Sunak’s ideology

On the BBC on Wednesday, Chancellor Rishi Sunak was interviewed about the UK being officially in recession for the first time in 11 years. The crisis is unprecedented, as he said, but his argument that we should have some humility about our ability to predict what is the right policy response seemed rather vague.

He then went on to say : “I’ve been prepared to put aside ideology and dogma at the beginning of this crisis and do what I believe was right to protect peoples’ jobs, their incomes and businesses.” So the corollary to that must be that, in normal times, ideology and dogma would rule his economic thinking.

That’s some admission, although many observers have said the same ideology/ dogma was the reason for the Tory/lib Dem and then Tory austerity policies. So perhaps it is no surprise to hear those words from the current Chancellor.

GEORGE S GORDON Belmont Road, Edinburgh