Why Britain’s changing economy needs a fresh monetary strategy April 9, 2014 THE PICK-UP in UK economic growth, which started last year, has continued into 2014 and appears to have gathered further momentum. Earlier this week, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) Economic Survey painted a picture of strong demand at home and abroad in both manufacturing and services industries. The survey also showed that companies are [...]
Trust the people: Whitehall really doesn’t know best April 9, 2014 THE GOVERNMENT is relaxed about people cashing in their pension schemes to buy a Lamborghini. But the left-leaning liberal commentariat is certainly not. Abuse has been heaped onto George Osborne’s Budget measure of removing the requirement for people to buy an annuity. The main thrust of the attacks is that individuals may act irresponsibly, by [...]
Let voters kick out MPs between elections and watch standards soar April 9, 2014 MARIA Miller’s claims on taxpayers’ cash towards her second home between 2005 and 2009 have been scrutinised in a variety of quarters. First, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards investigated the case after a complaint was submitted and came to her conclusions. Then the House of Commons Standards Committee deliberated and published its verdict. Numerous other [...]
Maria Miller: One down. More to go? April 9, 2014 The resignation of Maria Miller has come at last, and timing is everything. Those in Downing Street must have thought that facing a barrage from the opposition at Prime Minister's Questions today was too much to face. Some will try to frame the former Culture secretary as a victim of public outrages over trifling sums [...]
How London can smash through the brick ceiling limiting housing supply April 9, 2014 OVER four days, 300 people queued in a field by Heathrow to buy a home. It was 1964, and for £50 people could fulfil their homeowning dream in the soon-to-be-built suburb of Sunbury-on-Thames. The first 187 people did. Those odds don’t feel dissimilar to those faced by Londoners in today’s booming property market. The answer [...]
Letters to the Editor – 09/04 – Student migrants, Stamp duty, Best of Twitter April 8, 2014 Student migrants [Re: It’s a national scandal that Britain is driving away foreign talent, yesterday] Lord Bilimoria hits the nail on the head. The government’s ridiculous net migration target has had the perverse effect of forcing the Home Office to tighten up the rules on international students, who are presumably the very migrants we should be [...]
Blueprint for Brexit: Why post-EU prosperity isn’t unthinkable April 8, 2014 IT WOULD be easy to think that the debate about Britain’s membership of the EU has been done to death. Yet there has been relatively little serious discussion about the alternatives to EU membership – an urgent issue given the possibility of an in/out referendum in 2017. Outlandish claims that exit would be utterly catastrophic [...]
Why only a liberal vision will prepare Britain to compete globally April 8, 2014 HOW CAN Britain prepare to compete with fast-growing emerging economies? Jeremy Browne thinks he has the answer. Race Plan, released yesterday, is refreshingly radical for a book written by a former Lib Dem minister. Browne argues that Britain must not only learn to cope with globalisation, but embrace it wholeheartedly. And it is only through [...]
How Britain can unlock private capital for infrastructure April 8, 2014 WALK into China’s state planning agency in Beijing and you can pick up a 40-page guide to potential investment opportunities in the UK. That may seem like a small thing in itself, but it's yet another smart move by a commercially-savvy Treasury team bent on banging the drum for inward investment. Chinese investors have never [...]
Letters to the Editor – 08/04 – Stamp duty reform, Crowdfunding rules, Best of Twitter April 7, 2014 Stamp duty reform [Re: Why it’s time to focus on the real cost of the housing crisis, yesterday] The government should switch payment of stamp duty to when someone sells a property, not when they buy. First-time buyers could use the money towards a deposit, and those in the middle of a chain would not [...]