New Delhi: Ex-British PM Liz Truss offered some home truths at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit and said that the western countries are in a mess and India has outrun UK in terms of economy. Truss drew attention to change in India, and registered its growing importance in the world today as well.
India’s Economic Rise: A Lesson for the West
Still, Truss pointed to the India’s progress in the past century, saying, “The British economy is now worse off than India, where important structural changes and policies have opened the path to growth.” She highlighted areas of cooperation with India including technology and agriculture, due to India’s new role on the international stage.
When talking about India’s part in the future, Truss highlighted that India is a country of democracy and of a population of seven billion people. She said, “It has bright and rather rosy outlook for Indian positioning in the future leadership of the world.” All four members of the Quad partnership are relevant for Truss, she also embraced India as a force which must counter China.
Challenges Facing Britain
Regarding Britain’s economic issues, Truss said she is disappointed whereas she does not expect economic improvement in the UK anytime soon. “It is for this reason that power has remained centralised in the nation’s bureaucracy and the British economy will only emerge from this state when this is done away with”, she said.
While dismissing 14 years of Conservative government, and their failure to transform the lives of the British people for the better, Truss paved the way for Labour to come back into power. Recalling her experience in Labour’s governance with Tony Blair, she mentioned that Blair made lots of changes that transferred powers to the civil servants which proved nonproductive. This was very much evident at the time during the decline that the public had for the Labour party.
Truss has also cautioned that despite improve economic liberty and voter optimism with the current Labour government, this government still sought to add more taxes, more stringent regulation, and thus may increase the burden rather than offering solution.
The reason could be due to the fact that the momentum which is evident in the India growth rate graph is simply nicht to be seen in the Britain growth rate graph.
Truss superimposed India’s economic and geopolitical success onto the adversity faced by other Western states and encouraged the UK to take cues from India’s liberalisations. Her comments are made at the time when Britain remains politically and economically unstable, and India is strengthening its positions worldwide.
Comments are closed.