Mr. Speaker, it is an honour and a privilege for me to have this opportunity to present to the House the government's budget for the coming year. As the House will already know, our economy and government finances are in a desperate and sorry state. Over the past nearly 25 years we have suffered a series of setbacks that have enveloped us in a perf...
Sir Keir Starmer appears to be neither economically nor politically astute. Economics: the vote only just passed to abolish the Winter Fuel Payment except to those on Pension Credit may end up as a net cost to the Treasury. John Redwood tweeted beforehand 'Removing the fuel allowance from many low income pensioners will boost numbers on Pensioner C...
How to destroy a country may not be an everyday item on the minds of many as they go about their daily lives. Most people living in this country have other things to to think about such as their jobs or juggling the household finances, a big question may be, if they lash out on a treat will they have enough money left to pay the rent or the mortgag...
'Big crash coming' says Jimmy Dore, introducing his guest Paul Stone. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zBEofwgshI&t=20s They agree that the economy is being mismanaged, because interest rates are too high and the debt is ballooning. The problem is that everything depends on facts and interpretation, and about the only fact that is unchallengeab...
Reform or Revolution? This is the question. One way or another there will be no more "status quo" on our current course because: if Labour wins, we will have socialism; if things do not change, history shows there will be violence (a revolution). The parallels between the present and the French Revolution (as well as the fall of Rome) are self-evid...
Reproduced with permission of Blue Anchor In this blog I'm going to run through the main economic consequences of Brexit. After the vote to leave The Guardian started a regular tracker to chart its impact on the economy. But as the Remainer predictions relentlessly turned to dust and the good news kept piling up, they quietly dropped this feature. ...
Germany is a relatively young country. Created as a 'Customs Union' it quickly became an Empire as Bismark consolidated power through a war with France. In 1871 all members of the Zoll Union became provinces of the Empire, with the exception of Luxembourg whose ruling Duke opted out. Bismarck introduced reforms such as health insurance, but mainly ...
The chief executive of Deutsche Bank Christian Sewing told a meeting in Frankfurt "We are not the sick man of Europe. But, it is also true that there are structural weaknesses that hold back our economy and prevent it from developing its great potential. And we will become the sick man of Europe if we do not address these structural issues now." Ac...
Brum is bust, but the problem is not that the council is 'socialist'; the problem is that the national government is not 'conservative.' When did the soi-disant Conservative Party last show a deep interest in the security and welfare of the nation as a whole? For example, it's estimated that the UK's spending on defence for Ukraine totals £4.6 bill...
I have been following a select group of (mostly American) financial commentators since 2007, before the Global Financial Crisis. Their tone is even more sombre now. Charles Hugh Smith posted 'I Have a Very Bad Feeling About This' a few days ago, following it with 'No, Central Banks Won't Save Us This Time.' He has been warning for years that we sho...
The inflation rate was over 11 per cent last Autumn; in the mid-Seventies it surpassed 25 per cent. You would want to be protected against this rotting of your money, especially if you were a pensioner. Last month I explained how the Government's choice and operation of inflation indices for State benefits doesn't work. Now I want to show how, even...
Still Want to Rejoin? - Read This If you want still to rejoin the EU, ask yourself after reading about nearly four decades of IMF economic data, how in the name of good judgement anyone might want to do that. For those four decades the EU has been a graveyard for UK GDP along with the r...
Contrary to the Daily Telegraph's story today claiming that Britain's debt pile does not outstrip the EU's, Britain's is far lower, because the EU's is masked by creative accounting. The full extent of the EU's debts and other financial liabilities is detailed in my book recent book 'The shadow liabilities of EU Member States, and the threat they p...
Have we in the UK been getting steadily poorer year-on-year over 46 years in the "European Project" [the EEC and then the EU] than if the UK had been out? What is the evidence? Remainers claim "We're better off in". But is it true? And if "We're better off out" people should know. The UK is tipped to overtake Germany and become the largest economy ...
