Time’s up!
This Wednesday (17th December), MEPs will vote on a proposal to end the UK’s opt-out from the EU’s Working Time Directive. If passed, the changes will make it illegal for workers to choose to work more...
View ArticleCommon Agricultural Policy: the cap on growth
By Scott Benson Last night’s Eurozone summit may have provided a plan to help solve the immediate sovereign debt crisis but the competitiveness of European industries still remains a cause for concern....
View ArticleClik here to view.
British manufacturers that offshored to China stung by rising labour costs
Many offshored British manufacturers are realising that they are better off in Britain than in China, according to a new Civitas report. In The Boomerang Economy, David Merlin-Jones examines the...
View ArticleEU budget deal agreed
After 24 gruelling hours of negotiating last Friday, EU leaders finally agreed on a budget for 2014-2020. The collapse of talks last November raised concerns about whether an agreement could be...
View ArticleGeorge Osborne’s Budget: a lost opportunity on infrastructure
The Chancellor has committed only £3 billion to extra infrastructure spending in today’s budget, falling well short of the £40 billion, for example, that the CBI has advocated. Companies are sitting on...
View ArticleClik here to view.
As Ukip surges, coalition health policy shifts
Much ink has already been expended on last Thursday’s local elections and the strong performance by UKIP. Achieving a Projected National Share of 23% of the vote (though not literally 23% of the vote...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Government over-reliant on EDF for nuclear energy
£110bn worth of energy investments required to keep the lights on. Europe’s most challenging decarbonisation target. All coal plants being decommissioned by 2016. Only one of nine nuclear plants...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How stamp duty stamps out the labour market
Stamp duty from residential property provided £4.22 billion for the Exchequer in 2011/12. That is only two thirds of the pre-crash peak and is similar to levels seen in 2004. The regional picture is...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A healthy economy needs a dynamic manufacturing sector
Previously, I blogged on the importance of manufacturing’s contribution to GDP. I argued that the small size of manufacturing’s GDP contribution relative to that of services is actually a sign of the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Whatever happened to full employment?
Speaking at a Tory rally in Bedford in 1957, Prime Minister Harold Macmillan very confidently announced that ‘most of our people have never had it so good’. He went on to say, ‘go around the country,...
View Article
