There is a profound yet simple question about investment in our economy that all politicians should be forced to face: who benefits? At this week’s International Investment Summit in London, Keir Starmer offered a worrying answer. He is pledging to “rip out” bureaucracy” and to make his deregulatory agenda a “cross-government priority”. He proceeded to lead a back-slapping discussion with Google’s former boss Eric Schmidt, who joshed that Starmer should appoint a “minister for anti-regulation”.

He also sent a warning shot across the bows of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), whose mission is to protect the British public against scams and abuses by monopolists and other nasty global forces. “We will make sure that every regulator in the country, especially our economic and competition regulators, take growth as seriously as this room does.” Taking sides with the monopolists in the room – and against his own regulator. It’s not a good sign.

All this comes in a wider context of sucking up to the City of London, while ignoring the policy preferences of much of the public. Starmer has rowed back on........

© The Guardian