The Guardian view on Rishi Sunak: ideological approach risks disaster | Editorial
A double whammy of a lingering pandemic and a no-deal Brexit could see 4.2 million unemployed by 2022. Only the state can take up the slack if the private sector does not
Thanks to coronavirus and Brexit, 2020 is a hinge of history – where the years that follow promise to be nothing like those before. Rishi Sunak, the chancellor of the exchequer, had a chance, with his comprehensive spending review on Wednesday, to have made this year an economic turning point. He could have rejected the old ways of thinking and marked a big change of direction. It is a shame that he did not.
There may be a good reason that he swerved the challenges of the age. Mr Sunak may plausibly claim that he could not possibly know where the country was going. The future path of the virus, the public health restrictions required to keep it in check, and the prospects for the smooth rollout of an effective vaccine are unknown. But the economic crisis that the country confronts is staring him in the face.
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