The UK exited the European Union on December 31, 2020. Leaving the EU has been a double-edged sword for British companies, who have experienced advantages and numerous difficulties due to Brexit. Combined with the COVID-19 pandemic, the results have only sometimes favoured UK companies. Before Brexit, goods and services could be transported to and ...
The German Federal Audit Office ('Bundesrechnungshof') has warned that the Bundesbank may need a bailout due to losses on the EUR650 billion of bonds it bought as part of the Eurozone's equivalent of Quantitative Easing. The Daily Telegraph reported on this on 26 June. Of course the risk is not for the entire EUR650 billion but for the fraction by ...
The UK must not listen to declinists and defeatists. It is amazing how fast things can be turned around, and I've seen it in education, where the material we work with is often difficult. In the late Seventies I taught in an inner-city multiracial secondary school neighbouring Handsworth, where the first riots were to come three years later. The bu...
coThe economist Duncan Weldon has told the New Statesman's Will Dunn that 'Brexit is a "slow puncture" on the UK economy.' As former business editor of BBC's Newsnight and so presumably of the Left he received soft treatment by Dunn. Let us deflate his arguments a little. Clearly much of our difficulty with the EU post-Brexit is intentional on thei...
The United Kingdom's departure from the European Union has had a significant impact on many aspects of life, including day trading in the UK. As businesses had to adapt their international collaborations and activities, their market values were put through a new set of challenges. Before Brexit, the United Kingdom was a central hub for day trading ...
The general public has little idea of how much debt hangs over our heads. Today, Laura Perrins warns us that government borrowing is now equivalent to 99.2% of GDP (i.e. a whole year's worth of national economic activity); but that is only the tip of the iceberg, because it is only looking at public sector borrowing. Unlike the UK, where valuable f...
In 2010 journalist Matt Taibbi shot to a new level of prominence with his 'vampire squid' label for Goldman Sachs '… relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.' Greece's Establishment has chosen to use that as a model. In a moment, we will look at the official scam known as 'Hercules'. As with the concentration of p...
The totality of the public sector liabilities of EU and Eurozone member states is clouded in obscurity. The key measure tracked by Eurostat - 'General government gross debt' – is circumvented to such an extent that, based on year-end 2021 figures, debts of around €6.4 trillion failed to be registered, and contingent liabilities of around €3.8 trill...
EU authorities have permitted commercial banks to implement a particularly aggressive form of risk-evaluation methodology, the result of which is the ability to claim a thick loss-absorption cushion and to attest that the EU banking system is stable and resilient. It isn't: cushions are as thin as before the Eurozone financial crisis. This is laid ...
The Eurosystem has expanded its operations well beyond what a central bank would have traditionally undertaken. It now owns assets that are not 'central bank money' definitionally. Assets have credit ratings as low as BB in the Standard and Poor's system, which means they are 'Speculative Grade' and involve 'Substantial credit risk'. It does not ev...
There has been long and ongoing debate about the nature of the sizable loans and deposits that the Eurozone national central banks (NCBs) run with one another within the TARGET2 payment system. The debate has overlooked that the balances are nearly double what the European Central Bank (ECB) reports, and that the report only shows the amounts at th...
The programmes of the European Central Bank (ECB) are extensive, and involve greater risks than the ECB can bear, it being very thinly capitalised. Even modest losses on its programmes would require it to be recapitalised by its Eurozone shareholders – the national central banks (NCBs) of the Eurozone member states. This is laid out in the newly-re...
Net Zero is proving to be a good cover story for the European Investment Bank Group to create huge financial liabilities for the EU taxpayer. The amount looks set to exceed €1.2 trillion by the end of the current EU budget period in 2027. This is laid out in the newly-released book 'The shadow liabilities of EU Member States, and the threat they po...
The European Stability Mechanism is the main bailout mechanism behind the Euro. Croatia recently joined it upon adopting the Euro. The ESM uses two accounting tricks to make it appear larger and more robust than it actually is, disguising that it lacks the firepower to deal with a major incident. This is laid out in the newly-released book 'The sha...
