Why business owners are telling the next generation to give up on Britain Opinion Despite the government’s lofty pledges to be the “start-up hub of the world,” confidence has fallen so low that only 17 per cent of owners would advise a young entrepreneur to start their business in the UK today, says Matthew Elliott When entering government, Sir Keir Starmer stated that wealth creation would be his “number [...]
End managed decline and make the City great again Opinion With the Budget fast approaching, Britain faces a simple choice: double down on managed decline or go all in for growth. After nearly two decades of stagnation, it’s time for a bold, unapologetically pro-enterprise reset that puts economic growth at the heart of national policy. That’s the case made in Prosperity Through Growth, my new book [...]
If Pat McFadden wants to get Britain back to work, business has the answers Opinion The new work and pensions secretary, Pat McFadden, should look to the City for ideas on getting 9m adults back into work, says Matthew Elliott Britain’s growth problem is evident to everyone. Since the global financial crisis of 2008, GDP per capita has expanded at barely half a per cent a year – a fraction [...]
Worrying jobs figures show Labour’s Britain is heading for stagflation June 11, 2025 Staggering rises in unemployment are a result of government polices that prevent businesses creating new jobs, and will ultimately condemn Britain’s economy to low growth and high inflation, says Matthew Elliott Today’s employment figures from the ONS must serve as a wake-up call to the government that their economic agenda is running adrift. We have [...]
Business needs a real voice in the Civil Service, not a mid-rank mandarin April 3, 2025 The civil service needs an actual industry bigwig, not a mid-rank mandarin, if it wants to properly engage with business, writes Matthew Elliott.
The Notebook: On the lookout for common sense at Labour Party Conference September 23, 2024 As Labour Party Conference kicks off, Matthew Elliott lays out what he is on the lookout for (including his favourite Liverpool pub).
Here comes Govtech: It’s time to digitise government and the public sector February 8, 2021 Boris Johnson’s first telephone call with Joe Biden in the White House reportedly included some joshing over which of them had first used the phrase ‘Build Back Better’. Whether it was the Prime Minister or the President, it is set to be the leitmotif of the global post-Covid recovery. Economies have been devastated, individuals have [...]
This marks the start of a brave new post-Brexit future January 30, 2020 Tonight at 11 o’clock, as the Brexit countdown clock ticks to zero, I will be toasting the moment with a bottle of Brexit Beer, produced by my friend and fellow Leave campaigner Jon Moynihan. My toast won’t be to winning the Referendum or Getting Brexit Done. Rather, it will be a toast to the future, [...]
DEBATE: Has the EU overstepped the mark by rejecting Italy’s budget? October 25, 2018 Has the EU overstepped the mark by rejecting Italy’s budget? Matthew Elliott, senior political adviser to Shore Capital, says YES. From the moment Britain’s Brexit referendum was announced in 2013, the EU started to moderate its most overt interventionist instincts, minimising Eurozone problems through quantitative easing, and restricting its tendency to meddle in the affairs [...]
Heed the history and beware Saudis floating oil companies October 10, 2018 Will they? Won’t they? I’m thinking about whether or not the Saudis will go ahead and float a sliver of their gigantic state oil company, Aramco, on the stock market. Reuters said in August that King Salman had vetoed the idea. But in an interview with Bloomberg published last Friday, his son, Crown Prince Mohammed, [...]
