‘Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in,’ says Michael Corleone in ‘The Godfather Part III’. A decade after we voted to leave the European Union, much of the establishment is still in denial about the verdict that was delivered. Andy Burnham has been absolutely shameless. Campaigning in the Makerfield by-election, […]
Britain now pays more to borrow than Greece: at the start of October, 10-year gilts yielded around 5.4% against roughly 4.5% for Greek bonds. Little more than a decade ago, Greece was a basket case – at the centre of the Eurozone debt crisis. Yet markets are now demanding higher yields from Britain, prompting many […]
I particularly enjoy a phrase that appears in Christopher Bullock’s ‘The Cobbler of Preston’: ‘Tis impossible to be sure of any thing but Death and Taxes.’ The sentiment was later popularised by Benjamin Franklin in his correspondence. In the world of government budgets, there’s another thing that is, sooner or later, unavoidable: fiscal consolidation. That […]
The UK-EU relationship must be viewed through the lens of the battle for the world’s operating system. There are three operating systems in the world. The first is a competition on the merits system where countries are free to engage in regulatory competition but inter-operate on the basis of mutual recognition and equivalence. This historically […]
Britain and America have spent a decade arguing about Nimbyism as if it were a housing problem. It is much bigger than that: our inability to build, in a broad sense, has grown into a source of geopolitical weakness. The economic argument has been made already. Growth controls add anywhere from 17% to 38% to […]
This weekend the Telegraph ran a story with the striking headline ‘Burnham told to trade nuclear umbrella for access to single market’. The idea is the brainchild of Nick Boles, the former Conservative MP who quit the party in 2019 over Brexit, switched his allegiance to Labour and helped to advise Keir Starmer on the […]
The EU was born to ‘screw’ the US. That’s what Donald Trump told reporters in 2025: ‘That’s the purpose of it, and they’ve done a good job of it. But now I’m president.’ But that wasn’t always the United States’s view of the EU. As historian Andrew Roberts wrote, the American State Department ‘enthusiastically signed […]
Last week, Andy Burnham inaugurated ‘No 10 North’, his signature project, by working for the first time from the government’s new Manchester base, a self-styled ‘situation room for growth’. The symbolism was clear: power would no longer be concentrated in Whitehall. But the rhetoric remains stronger than the detail. The detail we have is concerning. […]
On July 27, 2025, the US President Donald Trump invited the President of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen and other top EU officials to his golf course, Trump-Turnberry on the West Coast of Scotland. Their meeting sealed a trade deal, which von der Leyen described as ‘huge’, but which critics described as a […]
Sweden is often held up as a role model for those wishing to expand the size of government around the world. But rather than being proof that socialism works, the Swedish experience is in fact evidence for the benefits of free markets, limited taxation, strong societal norms and robust financial institutions. Sweden historically pioneered many […]
Recent rhetoric suggests a slight but notable shift in Russia‘s attitude toward ending the war in Ukraine. In remarks following Russia’s Victory Day parade, Vladimir Putin stated that ‘the matter is coming to an end’. Even in its opacity, the comment signals a potential recalibration in Moscow’s approach and an implicit recognition that the time […]
The first rule of Labour’s EU Club appears to be that ‘you do not talk about rejoining the EU’. Indeed, Andy Burnham’s and Wes Streeting’s not-very-principled position on Brexit seems to be that they want the UK to rejoin the EU but do not want to be too open about this until after either of […]
If we were to bring UK income taxes closer into line with those in Europe’s major economies, it would cost the average taxpayer £1,015 per year. One argument often stated nowadays is that Britain should move towards European-style taxation. But given this cost to the taxpayer, it is certainly not a policy I would advocate. […]
The Community of Madrid offers a 99% reduction in inheritance tax for close family heirs. So a daughter who inherits €600,000 from her father will pay, after the ‘bonificación’ rebate, just over €1,500. This came as a surprise to me and to the delegation of policy experts I led to Madrid to meet and learn […]
Vikor Orbán’s defeat in the Hungarian elections was not surprising, but it was profound. This was the failure of an idea: a decisive public rejection of the fruits of sixteen years of postliberal politics. Orbán had reimagined the state on illiberal lines, destroying the checks and balances which had been a feature of the country’s […]
If you want to feel really gloomy, think back to the beginning of the 1990s. The West had won the Cold War. The Gorbachev era seemed to suggest that Russia was embarking on a path of stability and democracy. There were indications that the Chinese leadership was interested in cautious moves towards international legality. Other […]
What is happening in Armenia? Armenia is the world’s oldest Christian country. It is a profoundly Christian nation, and its faith survived decades of Soviet repression. However, what is happening now threatens that legacy. Armenia’s Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan, is lashing out against the Armenian Holy Apostolic Church as it refuses to bow to his […]
When it comes to the global trading system, there is an ongoing battle between two competing models. The first sees regulatory competition with equivalence and mutual recognition as far as regulations are concerned. That’s the classic system embodied by the likes of the United States, the World Trade Organisation and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement […]
In his own undemonstrative and soporific way, Keir Starmer is just as obsessive about Europe as the most zealous Leave voter. So much of his conception of good governance has been shaped by the idea of being the opposite of the previous Conservative administration; accordingly, he regards a close and cordial relationship with EU member […]
Will France need to be bailed out under the latest of the European Central Bank’s (ECB) damage limitation devices, the magically named Transmission Protection Instrument? France’s minority government under embattled Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has finally succeeded in passing a social security budget – by including a provision temporarily suspending President Emmanuel Macron’s flagship pension […]
Nine years after the referendum, the British establishment claims to have reconciled itself to Brexit. Having once championed a second referendum, Keir Starmer said some time ago that he now wants to ‘make Brexit work’. In a time when Labour’s main political threat comes from Reform UK and Nigel Farage, one would think that the […]
Although competing rumours have been circulating throughout the summer, no one knew what to really expect from the Bloquons-Tout! (‘Let’s Block Everything!’) day of action announced on social media throughout France for September 10. Was this the resurfacing of the gilets jaunes movement, which frightened the country and then faded into the pandemic of 2020? […]
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