The structures of the EU and Eurozone have allowed the creation of a series of supranational entities that have taken on debts whilst having little financial strength of their own: their creditworthiness depends on guarantees or capital calls from member states, without the extent of the member states' liabilities being transparent and being added ...
Public credit rating agencies have not been even-handed in their treatment of the UK compared to EU member states, given the large shadow debts and contingent liabilities that weigh on the latter. This is explained in the newly-released book 'The shadow liabilities of EU Member States, and the threat they pose to global financial stability', writte...
The public credit ratings of EU/Eurozone member states are inflated, because the credit rating agencies have not factored in the significant shadow debts and other financial liabilities bearing down on the respective member state's debt service capacity. Total financial liabilities are much higher than these agencies appear to recognise. This is th...
Full yet? You wont see this on the BBC news but the last three quarters have seen the biggest improvement in the UK trade balance ever in history … EV-ER. This is precisely, exactly what the Remainiacs swore would NOT happen if we became an independent democracy again. The full dataset is here if you want to satisfy yourself I'm not maki...
Global debt markets appear comfortable to absorb all of the bonds issued by the European Union for its €750 billion Coronavirus Recovery Fund on the basis that 'it all tracks back onto Germany'. This is true: the guarantee structure behind the EU's debts makes each member state liable for the entirety of them. The same debt markets do not seem to h...
The EU and its member states position themselves as a cornerstone of the rules-based international order, but they break its financial rules in both letter and spirit by failing to fully report their financial liabilities. The key measure tracked by Eurostat - 'General government gross debt' – is circumvented to such an extent that, based on year-e...
EU and Eurozone member states fail to fully report their financial liabilities. The key measure tracked by Eurostat - 'General government gross debt' – is circumvented to such an extent that, based on year-end 2021 figures, debts of around €6.4 trillion failed to be registered, and contingent liabilities of around €3.8 trillion. This discrepancy is...
EU and Eurozone member states fail to fully report their financial liabilities. The key measure tracked by Eurostat - 'General government gross debt' – is circumvented to such an extent that, based on year-end 2021 figures, debts of around €6.4 trillion failed to be registered, and contingent liabilities of around €3.8 trillion. This discrepa...
"Richard Hughes, the chairman of the Office for Budget Responsibility, (OBR) claims Britain's departure from the European Union has reduced economic output by around 4 per cent compared to if the UK had remained in the bloc". "Speaking to the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, Hughes was asked to quantify the 4 per cent drop in UK e...
Politicians should have a vision. George H. W. Bush's perceived lack of one probably cost him a second term. Atlee's vision of a British Socialist Commonwealth condemned the UK to a painful exodus from the privation of WW2. Its legacy hampered our development. The Reagan - Thatcher vision was a time of hope, a vision of a renewal for the world demo...
Whatever the choreography we have a clog dance not a ballet. Sunak's 'deal' is yet another fudge. Involving the King in politics and the manipulation, copied from the EU, demonstrate a cynical disregard for probity. The Northern Ireland Protocol is a travesty. No Independent nation can agree to be ruled by a political court (The ECJ) whose sole rem...
Since the referendum governments have squandered opportunity. We should be in a strong position, but a combination of Pro EU Tories, the Blob and the Civil Service has put democracy at risk. The daily attacks on Brexit citing idiotic opinion polls, demonstrate a determination by the opponents of democracy to take us back into the EU whatever the co...
The Bruges Group is pleased to republish this article by Barnabas Reynolds Brussels' rules are prescriptive and controlling, and are holding back British growth The Prime Minister must restore Britain's sovereignty over our laws The Government is seeking the power to remove some of the vast swathes of EU-inherited law by the end of 2023 in it...
Although Brexit and the free trade agreement initially disrupted and confused UK-based business operations due to the UK's dominant role in cross-border online distribution and sales with other European countries, things are finally looking up in the long run. A study published by the Board of Trade stresses the enormous prospects that digital trad...
