Why does Starmer think Britain should be richer than Poland? 

Our growth rate has been miserable. We have not invested enough. And over thirteen years the Conservatives have cut spending too much, damaged our trading relationships with our major neighbours, and made a mess of the tax system. These were Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer’s major criticism of Tory economics today in a speech in which he unveiled his latest plans for the economy. 

He summed it all up with one damning statistic. We will, he argued, soon be poorer than Poland. Poland! But hold on. Why does Sir Keir imagine the British have some God-given right to be richer than the Poles? And why doesn’t he take a moment to reflect on the policies that have made Poland so successful – because if he were in Warsaw he would oppose all of them. 

Sir Keir’s speech on the economy today was, as you might expect, long on the condemnation of the Conservatives and very short on specific proposals for making the country richer beyond the usual waffle about ‘green jobs’.