Britain is an oasis of calm amid Europe’s political chaos February 24, 2017 In a fit of pique at the Brexit vote, the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told MEPs last July that Britain had “collapsed – politically, economically, monetarily and constitutionally”. Embarrassingly for him, events have proven otherwise, with the UK posting the strongest growth in the G7 in the final quarter of 2016, the Bank of England still [...]
Government intervention causes Britain’s energy sector to fail to deliver low costs and ensure supply, a report by the House of Lords argues February 24, 2017 The government has allowed the UK's energy market to become "opaque, complicated and uncompetitive", a report to be published today argues. Written by the House of Lords' committee on economic affairs, the report says Britain's energy market fails in two key areas: delivering low costs to customers and ensuring the country has sufficient supplies. The security of [...]
Be under no illusions: The National Living Wage will cost jobs February 24, 2017 Imagine that you didn’t know how cold weather and turning on the heat affected the temperature of a room. You’d watch the boiler burn more or less gas, and you’d watch the weather get colder and hotter, but if the thermostat and central heating were working properly there’d be no change in the temperature of [...]
The civil service is ripe for disruption – and Brexit could well be the catalyst February 24, 2017 We are approaching a serious crisis in the relationship between ministers, advisers and civil servants. While governments have often grumbled about the quality of the civil service, there are signs political discontent is growing. Why? The stakes are higher. The challenges posed by Brexit dwarf anything we have seen before. And so the relationship between [...]
Europe must reinvent itself or markets will tear it apart February 24, 2017 As I sit on an over-crowded train at rush hour for the fourth time this week after a 12 hour shift (I hope my American co-anchor who doesn’t believe in European holidays is reading this), I look around and wonder how many people in the carriage still believe in Europe. On 23 June 2016, 59.9 [...]
Ministers set to face spending watchdog scrutiny over Green Investment Bank sale February 23, 2017 Government ministers are in the glare of Whitehall spending watchdog the National Audit Office (NAO) as the Green Investment Bank privatisation drags on, City A.M. has learned. With Australian investment bank Macquarie hopeful of clinching a deal soon, the government sale has come under intense scrutiny from politicians in recent weeks. MPs, led by the Green Party’s [...]
MP committee tells press industry: Toughen up regulator or face feared Section 40 February 23, 2017 A group of MPs has called on the press industry to toughen up its regulator or face the much-feared Section 40. Parliament's Culture, Media and Sport committee today published a report calling for the industry’s preferred regulator, the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso), to make itself compliant with recommendations set out by Lord Justice Leveson after [...]
Unilateral free trade: The selfless Brexit policy that is best for everyone February 23, 2017 There is a clear ethical choice at the heart of trade policy, with direct implications for Brexit. The choice is between selfish, self-interested or selfless policies. And the counter-intuitive truth is that it is selfless policies that maximise prosperity in the long term. So what is meant by selfish, self-interested and selfless? Selfish policies are [...]
Scrap the utopian net migration target (among other things) to reconcile traditionalists and liberals on immigration February 23, 2017 Across the West, we are experiencing a growing cultural clash between liberals and traditionalists. It was encapsulated by Clinton versus Trump, and now by Macron against Le Pen in France. Former Prime Minister Tony Blair recognised this 10 years ago, saying: “The real dividing line to think of in modern politics has less to do with [...]
Government isn’t doing enough to mitigate the environmental hit from Heathrow expansion, warn MPs February 23, 2017 The government looks set to flout recommendations made by its own climate change advisers regarding the environmental impact of Heathrow expansion, MPs warned today. The Environmental Audit Committee has found the government is not doing enough to show it can mitigate the environmental hit the new runway is expected to have, and looks set to [...]