Whisper it, but it was the folly of Brexit that paved the way for Truss’s crazy libertarian zeal | Will Hutton

With its new freedom', the UK had the opportunity to invent a fresh economic model, some said. We've now begun to see the results

Some plan for growth". Millions face futures they neither deserved nor were prepared for, so suddenly has disaster hit. Mortgage payers will be unexpectedly hammered. All homeowners face a sharp fall in house prices in which most of their wealth is held. Worse, those dependent on functioning public services and benefits confront privation and even destitution.

Compelled to find up to 40bn of spending cuts in November to pay for Liz Truss's unwanted tax cuts, the Treasury has to cripple the state to restore financial credibility. Capital investment, the science budget, new schools and hospitals, uprating benefits and public sector wages in line with inflation - forget them all. Instead of a stimulus to growth, Britain faces intense economic and social dislocation and ongoing stagflation. Austerity is back, this time on an epic scale.

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