Britain is in the midst of a welfare crisis. In the financial year 2025/26, we spent £329.1 billion on benefits – almost £5,000 per person. That makes it the single biggest slice of state spending, larger than what we spend on the NHS, defence or education. You’d have thought that with all this money being […]
John Healey’s Budget repeated the message that the Government sees AI as a route to economic growth and better public services. From investment in British AI capability to plans for data centres and AI adoption across Whitehall, ministers are putting money and political weight behind that ambition. The success of this investment will depend on […]
Ambitions to get our economy growing require an equal determination to address the barriers that hold it back. This summer, half of England was reported to be in serious drought for the second year running, and the Environment Agency warns of severe consequences for the economy, environment and wildlife if conditions do not improve. There’s […]
Trade moves faster than regulation, and nowhere more so than in e-commerce, whose marketplaces and traders are by their very nature responsive, innovative and dynamic. For governments and regulators, that is a special challenge. The big platforms are ruthlessly focused on ways to build margin, increase customers and simplify systems. Over the past five years, […]
Ever since Tony Blair set his ambition for 50% of young adults to enter higher education, successive governments have promoted university as the route to prosperity. The result is a bloated, expensive sector that has spent decades expanding on the assumption that more students, more degrees and more universities must somehow be a good thing. […]
This is the transcript of a speech delivered on November 10, 2026. Nikki is a mum in her fifties. On Universal Credit – since her job in a nursery became all too much. Without qualifications and – as she put it – no good at computers, she’s been struggling to find another job. But that’s […]
Britain’s higher education system, long heralded as a world leader in research and teaching, and a major export earner, is in big trouble. Yet our main political parties do not seem to be aware, or are turning a blind eye. The trouble is economic, academic and cultural, as we explain in a new book from […]
My favourite place in the world is outside Bank station, where Lombard Street meets Cornhill. To your right is Lombard Street, a name macroeconomists will recognise from Walter Bagehot’s 1873 book, which popularised the idea of the central bank as lender of last resort and which Ben Bernanke leaned on heavily during the 2008 financial […]
This week it seems that another Net Zero domino will fall. The Government is reported to be on the point of announcing that the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate, which lays down targets for the sale of new cars, will be watered down. This follows a consultation launched in August. At present, manufacturers are under […]
Andy Burnham’s much-promised strong and decisive leadership has been long on vibes, short on action during his first 100 days. With one telling exception. He has stuck to his guns about what the nation should call white bread rolls. Namely, ‘barm cakes’, as they do in his new constituency of Makerfield. In doing so, he’s […]
This week, Nimby Watch is paying a visit to the University of Warwick Warwick! What a beautiful place to visit. We’ve got the River Avon, a truly historic castle – begun by William the Conqueror himself – and a beautiful series of heritage buildings. What a delight. I assume you want to bulldoze half of […]
Andy Burnham is set to make the same mistake that led to the ruin of Keir Starmer: lack of a domestic agenda, other than pushing the proverbial peas around the plate on energy bills, bus fares and the like, paired – like a bottle of plonk – with ambiguous statements on the big public issues. […]
The problem with being a political golden boy like Labour pensions minister Torsten Bell is that it paints a target on your back, putting you firmly in the crosshairs of rivals and commentators in your own party and the opposition every time you do or say anything at all. Kudos, then, to the man widely […]
Ron DeSantis chose his moment with care. The night before the US midterms, the outgoing Governor of Florida appeared on a sports podcast. On election eve, DeSantis admitted that the Iran war had been ‘a big, big drag’ on Republicans, that the party had been ‘gaslighting’ voters by blaming Joe Biden for the price of […]
English rock fans are understandably thrilled over the announcement that Oasis will embark on another tour, including a stop in Manchester, where the band first got started in 1991. And while that may be good news, fans are still going to have a difficult time seeing them perform live – affording it, that is. Live […]
Reports earlier this week suggested that there have been ‘robust cabinet discussions’ over the Government’s approach to AI. The Financial Times reports that those discussions have yielded seven core principles, signed off but not yet published, including that ‘control and sovereignty matter’ and ‘infrastructure must serve a national purpose and deliver for communities’. Missing from […]
I’ll declare an interest. I sit on Reform UK’s Board and I’ve known Nigel Farage for a quarter of a century. So when Kemi Badenoch tells the country that Reform are ‘another left-wing party’, that we and Labour are arguing for ‘the same things, nationalisation, the two-child benefit cap’, that Farage is Jeremy Corbyn wrapped […]
The Commonwealth is an anachronism in the 21st century – an imperial hangover that shows no signs of abatement but is instead getting worse. As King Charles addressed his subjects in Antigua and Barbuda ahead of this week’s Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting (CHOGM), our Prime Minister was throwing out statements about possible apologies and […]
Emma Reynolds, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, is one of the more sensible Labour MPs. She resigned as a front bencher when Jeremy Corbyn was elected leader and is firmly in the moderate wing of the Labour Party. Which is why her comment yesterday that ‘I don’t think employers are working people’ is all […]
Britain needs new talent and ideas in its politics. The old factions of Westminster have proven themselves incapable or unwilling to take the radical action required to fix the country. They push our best abroad, ignore new ideas (or claim they are ‘not serious’ or ‘sensible’), abandon their principles and kick difficult decisions down the […]
John Healey’s debut Budget was a coward’s charter. Despite there being a record 98 measures in the Chancellor’s announcement, all the major decisions have been kicked into the long grass. Despite having resigned as Defence Secretary over funding concerns under Keir Starmer, Healey delayed detailing how the Government would fund raising defence spending to 3.5% […]
Wednesday’s Budget was a depressing fiscal exercise in entrenching stagnation, protection of vested interests, and the discouragement of enterprise (on one count, it left 25% of our small businesses substantially worse off). But if you thought that was all, take a look at some modest proposals for labour law quietly slipped out at much the […]
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