This study offers an analysis of the UK's current economic policy options and a plan for improving life for ordinary citizens via a sensible and realistic understanding of governments' limited ability to manage economic performance. It provides a manifesto which political parties could immediately adopt to make life better for all.

Ian Budge is Professor Emeritus at the University of Essex. He has written some thirty books and numerous monographs on various aspects of democratic policy-making for which he received a European Award last year. Sarah Birch, Professor of Comparative Politics at the University of Glasgow, UK, is an acknowledged authority on processes of democratization, including political corruption, and election systems and their effects. Her current research focuses on globalization and its impact on democratic practice.