Starmer's Growth Agenda Faces a Familiar Transatlantic Challenge

Westminster's fascination with American politics is nothing new. From the Clinton-Blair "third way" to current parallels between Joe Biden's Democrats and Keir Starmer's Labour Party, political strategies often cross the Atlantic.

- TDG NETWORK

Today, Labour is drawing inspiration from Biden's ambitious economic reforms. But as Starmer's government rolls out its own 10-year industrial strategy, important lessons must be learned from what went wrong in Washington.

Biden's administration invested heavily in long-term economic transformation. Through landmark legislation like the Chips and Science Act, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and Inflation Reduction Act, the U.S. poured billions into reshaping its economy. These reforms triggered more than $1 trillion in private investment, boosted wages—especially for the lowest earners—and delivered impressive post-pandemic growth.

Labour's newly launched industrial strategy, dubbed "securonomics," echoes Biden's approach. It aims to rebuild British manufacturing, drive clean energy investment, and ensure economic security. But there's a catch: while Biden's policies succeeded economically, they didn't win votes. In 2024, Democrats lost the election, and many critics turned on the very strategy that had driven America's recovery.