Open banking should be a blueprint to create more competition across sectors john penrose When Transport for London opened up their data, it enabled the creation of Citymapper.
Want a recovery that works for everyone? Fix the injustices in the tax system The lockdown shone a spotlight onto a two-speed, two-nation Britain, where better-paid white-collar professionals worked from home, while less well-off key workers had to keep travelling to work, often on crowded public transport, to do riskier jobs. Even worse, it turned out that those less well-off key workers were paying much higher tax rates than [...]
How to end the injustice of the skewed university degree system Imagine a world where Eton awarded its own A-levels. No one else could take them and, if you got an A grade in, for example, chemistry, it was worth more than an A grade in the same subject from any other exam board. It would be hideously unfair. Etonians would have a huge, inbuilt advantage [...]
Let’s reform our ugly company tax system and start rewarding long-term investors July 11, 2019 There’s an old saying that if you laid all the economists in the world end to end, they still wouldn’t reach a conclusion. But even so, most of them would agree that Britain’s economy doesn’t invest enough. We’re wedded to short-term consumer demand rather than investing in long-term growth like those sensible Germans. And the [...]
Corruption, dirty cash, and money laundering – we must shine a spotlight on crooks hiding in the City June 7, 2019 The OECD ranks Britain as one of the best places to start and grow a business. We’re home to five of the top 10 fastest-growing businesses in Europe because people know we’re an open, liberal, free-trading economy where new businesses can be created easily, and where startups are treated fairly, even when they take on [...]
A sovereign wealth fund could diffuse the UK’s debt timebomb June 13, 2018 There’s a hint of sunshine peeping out from behind the grey clouds of austerity. After eight long years of belt-tightening, we’re living within our means at last. Our taxes cover our day-to-day spending on things like health, education, policing and defence, so we’re only having to borrow to invest in long-term infrastructure like roads and [...]
As MPs debate the idea, should Britain create its own Sovereign Wealth Fund? December 14, 2016 John Penrose, Conservative MP for Weston Super Mare, says Yes. Brexit gives us a once in a generation opportunity to recast the kind of country we want to be. We’ve got an unbalanced, rock-and-roll economy that’s too dependent on consumer spending and doesn’t invest enough for the future. That makes us less economically productive than [...]