In the 1970s, the UK was often referred to as the “Sick Man of Europe”, as low productivity, industrial unrest and a cost-of-living crisis crippled the economy. 

By the 1990s, the label had been passed to Germany, amid a prolonged economic downturn caused by industrial stagnation. A dose of privatisation and deregulation proved to be a painful but successful remedy for the UK in the 1980s, while labour market reforms are often cited as curing the German economic malaise in the 2000s.