The Belgian region of Wallonia was once called the crossroads of Europe. It sent arms to Spain in medieval times, then became the first place on the continent’s mainland to have an Industrial Revolution, aided by an influx of English industrialists. Wallonia was famous for making fine lace and chocolate, using cocoa imported from colonial holdings […]
After the referendum result this summer, the Government signalled its intention to reduce the number of overseas students studying in the UK. In July, shortly after Theresa May became Prime Minister, Government sources revealed their intention to “restrict visas” in order to meet the net migration target. Then at the Conservative Party Conference earlier, international students became […]
No one will ever abolish boom and bust. Not while human beings are driving the business cycle. So our reaction when the inevitable downturn comes is important. This past recession shows the value of the neoliberal – Thatcherite even – insistence on a flexible labour market. For when GDP dropped so did productivity – rather than employment. The Sheffield Political Economy […]
It was always a matter of when, not if, the attention of the media would turn to the future of the financial services sector after the UK leaves the EU. Will Brexit make no difference, or will the loss of the EU financial services passport – which allows UK-headquartered firms to do business across the […]
Having been sent sprawling after an “altercation” with his Ukip colleagues, Steven Woolfe has landed a knockout blow of his own. The surprise departure of the runaway favourite to succeed Nigel Farage has tipped Ukip – already in a state of disarray after the Diane James fiasco – into full-blown crisis. Woolfe attributes his departure to the […]
As even the dimmest bear may now understand, referendums do not settle debates. They simply move them on. They differ significantly from ordinary elections, in which the game is refereed according to long-understood rules and regulations. Even if, as in 2010, the result initially appears inconclusive, precedent offers a path through the electoral thicket. And, […]
Nick Clegg has told us all, several times in fact, that a hard or clean Brexit is going to mean rising food prices. This is because a reversion to the Word Trade Organisation (WTO) rules once we have left the European Union means that other countries will put up their tariffs against our food exports […]
“The British people didn’t vote to make Britain poorer,” said Phillip Hammond of Brexit recently. Sounds fair. People won’t drink the potion unless they have reason to think it will do them good. But here’s the trouble. When will we know if Brexit is good or bad for us? Is it even possible to know? […]
Last month, the Fraser Institute in Canada released its Economic Freedom of the World: Annual Report. According to the report, Anglosphere countries continue to dominate global rankings of economic freedom, thus showing the persistence of British values and institutions in the former colonies – long after the British Empire came to an end. Together, these countries […]
Harold Wilson is alive and well and running Britain’s post-Brexit economic policy. He is telling us why Brexit already means we are worse off and will eventually mean recession, and how that will happen. When Wilson devalued the pound by nearly 15 per cent against the dollar in November 1967, he declared, to later notoriety, […]
UK politicians may have spent the last three months debating the finer points of what post-Brexit Britain will look like: Hard Brexit or soft Brexit? Norway-extra or Switzerland-light? Yet little attention has been spent looking at the other side of the equation. What will be the impact of Brexit not in Britain, but in Brussels? Many […]
In 2014, I opposed the UK opting back into the European Arrest Warrant (EAW), along with 36 of my fellow Conservative MPs. My colleagues and I felt strongly that we ought to be returning powers back to the UK, not ceding them to European institutions. Two years on, the fatally flawed EAW system has continued […]
Last night saw a “flash crash” in the value of the pound: sterling’s value fell, suddenly, by around 6 per cent, within a few minutes, rising back again. Such sudden crashes are often attributed to a “fat finger” effect, basically a transcription error. That might mean the order was supposed to be for the sale […]
All party conferences show all parties at their worst. If you remember that, everything we have seen in Birmingham this week, like everything we saw in Liverpool last week, begins to make sense. Even so, it remains startling to think that, just four months ago, the Conservative party was supposed to be split, riven by […]
Throughout the West, patriotism is on the rise. Theresa May is a strong advocate. She took the opportunity in Birmingham to make the case that a passion for one’s country is not the threat some think it is. She’s right. But this attitude should go hand in hand with a vigorous global outlook. While internationalism and patriotism are […]
Last week, the Institute for Government called on the Prime Minister to break her silence over her plans for Brexit. A few days later, at the Conservative Party Conference, Theresa May did exactly that. Her announcements – to trigger Article 50 by March 2017 and introduce a bill to repeal the European Communities Act – […]
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