The UK economy has begun 2017 in fairly rude health. The Office for National Statistics estimates that GDP grew by 0.6 per cent in the final three months of 2016, just the same as in each of the second and third quarters of the year. The first three months of 2016 had seen only 0.3 […]
Sometimes, lots of little stories boil down into one big one. And behind all of the political turmoil in recent years, all of the fretting about globalisation and automation and rising inequality, lies a simple fact: workers are being screwed. Put more elegantly, what is happening in the economy is that the balance of reward […]
A little Trojan Horse of a clause in a newly introduced finance bill could presage a quiet revolution across Britain’s city high streets. Tucked away as part four of the five-part Local Government Finance Bill, the clause will allow the creation of property owner Business Improvement Districts (PO BIDs) – bodies which will be able […]
As of April 2017, firms wanting to bring in staff from outside the EU will have to pay £1,000 per migrant, per year — the “immigration skills charge”. I’ll repeat that: £1,000 per migrant, per year. This extraordinary measure was introduced by the Cameron administration in the Immigration Act 2016, sponsored by one T. May, […]
Volkswagen is to be spanked for $4.3 billion over Dieselgate. Hurrah! Yes, you heard right. That is me cheering government for taking such a whacking sum off a private sector economic actor. For the free-market system requires not only the carrot of the freedom to innovate, but also the stick of a firm thwacking for […]
Over the Christmas week, CapX is republishing its favourite pieces from the past year. You can find the full list here. BHS was systematically loaded with debt, then sold off to a company which stripped any remaining value and took it into administration. In a different context, such cartoonish behaviour would be redolent of despots […]
One of the big themes of 2016 has been an increasing concern about automation – the idea that robots are going to steal all our jobs. So to put minds to rest this festive season, let me say that, yes, robots are indeed going to steal all our jobs. And it’s going to be absolutely […]
The unions are at it again. Strikes for Christmas. Sure, it’s hardly 1979 all over again (when 29 million working days were lost to strike action), let alone the really big strike years of 1926 (162 million lost days) or 1921 (86 million). In 2014, the last full year for which we have detailed data, […]
Slowly, but inexorably, one of the most important competition cases on the planet is drawing to a close. The confrontation between Google and the European Commission – in the form of Margrethe Verstager, the Competition Commissioner – does not just threaten the Silicon Valley giant with the loss of 10 per cent of its revenues […]
Business, by its very existence, is one of the best tools for social mobility, driving employment and economic growth. It creates jobs, provides skills and training for employees, promotes economic activity among suppliers, invests in innovation and delivers products and services to customers. In 2015, the private sector employed 21.8 million people in England alone […]
Last weekend’s referendum defeat for the Italian Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, has been depicted as another pro-populist blow against the European Union and its minions, and an advance tremor ahead of the coming collapse of the Italian financial system. It is neither. If there were anything “populist” and anti-status quo in this drama, it was […]
We must congratulate the Resolution Foundation for their startling findings about agency workers. They are reaching for the smelling salts in that most maiden auntish manner because they have discovered that there may soon be as many as one million people working in that way. I, on the other hand, think their findings are marvellous […]
Never before has a President-elect faced such pertinent questions about his business, and personal interests, colliding with his role in the Oval Office. So on December 15th, Donald Trump will hold a press conference – his first after many months – to outline plans to distance himself from his business empire. Flanked by his lawyers […]
Much of the reaction to the Government’s plans to reform the boardrooms of UK companies has been dismissive. This was probably inevitable. Anything short of hard limits on employee-to-CEO pay ratios and directly electing workers to boards was always going to be too weak for the trade unions. On the other side of the argument, […]
Furrowed brows and hand-wringing have greeted news of the sale of Skyscanner to Chinese buyers. But there is a hidden gain for Scotland’s fledgling businesses aiming to copy Skyscanner’s achievement. As an example of Scottish entrepreneurial flair and ‘new economy’ success, Skyscanner was the name that sprang immediately to the lips. The Edinburgh-based company has […]
Government intervention for the sake of public appearances is rarely a good idea. So we should all remain sceptical towards – if not downright opposed to – the green paper produced today by the May administration, with the aim of curbing high pay. The Prime Minister appears to have backed down from the more extreme […]
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