The economy isn’t all roses, but that’s no reason not to vote for Mrs May

As the election campaign goes into full swing, we hear surprisingly little about the state of the UK economy — because the Tories can’t (and probably don’t need to) promise that they can make it any better in the medium term than it is now, while almost no one takes seriously what Labour has to say about it. The truth is, against the odds and for the time being, that it’s ticking along nicely enough not to be a top concern for most voters.

Are we right to be so complacent? After a slowdown in growth to just 0.3 per cent in January to March, most analysts expect a pick-up in the current quarter, and the IMF now agrees with the Budget forecast of 2 per cent for 2017. The construction, services and manufacturing sectors all reported rising activity in April. Helped by the weaker pound, factory activity was actually at a three-year high.