For years now Britain has relied on attracting workers from abroad to grow its economy. In other words we’ve been becoming bigger as a country but not much richer as individual citizens (on average). Businesses have preferred to hire more people rather than to invest in skills and machinery to boost output. Unemployment has stayed low and immigration high, but productivity has suffered. Could this all be about to change? In today’s Telegraph I suggest that better education in England and lower migration as a result of Brexit could lead to more investment and so higher output per worker. But this might not take place in Scotland.
Here there has been no meaningful reform of schools and educational standards have fallen back. The raw materiel of prosperity – a highly educated workforce – is lacking. The economy is barely growing and taxes are on the rise. Unless we can think of ways to revere this viscous circle there are going to be more hard years of budget cuts and tax hikes to come.
Tom Miers 