By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter. Following George Osborne's Mansion House speech, and announcement of new bank lending programmes, several think-tanks and campaign groups have reacted to the news. The Institute of Economic Affairs' Editorial Director, Prof Philip Booth said: "The government has got itself into a terrible muddle over this crucial policy area. On the one hand, […]
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter. In a new report – After PFI - released yesterday by the Centre for Policy Studies, Jesse Norman MP has advocated the abolition of PFI, and its replacement with a new model of public sector procurement. Norman, the MP for Hereford and South Herefordshire, sits on the Treasury Select Committee, […]
Patrick Nolan is the Chief Economist at the pro-market think tank Reform. Its report, “Reformers not spenders,” is available here. In a foreword to Reform’s alternative Budget in June 2010 Paul Martin, the former Canadian Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, argued that Canada’s successful fiscal consolidation in the 1990s was based on clear fiscal […]
Ryan Bourne is the Economic and Statistical Researcher at the Centre for Policy Studies. You can follow him on Twitter here. The only certainty that seemed to stem from the financial crisis was that the UK banking system had to undergo a process of posthumous but very necessary regulatory reform. What was not clear from the […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter. Ben Gummer MP introduced his idea of a tax statement for every Briton in the Commons yesterday. You can read his full remarks here but it was largely a recap of what ConservativeHome has already reported. But Ben did add one further and very interesting new thought: "I further […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter. It's a simple idea – inspired by something proposed in the USA – but it's one that has apparently caught the imagination of George Osborne. Ben Gummer, Conservative MP for Ipswich, is proposing that every taxpayer in the country should received a statement explaining (a) what taxes they pay […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter Pasted below are some reactions of centre right thinkers to the Chancellor's statement on banking reform. Tim Ambler, Senior Fellow at the Adam Smith Institute, says: “The Chancellor may be rushing out his 80 page response to the Vickers report to get the Business Secretary off his back rather than […]
By Joseph Willits Follow Joseph on Twitter The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) has issued a warning to the Government, suggesting they maintain current plans to reduce the deficit, and resist any temptation to follow a 'Plan B'. Research published by the IEA draws on evidence from other Western governments' stimulus packages which have failed to resolve […]
By Joseph Willits Follow Joseph on Twitter In a statement to the Commons yesterday, immediately after PMQs, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander talked of a "generous offer" being made by the Government to reform public service pensions. Alexander said he had "decided to revise the government's offer after negotiations with the TUC, since early October, […]
JP Floru is the Director of Programmes at the Adam Smith Institute. Diageo, the world’s largest spirit maker, has announced that it will stop basing staff in the UK because of the 50p tax rate. CEO Paul Walsh explained that Diageo can pay its staff less in (for example) Singapore, where they only face 10% income […]
95this Britain's ranking in the World Economic Forum's tax competitiveness league table. We were 4th in the world at the end of the Major years. Twoformer Tory Chancellors have said that the 50p tax rate should be abolished; Lord Lawson has called it "very dangerous, very unwise, very foolish" to keep 50p tax band. Lord […]
Sam Bowman is Head of Research at the Adam Smith Institute. Nobody likes to shoot the messenger more than a politician. As Europe’s economies disintegrate, markets are often blamed for creating “volatility”, and are a convenient scapegoat for political failures. The EU-wide Tobin tax announced this week by Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy is intended […]
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter Unfortunately Tuesday's main business, the reading (and passing) of the Finance (No. 3) Bill, was more like a left-wing meeting than a proper debate. Labour MPs proposed various ways of taxing banks, including a "Robin Hood Tax" (a tax on financial transactions), and attacked the Coalition's bank levy as too […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter. As George Osborne struggles to bring Britain's budget deficit under control the TaxPayers' Alliance have identified four extra savings that the public would support: Matthew Sinclair, Director of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "The public support alternatives that would blunt the need for some particularly painful measures and make room […]