Budgets are routinely analysed by people who believe there is nothing problematic about economic growth. Forecast rates of GDP growth play a key role in the Budget calculations, and Budgets are praised or criticised based on the effect they are deemed to have on future growth. In our view, such analysis misses a critical aspect of the contemporary debate: namely the prospect that there may be environmental, social and secular limits to economic growth.
The principal aim of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on the Limits to Growth is to provide a platform for cross-party dialogue on economic growth in a time of environmental and social transition. In this capacity, the APPG has decided to submit short, formal responses to periodic Budget statements with the aim of highlighting where the Government is or is not responding effectively and appropriately to the challenges of long-term environmental, social and economic sustainability. Thus, our responses are likely to cover issues related to climate change, biodiversity, resource bottlenecks and scarcities, resource efficiency, social wellbeing and secular stagnation.