What do Richard Tice, Kevin Hollinrake and Peter Kyle all have in common? I wish I had a wittier answer to what sounds the set-up to a poor joke, but unfortunately I only have one answer – they all own an electric vehicle (EV). If three men, who have wildly diverging political views, lifestyles and […]
As an architect and developer, every day I must wade through the swamp of planning rules, building regulations, financial restrictions and NIMBYism peppering the landscape of the construction sector. One set of rules in particular though, and one sub-set of those rules, grinds my goat so intensely for its sheer wanton stupidity and backward-thinkingness, that […]
The Iran war has created the largest supply disruption in the history of the oil market, beating the shocks of the 1970s and the war in Ukraine. Whatever happens with Donald Trump and the Strait of Hormuz, the Middle East oil industry cannot afford to be this exposed again. The Gulf has the money and […]
On June 23 Britain’s grid came close to collapse. Despite energy minister Michael Shanks calling claims ‘scaremongering’, new whistleblower information shows the grid had indeed been pushed past safe operating limits. A leaked National Energy System Operator (NESO) document said that ‘system constraints were breached and system security was compromised’ – a damning indictment of […]
In his first days as Prime Minister, Andy Burnham announced a series of populist pledges that purport to address the cost of living, but fail to address the deep structural issues afflicting the British economy. Burnham will soon discover – like the four short-lived predecessors who held office before him – that the voters of […]
In his first full day as Prime Minister, Andy Burnham has announced that VAT on household energy bills will be removed from October. While no doubt well intentioned, this would be a mistake. First, it is risky for the public finances. VAT on energy bills brings in a significant amount of revenue. The Government has […]
Last Friday, the most capable AI model in the world went dark. Anthropic had released Fable 5 three days earlier; on June 12, a U.S. executive order cut off access for foreign nationals. With no clean way to wall Americans off from the rest of us inside a global system used by hundreds of millions […]
Looking For Growth has launched the Emergency Energy Bill – a ready-made piece of legislation that the Government should pass tomorrow. But it won’t. Labour won’t take the radical action necessary to get bills down unless we force them to. This Government, just like many of its predecessors over the last thirty years, has prioritised […]
Three C-17 Globemasters. Eight shipping containers. The first nuclear reactor in history to be moved by air. While it feels like the opening of one of those special-forces slop series on Amazon that I count as one of my guiltiest pleasures, this is the very real Operation Windlord. The operation, conducted by the US Air […]
At its peak, Britain was known as the workshop of the world. Sheffield produced high-quality steel, Manchester still had a strong textiles sector and the West Midlands was world-renowned for its cars. Glasgow, Sunderland and Newcastle were shipbuilding hubs, Stoke-on-Trent produced ceramics. Cities around Britain provided steady employment for skilled tradespeople, keeping communities together and […]
After nearly two decades of weak growth, stagnant wages and stubbornly high inequality – alongside one of the worst productivity records in the developed world since the financial crisis – Britain’s central problem is how to get the economy growing again. We don’t build enough homes. We don’t generate enough cheap energy. We don’t invest […]
Is that it? After rumours of a big change in electricity policy coming (with frothy excitement in energy geek land), Ed Miliband this week lifted the curtain. The headline from the Government comms machine was ‘decisive action’ to ‘break the link between gas and electricity prices’. And yet the reality was uninspiring, underbaked and unambitious. […]
The war in Iran has brought into sharp focus a central challenge for UK energy policy: how to deliver the green transition while maintaining energy security and ensuring that costs remain affordable for households and businesses. Getting this balance right is now critical not just for energy policy but for the UK’s economic performance. In […]
Amid war in the Middle East and a country faltering thanks to years of failed policies, a deeply unpopular Prime Minister insisted that Britain had strong energy security, despite warnings from experts that blackouts were a very real possibility. In October 1973, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) announced an oil embargo that […]
If the title Baron Walker of Broxton leaves you blank, let me help: Richard Walker is executive chairman of the frozen food retailer Iceland, succeeding his father Sir Malcolm Walker, the company’s founder, in 2023. He was on the Conservative Party’s approved list of parliamentary candidates, then resigned in October 2023 because the party had […]
In 2020, the European Union launched its Green Deal. Six years later, investments in hydrogen-based projects have collapsed, and electricity prices are twice as high as in the US and China. Europe is losing its competitive edge. In our research for the Institute of Economic Affairs, we identify eight reasons why the EU Green Deal […]
Although it is early days, it does now look as if a cyclical recovery is starting in the UK economy. The best evidence is the recovery in retail sales from its six-year post-Covid slump. Since consumer spending is around 60% of GDP, a consumer recovery is critical to getting GDP rising. The recovery is also […]
Britain’s energy market is so dysfunctional that to even call it a market at all is something of a misnomer. It is so distorted by state intervention that there is very little left of it that could be described as ‘free’. Whereas Nigel Lawson envisioned an energy market beyond the remit of government, Ed Miliband […]
The North Sea has brought economic prosperity to Scotland for centuries, from providing bountiful herring that ushered in the ‘silver darlings’ era of Scottish fishing, to producing oil and gas that has powered Britain for decades. But today the communities that rely on the North Sea are in crisis. Oil and gas production is declining […]
Poverty was once the norm. A quarter of babies died in their first year of life. In 1980, around 40% of the world’s population lived in extreme poverty. Today only 10% of people do. Much of this is thanks to fossil fuels. The burning of wood, then coal, gas and oil, enabled us to prosper. […]
British businesses have faced numerous challenges over the past few years, not least extortionate energy bills. According to the International Energy Agency, the UK has had the highest non-domestic energy prices of any member state, creating a significant barrier to growth and investment. What’s more, the government has imposed additional regulatory costs on businesses, such […]
Subsidies create distortions. They alter the natural balance of supply, demand and fair competition in the marketplace. The Government’s Net Zero target has resulted in millions of pounds of taxpayer money being spent on subsidising ‘green’ projects, and, unsurprisingly, the distortionary effects are enormous. In some cases, the subsidies are not simply distortionary, but they […]
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