Britain | Labour’s honeymoon

Is Britain’s economy finally moving?

Sticky inflation and a weakening job market could still spoil the mood

illustration of the British flag, the Union Jack, fragmented into vertical bars. Over these bars, a jagged black line graph indicates fluctuating data, symbolizing economic trends in the UK
Illustration: Nate Kitch

In its first weeks in office the new Labour government is hammering away at one message: on prisons, the National Health Service, the armed forces and more, the Tories left behind a terrible inheritance. It is no different for the economy. Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, says Labour has been handed the worst economy of any incoming government since 1945, when Britain was loaded with wartime debt and its cities pockmarked with craters.

Explore more

This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Is Britain’s economy finally moving?”

Can she win?

From the July 27th 2024 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

More from Britain

The evolution of Britain’s extreme right

White nationalism has become more amorphous and more online

Blighty newsletter: Labour is demolishing the Tories’ pet projects


Inside the unrest disfiguring English cities

Anger over immigration will be a recruiting opportunity for the far right


Was the Bank of England right to start lowering interest rates?

Andrew Bailey takes a calculated risk

What will Great British Energy do?

The new body’s first job is to unblock private investment

Britain’s railways go from one extreme to another

Departing: privatisation. Destination: centralisation