For over a century the UK has struggled with political realism and to an extent, its identity. In 1918 the Labour Parties pamphlet 'Labour and the New Social Order' set out an essentially communist agenda. Beatrice and Sidney Webb's 1920 book ' Constitution For The Socialist Commonwealth Of Great Britain' fleshed it out. Many were taken in by talk ...
The short-lived Truss government came to power with a mandate to change Britain. She fought her campaign clearly stating her policy. She was lawfully elected according to the rules. Her policy was designed to produce growth. Cutting taxes was a part of the program. The respected US Tax Foundation in its 2020 report on UK tax wrote: "All things bein...
The UK faces problems, problems that to a great degree are the fault of the political and financial establishment. There is no point in blaming every ill on Covid and Ukraine indeed it is only to the latter crisis that the establishment response has been sure footed. Otherwise, the failures are legion. Brexit has not been fully implemente...
An energy crisis hit world economies and after almost three years the pain exploded in most countries. The exception was the USA. Acting pro-actively President Reagan slashed regulation to free the economy. He fired over 11,000 striking air traffic controllers. Breaking the strike. An action Paul Volcker saw as a 'watershed' moment in the battle ag...
The appointment of Chris-Heaton Harris as the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland was greeted warmly by unionists, ever hopeful that at long last we would have a Secretary of State who cared as much about protecting the rights of unionists as those of nationalists. Moreover, there was a great hope that this UK Government would break with the sy...
The Acts of Union is the present constitutional foundation of the United Kingdom. As the late Lord Trimble, the unionist architecture of the Belfast Agreement, said: The Acts of Union is the Union. The Northern Ireland Protocol "subjugates" (in the words of the Court of Appeal) Article VI of the Acts of Union, and therefore it follows that it subju...
There is a disconnect between the media, politicians and the people of the UK. We are fed a daily diet of gloom. Hysterical millionaire 'experts' rant with messianic fervour. A plethora of experts, who helped cause the problem, seek to out do each other in their apoplectic zeal to blame others. It is as if they seek to reprise the late Jack Hawkins...
The following analysis by Ben Habib is reprinted from: https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/opinion/ben-habib-we-are-being-hoodwinked-again-by-the-northern-ireland-protocol-bill-3750685 Ben Habib is a Newspaper Columnist and former Brexit Party MEP I am having a profound sense of déjà vu. In 2019 I said the Prime Minister's oven ready deal was a...
Nicola Sturgeon, Scotlands first Minister, has been banging on, yet again, about holding another referendum on Scottish independence and is proposing to hold a plebiscite during October 2023. This is despite the fact she lost the so-called 'once in a lifetime' independence referendum in 2014. If the people of Scotland go mad and vote to break...
Sir William Cash MPRt Hon David Jones MPMartin Howe QCBarnabas Reynolds The constitutional and legal position of the United Kingdom in relation to the Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland (the "Protocol") is founded on Section 38 of the EU (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020 ("EUWAA 2020"). There are also pertinent issues relating to international ...
Anthony Coughlan is known to most of us for his heroic work for the National Platform of Ireland, which campaigns for Ireland's independence from the EU. As Michael Quinn writes, "He has tirelessly campaigned against the centralising and unaccountable EU bureaucracy; articulating instead the alternative case for a Europe of independent and co-opera...
By Barnabas Reynolds. The Brexit Freedoms Bill aims to end the special legal status of EU law. It will also simplify the removal of retained EU law. Here Barnabas Reynolds explains the advantages for the City – and the economy. The UK has recently been confronted with a series of adverse economic shocks – from Covid and the war in Ukraine, to the c...
nologThe COVID-19 pandemic had an unprecedented impact on companies across the world. In the two years since initial lockdown, far too many businesses continue to struggle to make a comeback. The Prime Minister of England has officially urged people to go back to their offices and normal work environments. His goal is to get everyone back to living...
Some people who start a business dream of it becoming an enterprise that is passed down through generations. While this is true for some companies and families, it can also be a fraught ambition. Families can be dysfunctional, and when that dysfunction is transferred to the workplace, it can be catastrophic for the business. Furthermore, there is n...
