The Alternative to Britain’s Trussonomics

Emphasis on “stark.” Mr. Kwarteng on Friday announced tax-rate cuts on personal and corporate incomes, a reduction in the payroll tax, improvements to expensing provisions for business investment, a reduction in the transaction tax on land sales and more. The gamble is that investors will overlook a near-term run-up in government debt if Ms. Truss and Mr. Kwarteng show they’re serious about achieving their 2.5% GDP growth target.

Labour’s economic plan is very different. Party leader

Keir Starmer

and Shadow Chancellor

Rachel Reeves

are doubling down on subsidies for green energy as a form of industrial policy. They say that by doubling onshore wind capacity, tripling solar and quadrupling offshore wind by 2030—and spending vast sums to do it—the U.K. can create hundreds of thousands of jobs and reduce the energy bills that currently drag on economic growth.

Labour also promises to revoke the new tax cut on higher incomes in order to pour more money into the National Health Service. And for good measure, Ms. Reeves pledges to increase the minimum wage.

This is designed to appeal to households facing substantial increases in their energy bills even after the tens of billions of pounds of additional subsidies Ms. Truss’s administration promised last week. But green investment has a—how to put it delicately—terrible track record. Ask Californians about their skyrocketing costs and near or actual blackouts, or ask Germans about the coal they’re burning when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine.

Labour’s plan has no chance of happening unless the party wins an election not due until 2024. The bigger significance of Labour’s announcement is that Britain is about to witness something in short supply around the world these days and especially in Europe: a real economic debate.

Ms. Truss in barely three weeks in office has started pulling British Tories back into the pro-investment, pro-growth corner of the economic ring. Mr. Starmer is showing that, although he’s not as radical as predecessor

Jeremy Corbyn,

he means to offer voters a vision of bigger, more interventionist government complete with higher taxes to pay for it. The differences between the parties haven’t been this clear for years.

There are risks all around, but don’t underestimate the risks of the stagflationary status quo. Britain is on track to be the worst-performing major economy next year and the pound was sinking well before Mr. Kwarteng announced his plan Friday.

Margaret Thatcher

used to say “there is no alternative.” Now there’s no alternative to changing course after the policy failures of recent years. Voters can hope for a frank debate about which alternative they should choose.