Sunak, Truss and the Bank of England are lying to you – the UK economy is weak and rigged
Perhaps you have been hoping that the age of lies is over. After all, Boris Johnson will soon be swept out of No 10 and whoever replaces him cannot be half as mendacious – can they? Liz Truss may love her pork markets but she can’t be as keen on telling pork pies. Well, I bring bad news. If lying is making a statement one knows to be false, then Britain is wading waist-deep into an era of systemic deceit.
I don’t just mean the permanently malfunctioning Truss, who this week complained she was “wilfully misrepresented” by, um, her very own press release. No, the fabrications come from across the political establishment and they concern the future of our economy. And the ultimate fruit of these lies may well be another Johnson or Nigel Farage.
Let’s start at the Bank of England which, this lunchtime, will almost certainly jack up borrowing costs, with possibly the biggest rate hike in more than 25 years. The signs are that the UK is sliding into recession, but no matter: for the Bank’s governor, Andrew Bailey, this is about bringing inflation to heel – “no ifs, no buts”, as he says, with all the pretend command of a flailing supply teacher. Yet the same Andrew Bailey admitted to MPs just this May that he was “helpless” to stop inflation. As his colleagues testified, what is driving up prices in the UK is the global shortage of key commodities, from oil to food to semiconductor chips. What’s not to blame is wage rises, not when – according to economists at UBS wealth management – 99% of British workers are getting poorer.
When inflation falls back, it will not be Threadneedle Street’s doing. Much more likely is a scenario akin to 2008, when the price of basics shot up so high economies tanked. By raising rates, Bailey wants to
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