cautious about debt. - Both of the parties seem to be hoping that the past will come back—but it probably won’t. Starmer put a heavy bet on the…