Is there a need for a rethink of the 21st century direction of travel of globalisation, the concept of a global village, 4IR, communitarianism and supranationalism, as conceived at the end of the previous century? Vulnerabilities of scale The devastating impact of the pandemic on economics, trade, logistics and the global supply chain, plus the imp...
It is past time to re-evaluate key U.S. assumptions about Europe and the European Union. For far too long, America and Europe have had a very one-sided relationship. It is like a codependent marriage, in which one partner sacrifices his or her own needs for those of the spouse. That person's actions will completely revolve around the other pe...
Margaret Thatcher broke the mould of British politics. A grocer's daughter raised above the family shop. She benefited from free state education including university. She believed in equal opportunity. She believed in wealth distribution through hard work and getting rid of as much state intervention as possible. As Prime Minister she encouraged pr...
As the dreaded 2030 deadline for the cessation of the manufacture and sale of all conventional petrol and diesel cars approaches, I have to wonder if our Prime Minister and other Government Ministers really have a clue as to what they are doing and if they realise the calamitous confusion they have set in place for the average British person. As a ...
Boris Johnson is often dismissed as a know-nothing on economics, and Rishi Sunak prides himself on being rather good at it. In his generally excellent recent Mais lecture, the Chancellor set out his vision for the UK economy. He aims for freeing up markets, improving regulation, and cutting taxes to incentivise investment, training and R...
Outputs from Spring Statement In advance of the promised reveal of the government's energy plan this week, let's start with the positives from Rishi Sunak's Spring Statement. 5 whole years of VAT free purchases on solar panels, ground and air source heat pumps. Not in Northern Ireland of course but they seem to matter less than ever to the Conserva...
A few weeks ago, I saw a sign stuck to the plastic screen dividing me from a barista. To précis, electronic payment preferred, cash as a last resort. When I politely enquired as to why, I was told, albeit politely, that whilst it was not "due to COVID" (no sensible business is still using that schtick are they?) despite the transaction cost, it was...
United Kingdom rates of personal taxation are at their highest in over 70 years. They are set to increase further. Whether or not governments spend the money they raise wisely? That's another piece for another day but my overarching view is that individuals make better spending choices than "the state". This article examines the ways in which the T...
Crypto regulations would have been identical for both the EU and the UK. However, the Brexit game brings chaos, and hence the crypto regulations, including the famous Bitcoin and Ripple, are independently defined, yet few sections overlap. This guide will bring some light on the cryptocurrencies regulations in the United Kingdom and European Union....
When Parliament fell to debating various versions of a Withdrawal Agreement between the UK and the EU some of us had no wish to enter binding arrangements with the EU that could continue to prevent us making sovereign decisions for ourselves through elections and Parliamentary votes. I along with 27 other Conservative MPs voted three times against ...
The European Commission is the executive branch within the broader European Union or EU. It apparently intends to introduce the continent's own digital euro bill sometime during 2023. This would coincide with experimentation done by the European Central Bank with a retail version of central bank digital currency across the union. Movement Among Mix...
The current cost of living crisis and stagnating growth highlight the importance of a re-examination of our approach to tax, trade and business, writes John Longworth. During the pandemic, conspiracy theorists loved to talk about the "great reset" that would be orchestrated by the Davos-loving global elites. If the events of the past two weeks is a...
Facts4EU.Org presents their review of the major Global Soft Power rankings in the world. Their analysis of these rankings covers every year from the first in 2010 until the latest for 2022. We reviewed the three emerging ranking systems that have over time become more and more detailed and analytical. We started with the Institute of Governmen...
The maiden official alliances among European countries happened shortly after World War II with the formation of NATO in 1949. Eight years later we saw the foundation of the European Economic Community as the countries joined their strengths in sharing bountiful industries that went on to serve a much wider spectrum of people instead of a single na...
By Professor Patrick Minford, CBE Patrick is the Chairman, Economists for Free Trade. He is Professor of Economics at Cardiff Business School, part of the University of Wales. Patrick is the author of The Cost of Europe, and Should Britain Leave the EU?: An Economic Analysis of a Troubled Relationship. Professor Minford is also a member of the Brug...
