Here’s how Reeves could use the Budget to incentivise investment October 17, 2024 As well as balancing the books, Rachel Reeves should use the Budget to help businesses recapture their joie de vivre, says Claire Blackburn The new government’s first Autumn Budget on 30 October is arguably the most anticipated fiscal event in recent memory. Balancing the books will be a top priority and the £22bn hole in [...]
Let’s be honest… feel-good campaigns are ruining Britain October 17, 2024 Every government promises to cut red tape but ends up adding more. The only way to break the cycle is to stop listening to nice sounding arguments, says Matthew Lesh Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt did not mince words at this week’s International Investment Summit. “Maybe you need a minister of anti-regulation?” Schmidt said to Prime [...]
How Poland and Vietnam escaped poverty October 17, 2024 In a new book, Rainer Zitelmann examines how Poland and Vietnam escaped the ravages of the Cold War to become some of the world’s fastest growing economies – and argues that poverty isn’t inevitable, it’s a policy choice says Kristian Niemietz Case studies in recent economic history typically deal with unambiguous success stories, or unambiguous [...]
The Square Mile and Me: M Restaurants founder Martin Williams on backpack etiquette and mandatory two hour lunches October 17, 2024 Each week we ask a City figure to take a trip down memory lane. Today it’s Martin Williams, CEO of Groucho and founder of M Restaurants on the City staple’s 10th birthday What was your first job? I started working in hospitality when I was sixteen, as a dishwasher in a grotty hotel in North Yorkshire. I [...]
Making work pay is good for growth October 17, 2024 Don’t listen to populist outcry over the Employment Rights Bill, all the evidence shows protecting workers from exploitation is good for the economy, says Sam Fowles Labour workers’ rights reforms have prompted predictable howls of outrage. The Employment Rights Bill, apparently, “injects fear” into business and will “damage British competitiveness”. Ironically, the most hysterical wails [...]
When it comes to national insurance, the government is pulling a fast one October 16, 2024 One of the many problems the government has got itself into over tax rises that may or may not appear in the upcoming Budget is an oversimplification of where the cost of a certain tax falls. Ministers and their supporters talk about Capital Gains Tax as if it only lands on rich people selling off [...]
Capital isn’t the issue – there aren’t enough UK projects to invest in October 16, 2024 My company is raring to invest billions into the economy, but there's nowhere for the money to go, writes Tracy Blackwell.
Will carbon capture work? Nobody knows – and that’s the problem October 16, 2024 UK’s clumsy carbon capture punt is result of top down intervention – but there’s a better way, writes Paul Ormerod 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 [...]
What’s really going wrong with water? October 16, 2024 Water has become a political weapon, but yet more regulation is not the answer to attracting the investment we need, says Lord Dominic Johnson Water Water Everywhere! It was very clear from the last election that water has been weaponised. Everyone seems to be deeply unhappy – the consumers, the politicians, the regulators, the investors, [...]
The Notebook: Starmer should spend more time on Linkedin October 16, 2024 Sir Keir Starmer should spend more time clicking away on the world’s most insincere website, according to Michael Martins, founding partner of Overton Advisory Starmer should spend more time on LinkedIn Labour’s first successful International Investment Summit under Prime Minister Starmer yesterday has garnered all the right headlines. Tens of billions of pounds in investment [...]