Britain needs to get serious about growth, Tory contenders told

Growth in exports of goods to the EU proved a stumbling block, rising just 2.6% in the month of May compared with 12.7% growth in shipments to the rest of the world.

The British government is not serious about tax policy, levelling up, inequality or productivity because officials refuse to acknowledge the scale of Britain’s relative economic decline over the past decade and a half, according to a leading think tank.

In a veiled attack on the Tory leadership contest, which has become a parade of tax-cutting pledges, the Resolution Foundation drew attention to the UK’s “toxic combination” of low growth and high inequality. That mix has left the typical family almost £9,000 (€10,645) worse off than their equivalents in comparable countries, it calculated.