As we reflect on the decade since the EU referendum, one question is seemingly on everyone’s lips – was it worth it? I answer this with an unequivocal yes. Brexit has definitely been worth it. When I speak to people, the motivation behind this question often seems to be driven by a feeling that politicians […]
It’s hard to disagree with Lewis Goodall that the current Labour Government faces a ‘late 1970s’ moment. Productivity is flatlining, growth is anaemic and optimism has drained from our economic debate. Yet Rachel Reeves has a real opportunity to learn from her predecessors and revive her Government’s fortunes. Many of the reforms later associated with […]
Economic growth has become the defining issue of our time. After years of stagnating productivity, squeezed living standards, rising taxes and ballooning government debt, the key question that our politicians are grappling with is whether we can reverse this decline and kickstart economic growth once again. This centrality of this to our politics is evidenced […]
This publication of this week’s Industrial Strategy, and the first of five associated ‘Sector Plans’, marks the latest step in delivering on the Government’s ambitions to boost economic growth. There is much in the papers published that seems sound, including the importance of unlocking investment in skills, R&D and infrastructure – all of which are […]
The fact that there are currently over nine million adults in the UK economically inactive, including over 3m people on long-term disability benefits and nearly 1m people aged 16-24 not in employment, education or training, is a national scandal. Thinkers like Fraser Nelson have done an impeccable job at highlighting the explosion in inactivity since […]
The following is a transcript of a lecture delivered at the Legatum Institute in London on Thursday 9th November 2023. When I was invited to give this lecture, I did what any GenXer would do and Googled ‘In Praise of Business’. The top link was a 2007 article from The Independent, ‘In praise of business […]
Every Friday, the pollster Populus send out a weekly round-up, which includes a section on the Top 10 most noticed news stories. It is a useful reality check on what has penetrated the public consciousness. Last week, for example, 54 per cent of people clocked Hurricane Irma, but only one per cent mentioned the announcement […]
Today is election day in the Netherlands. Polling closes at 9 tonight, counting begins immediately and by Thursday morning we will know how the seats in the 150-member Lower House (Tweede Kamer, literally Second Chamber) have been allocated. A great deal has been written about the election – the vast majority of it focused on […]
