Politicians should stop believing 'myths and half-truths' about the economy

Politicians should stop believing "myths and half-truths" about the economy because they are holding it back, according to the British Chambers of Commerce.

"Many businesspeople struggle to link pronouncements from Westminster with conditions in the real world," said John Longworth, the business group's director general, in the introduction of a report listing 10 areas where they say government policy is wrong.

These include productivity, education, bank finance, energy, exports and infratructure. Mr Longworth said the "report highlights the growing gap between the perceptions of businesses and voters across the UK on the one hand, and the 'metropolitan elite' on the other."

"Lazy assumptions that guide government decisions on business and the economy" need shaking up, he said.

Insisting that it is not party political, or taking aim at individual politicians, he added that "it does take aim at the received wisdom of the political and media class".

"Declaring that something is sorted – broadband, bank finance, infrastructure, etc – doesn't necessarily mean that it actually is," he said. "In business, it's the outcomes that matter, not the announcements and pronouncements. And all too often, those outcomes still seem a long way away."

He added: "Thankfully, in our modern democracy, we can debate the big issues of the day without the need to resort to gunpowder plots or insurrection.... The myths and half-truths circulating round Westminster should be the first things we throw on the bonfire tonight."