The government has its five missions. But the deeper cause of Britain’s malaise is the unhealthy and unhappy nature of the modern economyWe often hear how ministers should be more honest about the state of the economy. How they should signal their intentions and, before announcing a policy shift, have the guts and intellectual heft to debate the expected impact in public, such that when a section of the public dislikes the plan, at least they understand why it has been set in motion.It was a message Rachel Reeves absorbed and used as a defence for her first budget in October, only to come unstuck when she shocked businesses with a previously undiscussed change to the terms of employer national insurance contributions and an ill-considered last-minute grab at farmers’ incomes via a rise in inheritance tax. Continue reading...