BackgroundIn one of the most egregious examples of the nefarious practice of fire and rehire, P&O Ferries sacked 800 workers via Zoom this week, without notice, attempting to replace them with agency workers on much lower pay and worse terms and conditions. By using security guards to escort hardworking employees forcibly and inhumanely off the...
The impact of loose monetary policy long after the financial crash reverberations had largely ended and repeated after the worst of the pandemic (creating the worst economic contraction for 300 years) had passed, is now taking its toll on inflation and interest rates. February saw a rash of economic metrics that when consolidated alongside other re...
The USA is bust. Not officially of course and as Francis Underwood (I know, it was Urquhart first but humour me) would say, "You could say that; I couldn't possibly comment". With Federal Government debt in excess of $30Trillion and debt servicing alone of almost $600Bn per annum, the country is ill prepared in every conceivable way for a protracte...
The campaign for a referendum on Net Zero appears to be gathering pace, with Nigel Farage openly discussing its evolution on his nightly GB News programme this week. Accepting the premise of global warming and the need to avoid the Earth's temperature overheating has become a settled issue for many but not all. Ground source heat pumps, electric ca...
Big Tech, so long the natural bedfellow of Planet Woke may just be starting to see the impact of its commitment "to the cause" through a, let's be generous, "correction" in their stock market capitalisation (numbers of shares in issue x cost per share). The mighty Apple, the nerve centre of Silicon Valley wokeism became the first company in history...
The case for a new Bretton Woods, Kevin Gallagher and Richard Kozul-Wright, paperback, 163 pages, ISBN 978-1-5095-4654-1, Polity Press, 2022, £9.99. Kevin Gallagher is Professor of Global Developmental Policy and Director of the Global Developmental Policy Center at Boston University. Richard Kozul-Wright is Director of the Division on Global...
It's clear that UK industry is in a period of adjustment post-Brexit. Despite the drop in FDI and disruptions like the global pandemic, there are nonetheless emerging industries where the UK has the potential for global leadership. The education technology (edtech) industry is undoubtedly one of them. 1. UK education pre-Brexit Prior to the Brexit ...
Fourth upon a time the Brexit elf went in search of the true Brexit. He had been over the moon all those years ago when the British people had voted to leave the EU. He looked forward to an early and complete departure. He expected the creation of a land of freedom. He looked forward to wise government from a newly independent and powerful Parliame...
"We were the 28 MPs who saved Britain, we saved our nation and this is the inside story of how we did it." The Rt. Hon. Mark Francois MP The Bruges Group led the intellectual debate for Britain to leave the European Union and now we have the story from within, the story of the ERG from an MP who was at the heart of Brexit. 28 Members of Parliament ...
The argument put forward by Brexit critics in the past, and now, is a combination of such: 1) The world moves in large, multilateral blocs – hence being part of the EU, the closest possible multilateral bloc, means the UK can stay an active part of the world economy. In an era where big collective action must be taken, from bulk buying PPE in a pan...
The UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (COP26) talked a lot about ending all reliance on fossil fuels. But this ignores the dependency of industry on hydrocarbons. Modern society's ability to feed, clothe, warm itself, and to provide security, education, health, and culture all depend on industry. Wind and solar power depend on fossil fuels, s...
Since the European Parliament's lawsuit against Commission President von der Leyen over the Polish Court decision, the stand off between two of the three major institutions of the European Union has reached new heights, with the decisions by the European Court of Justice (ECJ), not to mention the Polish border crisis, setting the agenda. In both it...
The sun had shone all day, the people we had been meeting every time the Brexit battle bus stopped all of us anti EU, pro-Brexit campaigners, would pile out and meet mostly receptive people who were declaring they were going to vote to leave the EU in the run-up to the 2016 EU referendum. We had spent an hour or so on Worcester market and were on t...
