my guest is economist and sometime adviser to conservative politicians gerard lyons.een an optimist about britain's prospects in the global economy. but at what point does optimism look like delusion? gerard lyons, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. great to be here. it's great to have you here. would you agree with me that you've tried in recent years very hard to look on the bright side when it comes to the uk economy through brexit, through all sorts of different challenges, including the pandemic? are you struggling right now to be optimistic? well, actually, i wouldn't call myself an optimist. i tend to try and be realistic and call it as it is. often that might mean my views are in line with the market consensus. sometimes it doesn't, and that's when it's more fun. but the underlying trend, both for the global economy and the uk economy, i think is quite positive, actually. we have a major challenge immediately ahead, both here in the uk, western europe and indeed globally. but coming back to your question, one of the remarkable characteristics, both of the uk and

my guest is economist and sometime adviser to conservative politicians gerard lyons.

that's gerard lyons , the economist. he's a lyons, the economist.r fellow at the policy exchange. thanks so much for joining well, joining me joining. well, joining me throughout program today or joining. well, joining me thr

gerard lyons it's always a pleasure.for us this saturday afternoon. you keep touch afternoon. and you keep in touch with you much with us. thank you very much indeed. gerard leisure, chief economist at wealth . and economist at net wealth. and always a pleasure to talk to him and i'm equally delighted to now welcome to the again the labour member of parliament for bootle and that's peter who between 2017 and 2020 served as the shadow chief secretary to the treasury. that's that's basically the number two in the pecking order after the chancellor of the. great to see you . a blunt slightly question you. a blunt slightly question could you believe what you heard from jeremy on thursday . no from jeremy on thursday. no i don't generally believe anything conservative frontbench says but i you know what i mean politically politically what you are hearing . well i won't be too are hearing. well i won't be too partisan in that regard. i think we just have to look at the facts and the figures and keep to much the finger pointing