The PM pledged to 'grow the economy'. When will he deliver?

The UK economy stagnated over the latest quarter but surpassed the expectations of economists, Joel Hills has the latest

If we want higher living standards we need to find a way of raising economic growth.

The UK economy did grow - just about - in September despite the wet weather and strike action.

But the big picture is of an economy stuck in low gear and of households and businesses tightening their belts.

Part of this is intentional, of course, the Bank of England has raised interest rates deliberately to slow the economy and stabilise price rises.

The headache for the government is that, back in January, the prime minister pledged to deliver economic growth.

This morning, the chancellor conceded, inflation will need to be tamed first.

'I don't have a crystal ball', Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said when asked when the economy will grow like Rishi Sunak promised

”In January, people thought the economy was going to shrink in the first part of this year, actually it's grown but the one thing that is holding back the real growth that we want to see is that inflation is too high,” the chancellor told ITV News.

Jeremy Hunt added: “Until you get inflation under control, you can't get that long-term sustainable, healthy growth.”

The chancellor promises an “Autumn Statement for Growth” and there are levers he can pull in two weeks time but for as long as interest rates remain above 5% the economy is likely to tread water.

“We will get the growth back…when we get inflation down and when interest rates start to fall but that’s not in my hands, that’s the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee,” Hunt told me.

“But what I can do, what I can do is things that remove the barriers from businesses investing, make it easier for them to find the staff they need”.

The big question here is: has the Bank done enough to tame inflation?

It may take a period of weak growth to stabilise price rises, it may yet take a recession of some kind. Either way, the outlook for living standards in the short term is unattractive.

At the beginning of this year the prime minister made five pledges, three of them were economic.

He promised to halve inflation by the end of 2023 - that may yet happen.

He pledged to grow the economy - the economy is flat-lining.

And he pledged to get national debt falling - debt is rising.

These are targets that Rishi Sunak set and invited us to judge him by.

Thus far, progress on delivery looks poor. A general election is 14 months away, at the very most.

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