The United Kingdom as a sandbox for state-directed investment – with a major increase in ‘shadow debt’, and in the ‘shadow taxation’ required to service that debt

Cover of our IREF report

Published on 26th October 2025

We have had a major report published by the Institute for Research in Economic and Fiscal Issues.

It is about the plans of the UK government to launch a decade-long programme of ‘investment’ in industry, infrastructure and Net Zero, greatly expanding the state’s role in the economy.

You can […]

Richard Tice of Reform UK is wrong: the Bank of England should not stop paying interest on financial institutions’ reserves

Headline of Daily Telegraph article on 25 September 2025

Published on 10th October 2025

Richard Tice of Reform UK recently argued, in a Daily Telegraph article entitled ‘I know a way to avoid tax rises at the next Budget’, that the Bank of England (BoE) should stop paying interest on its funding for its Quantitative Easing (QE) […]

Andy Burnham’s hopes dealt a body blow

Published on 26th September 2025

My letter published in the Daily Telegraph on 25th September 2025

That’s it: Andy Burnham’s chances of becoming Prime Minister are dead-in-the-water, thanks to this devastating verdict passed by a leading economic and political commentator.

One could also have mentioned that Burnham is as keen as most other Labour politicians to tax the […]

France’s woes are attributable to its lack of economic and monetary sovereignty

The ECB, which holds the monetary policy tools over the euro

Published on 13th September 2025

Introduction

France had its credit rating cut from AA- to A+ by the Fitch credit rating agency on 12th September 2025. This is not the disaster it may appear to be at first sight, because all the other four agencies approved by […]

Brexit will have saved us £100 billion towards the EU Budget for the period 2028-35

Headline in the Daily Express version

Published on 20 July 2025

Introduction

The European Commission has started the ball rolling on the setting of the EU Budget for its next seven-year period 2028-35, the so-called Multiannual Financial Framework or MFF. A big increase is proposed in the Commission’s first draft, and this has been met with the ritual […]

Conservative Party does not know what being in opposition means

Email recieved from Conservative Party on 26th June 2025

Published on 26th June 2025

The Conservative Party does not know what being in opposition means.

This is the conclusion to be drawn from the above email, sent by the Conservatives today to their members under the name of Mel Stride, the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer.

The subject is […]

‘Borrowing for investment’ – all the signs point to a debt-funded disaster

Picture from Global Britain blog

Published on 28th May 2025

This is the full version of the fourth paper in my Global Britain series on the UK’s public finances, entitled ‘Borrowing for investment’ – what signs we have of how this will manifest itself under the current Labour regime’.

You can download it through this link.

All indicators point […]

Labour’s ‘Borrowing for investment’ – think New Labour’s ‘Private Finance Initiative’ and InvestEU

Picture from Global Britain blog

Published on 28th May 2025

This is the full version of the third paper in my Global Britain series on the UK’s public finances, entitled ‘‘Borrowing for investment’ – what is meant by this statement in theoretical terms’.

Labour aims to engage in an orgy of borrowing but off-the-books, just like New Labour’s […]

The UK government’s day-to-costs are out of control, and no Spending Review is going to get them back on target

Picture from Global Britain blog

Published on 28th May 2025

This is the full version of the second paper in my Global Britain series on the UK’s public finances, entitled ‘The UK government’s budget for ‘day-to-day’ costs is out-of-control and deteriorating, and has no chance of being met by revenues by 2029’.

This balance is one of Labour […]

Starmer and Reeves want to spend and borrow more, and to keep the increase in both under wraps

Picture from Global Britain blog

Published on 28th May 2025

This is the full version of the first paper in my Global Britain series on the UK’s public finances, entitled ‘The structure of the UK’s public finances and the amount of the UK’s public debt’.

You can download it through this link.

A Spending Review is in progress – […]