Recent Conservative governments have been more left wing than Attlee
Here’s a Christmas quiz: Which has been Britain’s most left-wing government? According to Paul Ormerod, it’s not the one you think…. The extended Christmas holidays loom. One way of filling the time is to think about crucial questions such as who is England’s greatest ever batsman, which football club side is the best the world […]
It may already be too late for Labour
The popularity of the Labour party has plunged since the election, and history tells that once a certain narrative has taken hold, it’s very difficult to turn it around, says Paul Ormerod Since the general election in July, the popularity of both the Prime Minister and the Labour Party has fallen sharply. Labour’s share of […]
It’s time for England to stop subsidising Scotland and Wales
The devolved nations are living on another planet economically because England essentially pays for their deficits. This has to stop, says Paul Ormerod Every single pensioner will continue to receive payments towards their winter fuel. This is not some fantasy world in which the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has abandoned one of her flagship policies. It […]
It’s not as easy to count the number of ‘working people’ as you might think
How many people are employed in the UK today? This is not just a question in a pub quiz for boffins. It is one with important practical implications. Changes in the number of people employed is a key piece of information which the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee takes into account when setting interest rates. If […]
Office for Value for Money: Can more bureaucracy really improve productivity?
The public sector’s productivity record is abysmal, and Rachel Reeves’ new Office for Value for Money shows she knows it. But will more bureaucracy really solve the issue, asks Paul Ormerod There are some parts of the British state which function with admirable efficiency. Any driver with the temerity to stray a yard into a […]
Investment can boost growth – if it comes with technological progress
The need to boost the UK’s rate of economic growth was a central theme of the first budget delivered by Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor. Reeves emphasised the importance of increasing the amount of investment which takes place in the UK. She sees this as the key way to raise growth. To this end, she announced […]
How will the bond markets react to the Budget?
For all the government’s promises of stability and hoped-for reductions in interest rates, UK yields on government bonds are now, in fact, very similar to the levels to which they rose under the ill-fated Truss government, says Paul Ormerod There has been a huge amount of speculation about the Budget. Later today we will of […]
Borrowing to invest is all very well but what about value for money?
The precise contents of the budget are still secret. But a widely trailed theme is that the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, wants to create as much scope as possible for extra public sector investment. She appears to be willing to rewrite the existing fiscal rules in order to accommodate the increase. In principle of course there […]
Will carbon capture work? Nobody knows – and that’s the problem
The government confirmed this month the funding for the UK’s first carbon capture sites. The technology, it is claimed, captures CO2 emissions before they reach the atmosphere and stores them away safely. Based on Merseyside and Teesside, the project will have almost miraculous powers. It will create 4,000 jobs directly, as many as 50,000 in […]
The threat of higher taxes is already harming growth
The Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, had made no secret of her desire to make economic growth her top policy objective. She reinforced the message this week in an interview with the Financial Times, using the mantra “invest, invest, invest!”. Perhaps unwittingly, this carries echoes of Karl Mark’s memorable phrase in Das Kapital: “Accumulate, accumulate. That is Moses and the […]