Introduction The purpose of these notes is to present some facts about the campaign to stop global warming and climate change. The climate has changed in the past, is probably changing now, and will change in the future. The campaign is trying to stop the unstoppable. The natural factors affecting global temperature are very powerful: terrestrial, ...
How refreshing to return from Party Conference which was held in a state of near normality. The only element which was not completely normal was that there were less people. That I think was due to the fact potential attendees were worried it would in the end be cancelled or that vaccine passports would be demanded in some form. This in a nutshell ...
"Does the WTO promote trade?" is the research question that this literature review attempts to answer. The key word "promote" is taken to mean increase. The WTO is an abbreviation of the World Trade Organisation and has '164 members since 29 July 2016'[](WTO Members and Observers, no date) and was established in 1995 after the conclusion of many ba...
Where is the evidence that this ruling has saved anyone from being exposed to sub standard or dangerous products? We have heard so much from the EU Big Wigs and European politicians about how important it is to have checks on goods going from one part of the United Kingdom to another – mainland UK to Northern Ireland - it is therefore vital to...
The coronavirus pandemic changed the landscape of the world economy almost overnight. Certainly, industries who before would see handsome turnovers year on year had their custom suddenly wiped out – or at least massive reduced. We are all aware of the biggest losers from Covid, as the effects of their misfortunes were all around for all to see. Mor...
I had the opportunity to speak to Lord (Peter) Lilley, a former speaker at a Bruges Group conference who served in Cabinet in the Thatcher and Major Governments as Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and Secretary of State for Social Security – and later in William (now Lord) Hague's Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer and De...
Given I have not seen any coherent argument in the Media spelling out the true facts aimed At any members of the public who have been taken in by this ill thought through proposed policy of taxing private schools. It's time for a simple statement of the obvious to be circulated to as many people as possible. The notion Labour is trying to sel...
At Conservative Party Conference this year, we are delighted to be hosting the 'Liberty Zone' on Monday 4th October 2021 at the Science and Industry Museum, Liverpool Road, Manchester, M3 4PF. We are holding our annual Party Conference event this year alongside Time 4 Recovery, a group set up to pressure the government with oppositi...
You get to meet some interesting people on holiday, each year for several years my better half and I would return to the same hotel during the same two weeks in June where we would meet up with other regular returning guests. One of them was a senior accountant with a very large firm, he once told me every time they had to produce a cheque to pay t...
Hands up, who still thinks the Conservatives are a low tax party? If your hand is up, might I suggest you put it swiftly down and start writing some letters to the 321 Tory MPs who this week voted in favour of the biggest tax hike since the Second World War. Someone ought to inform them. Someone also might want to disband CCHQ come the next general...
SIR – Extra taxation on savers to fund the NHS and care-home fees is bizarre. Some paying the extra tax may have been motivated to save in order not to depend on the state in their old age. Now achieving that objective will be undermined. Others will be care-home residents, now having to make a higher tax contribution to fellow residents' costs.&nb...
I had the opportunity to speak to the Honorable John Manley, a long serving Cabinet Minister in the Canadian Government, having served in key posts such as Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, and Minister of Foreign Affairs – among others. John Manley is also known for having authored the Manley Report on Afghanistan in 2007 and having been...
Clearly neither Wales nor Scotland could create their own currencies: they would have to stay with the pound or join the euro. And since the euro is hugely unpopular in Scotland (only 18 per cent of Scots want to join the euro) - and would simply introduce dependence on Brussels - that would mean sticking with the pound. Yet Alex Salmond seems...
The claim that a dark and heaving nightclub delivers the perfect breeding ground for Covid isn't particularly contentious. Lots of people packed tightly together, snogging, singing and shouting in a confined space with poor ventilation is perhaps the Department of Health's worst nightmare. Now, if you want to keep clubbing in Britain, the governmen...
Economic victory in a free trade world will always go to the strongest economy – and the disparity is growing. Against this a new concept has emerged: technology sovereignty. This recognises that IT infrastructure lies at the heart of a modern society. And it's about far more than access to broadband. Networked computers are not only essentia...
