In the latest episode of Chatter, Aid Thompsin argued that the only way for the Labour party to achieve economic growth was to rejoin the single market.
“Because the national debt is so high now, it was 100% of our gdp in like November last year. October. I don’t know if it’s been brought slightly under that or if it’s still about 101%. So the only way you can get that down and then get people’s taxes down and allow them a higher standard of living is to get growth.”
“And the only feasible realistic way of achieving growth at the moment is to rejoin the single market. And Keir Starmer has made it abundantly clear that he has no aspiration to rejoin the single market and he doesn’t think we will rejoin the EU in his lifetime. So in the absence of rejoining the single market, we’re not going to get growth.”
The Liberal Democrats have been pushing for a roadmap to rejoin the single market, arguing that it would bring economic benefits. They’ve even gone as far as saying it’s the “single biggest thing” that could kickstart the economy. But, as with most things in life, it’s not that simple.
Keir Starmer, on the other hand, has ruled out rejoining the single market in his lifetime. So, it looks like the Labour party isn’t exactly jumping on the bandwagon.
So, is rejoining the single market the only way to achieve growth?
I think not.
“In terms of tax revenue. Definitely. I mean, I question whether overall it’s a good idea because I feel like it’s a supply and demanding in the same way that, like the housing market has been screwed by, like, speculators buying up loads of housing and governments failing to build any wages are informed by how many people are like, pursuing a job and what the minimum that they were willing to accept will be.”
“And I think by, like massively increasing the workforce without investment to the point where you need the workforce to expand, that you’re not going to see any real growth, especially for people who are like, competing for the lowest paid jobs. I feel like what it does is it floods the market with loads of people competing. It’s because the middle class has been shrinking and that bottom has been growing increasingly so under the Tories. And I think immigration is a plaster that doesn’t actually fix the problem. I think that you’re right about there is that like, redoing the single market would improve GDP, but I don’t think it’s the only way.”
