As Starmer unveils his 10-year plan, here’s my advice: don’t fall into the Joe Biden trap | Sam Alvis

The ex-president spent billions reforming the US economy for the long term - but the Democrats lost. Labour must learn that prices in the here and now matter too

• Sam Alvis is associate director at IPPR and a former political adviser to the Labour party

Everyone in Westminster loves American politics. They - or, I should say, we - were raised on a diet of The West Wing and closely follow the twists and turns inside the Beltway coming from American media. This obsession has an effect on the real world: what happens in the US shapes British politics. Long ago this was seen in the parallels between Bill Clinton and Tony Blair's third way"; and this time last year Keir Starmer's Labour party was looking to Joe Biden's Democrats.

Biden went all-in on reforming the US economy. Through the Chips and Science, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs and Inflation Reduction acts, he spent billions hoping to build more at home, boost growth and grow wages. It worked. Public investment led to more than $1tn (750bn) of private sector spending, and real wages grew by $4,000 a person, with more for the worst off. Even with the pandemic, economic growth averaged 3% a year under Biden.

Sam Alvis is associate director at IPPR and a former political adviser to the Labour party

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