The Observer view on the autumn budget: Labour must break this cycle of sluggish growth

The lack of growth is a result of decades of poor productivity growth underpinned by low business investment. For too long, British economic growth was reliant on the City above other sectors, and on consumer spending fuelled by the housing bubble rather than growth in the productivity of the private sector. Layered on to this was the Conservative decision to pursue a hard Brexit rather than to remain in close economic alignment with Europe. This was compounded by 15 years of austerity that have undermined health and education, further impeding growth, and in which Conservative chancellors significantly cut back on financial support to low-income parents even as they cut taxes for more affluent households. The poorest decile of families with children lost an extraordinary £6,000 a year each on average as a result of changes to the tax and benefit system between 2009 and 2024.