Politics: ‘Best in Europe’ is no longer good enough

If there’s one phrase that infuriates Tory radicals more than any other, it’s ‘We’re the best in Europe at …’.

If there’s one phrase that infuriates Tory radicals more than any other, it’s ‘We’re the best in Europe at …’. The words are used among the bureaucratic establishment as an excuse for accepting the status quo. The logic is that as long as Britain is the best in Europe, then all is well. But this is emphatically not the case. Europe is a continent in decline.

According to work by the Prime Minister’s own office, it is probable that Europe will go from having four of the ten largest economies in the world today to none by the second half of this century. So if this country is to prosper in the years to come, it needs to think about how to compete with China and India, not France and Italy. Being the best in Europe will soon be the economic equivalent of being the tallest mountain in Holland.