Boris Johnson has spoken the truth in the House of Commons this week. Three times on Monday and three times on Wednesday, he said Britain was the fastest growing economy in the G7. This is accurate. But at least the prime minister should be held to the same standards as accountants.Johnson’s comments fell far short of their basic standard that the statement should be true and fair.

Let’s get to the truth first. OECD data It shows that in the third quarter of last year, the British economy grew by 6.8% over the same period last year, which is higher than that of all other G7 countries.In addition, whether the latest OECD and International Monetary Fund Forecasts show that annual growth rates in 2022 are expected to top the G7 rankings.

But to be truthful and fair, Johnson’s comments also need to be contextualized. The UK economy fell 21.6% from pre-pandemic levels in the first two quarters of 2020, significantly less than any other G7 country. Therefore, it is worth noting that the recovery will also be faster.

Furthermore, by the third quarter of last year, the UK remained at the bottom of the G7 when comparing the overall recovery from Covid to pre-pandemic levels.

Facts and fairness require me to add that all these figures are being revised regularly, so we should not conclude that the UK has recovered particularly poorly from coronavirus. Given what we know about Q4 2021, all we can say is that it’s similar to Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan, but slower than France and the US.

If the Prime Minister is really curious, he can ask smart officials to give him a comprehensive picture of the UK economy. They would say that last fall, things looked relatively bright. Families clearly want to see behind the pandemic and are keen to spend. Businesses successfully reopened as restrictions were lifted, increasing the economy’s ability to supply goods and services. Even with reduced government support, unemployment remains low.According to reports, inflation 2%Although Bank of England thinks By Christmas, it will have edged up to a peak of 4%.

Almost everything we subsequently learned about the UK economy was disturbing. Despite low unemployment, there is growing evidence of labor problems, 1 million fewer people If the pandemic hadn’t happened, we would have been working or looking for work more than we expected. This hit the available labor supply by about 3%.

As spending has increased, this has fueled far more inflation than almost anyone expected. That means there is not much room to catch up with growth as unemployment returns to pre-pandemic levels.

To make matters worse, UK growth rates are also artificially driven £25bn in corporate tax benefits Investment remains weak this year and next. By the third quarter of 2021, it was still 4% below pre-pandemic levels and lower than any other economy in the G7. British exports have also not joined the global boom.All of this points to a relatively unfavorable view of the country by businesses, even after the corporate tax rate rose from 19% to 25% in 2023.

The IMF also reported that growth, now good, will soon slip to near stagnation a year before the election. It estimates the UK economy will grow by just 0.5% by the end of 2023 from where it started, the lowest in the G7.

So if Johnson succeeds in staying on as prime minister, the true and fair view is that the UK economic recovery has been lacklustre internationally and the outlook has deteriorated markedly. Enough to make a reasonable person think that staying in Downing Street would be no fun.

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