Yes, there is an economic crisis as well as the health and social crisis. But the politics of despair will get us nowhere. Instead, people need to get to grips with the financial issues involved.

A future post-virus Britain must not go back to business as usual. People are already asking questions about a shortfall in industrial self-sufficiency and why there are long supply chains. We should think as well about less obvious changes – otherwise the momentum to take the opportunities offered by Brexit may evaporate.

A new outlook must prevail where working people look closely at public finance to understand how it can be applied to develop a cohesive social and economic system free from the EU.

What will be vital – as was the case in both world wars – is clear, co-ordinated planning. Regionalism and petty separatism are hindrances. Likewise, pie-in-the-sky projections of economic needs well into the future are simply distractions. Successful planners in any field know that the longer the projected timescales, the less likely are the estimated figures and expectations to materialise.

Britain doesn’t need doom-mongering. It needs a five-year plan. Five-year planning with regular quarterly and annual adjustments works best.

The five-year plan approach enables economists to measure the value created by those who work. It also aids the introduction of year-on-year incremental improvements in production, distribution and exchange within each commercial sector. To do this requires money each year being invested in capital goods (e.g. new plant and machinery) rather than money printing to purchase consumption goods or used for idle financial speculation.

By adopting this balanced approach our labour productivity and with it our standard of living will improve (or should improve if working people lay their hands on the surplus value they create). Planning in this way also helps to mitigate some of the detrimental effects of market forces and to promote economic self-sufficiency rather than global reliance.

Will Podmore

Clavering Road, Wanstead