Wanted: A Real Economic Policy From Philip Hammond That Addresses The Public's Demand For Change telegraph.co.uk

While ministers calculate the optimum sugar content of fizzy drinks, determine which products can be manufactured from plastic, and work out the price of carrier bags, Britain desperately needs an economic policy.

Ask the Treasury to articulate its policy and you normally get a mumbled answer about “dealing with the deficit”. But as important as sound public finances are, fiscal policy is not economic policy, and Britain needs change. Our economy is growing only slowly, and our poor record on research and development, productivity and trade continues. The consequences are plain: average earnings remain lower.