The Chancellor and growth

Today in my lecture at 11 am at All Souls Ā College and on zoom I will set out a range of policies that could boost growth in the UK. I will not have time to discuss the current conflict within the UK government. Ā  between the pro growth Ministers and the Net Ā Zero Secretary.

The Bank of England response to the Chancellorā€™s call for Regulators to help with growth was interesting. The said if the government removed Ā the need for them to promote green investment and promote anti climate change policies and Ā loans the economy would grow faster. Through the PRA they regulate commercial banks and need currently to worry about the balances of lending vis a vis decarbonisation.

The PM and Chancellor have promised to speed up planning permissions for investments in everything from grid pylons to datacentres. Quite often delays and even refusals result from the ability Ā of environmental campaigners to object on net zero, wildlife and landscape grounds. They are thinking of limiting this.

Several airport expansion plans have been delayed or shelved under an environmental imperative. The Chancellor is reported as wishing to override these. The UK needs more international travel capacity to boost trade and investment as well as to grow the holiday business.

Will the government make these changes and tell Mr Miliband to live with that reality? Will President Ā Trumpā€™s priority for growth over net zero have any influence?

11 Comments

  1. Ian wragg
    January 24, 2025

    No matter what the PM or Chancellor say, any initiatives to speed up infrastructure projects will be subject to lawfare from the Climate Change blob
    The CCA and treacherous Mays legislation will ensure nothing worthwhile gets done and this will be enthusiastically cheered on by the left wing uniparty
    As they say, talk is cheap

    Reply
    1. Lifelogic
      January 24, 2025

      Indeed English Nature and other such bodies plus the lefty legal establishment. The delays will cost more than building the runways. Look at the Ā£100 million HS2 bat tunnel. Though HS2 was a mad project that should have been killed.

      Reply
      1. Lifelogic
        January 24, 2025

        Ā£100 million could have instead built about 1,000 three bed family homes for people rather than for a few rabies transmitting bats! Still it is all about government priorities! The houses might even have been built with bat friendly roof/attics perhaps.

        Reply
    2. David Andrews
      January 24, 2025

      True. The superstructure of laws, regulations and the quangos set up to administer and enforce them are intended to stymie all attempts to promote growth. They will need to be dismantled to achieve growth. As both Labour and Conservative governments were responsible for their creation it needs a disruptor party and PM, like Reform and Farage, to get rid of them. This what Trump intends in the USA and Milei is doing in Argentina.

      Reply
  2. agricola
    January 24, 2025

    You seem to suggest that government is in a state of confusion and chaos after their initial run out of mendacity. For sure a Chagosian silence has settled over foreign policy following the arrival of Donald. For sure their apologists on GBNews seem to have hunkered down to the idea that perhaps it is not working, and the people are thinking differently.

    By all means offer the All Souls solution, but I fear that government will opt for a slow destructive death rather than swallow the logical medecine. Question is, how many will they take with them in their road to hell in a handcart.

    Reply
  3. Bloke
    January 24, 2025

    Yes. Trumpā€™s likely fast and high achievement will show Rachel Reeves shrinking in value. She causes harm with no gain. Even if the UK massively cut its ā€˜contributionā€™ to green efforts around the world, no change would be perceptible vs the effects of what USA and China do.

    Reply
  4. Lifelogic
    January 24, 2025

    Several airport expansion plans have been delayed or shelved due to deluded net zero, scientifically ignorant hypocrites like Miliband, St Greta and King Charlie. Schiphol airport has six runways Heathrow our largest just two. The result is any minor issue with weather or other causes loads of delays and aircraft flying round in circles or waiting at the end of runways wasting fuel. We need at least on more runway at both of these airports and a high speed shuttle between the two to give a 5 runway hub airport.

    For growth, fire all the people in the private sector doing nothing useful or often doing positive harm with net zero, diversity and enforcing over the top red tape. Release then to do something productive rather than anti-productive. Cut and simplify taxes, ditch IHT completely and thus encourage rather than deter investment, relax and speed up planning, drill baby drill, cheap reliable energy, high skilled immigration only, have real deterrents to real crimesā€¦

    Reply
    1. Lifelogic
      January 24, 2025

      So anti-growth Reeves is doing a U turn. Plans to abolish non-dom status will be amended to allow a more generous phase out of tax benefits, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced. Too late dear many have left or will be leaving with their investments and jobs they create.

      The Con-socialists Sunak and daft as a brush, tax to death, Jeremy Hunt did it even before the idiotic anti-growth Reeves took over. All three lefty PPE Oxon economic vandals.

      Reply
  5. DOM
    January 24, 2025

    Well done on your performance on GB News last night

    Reply
  6. Lifelogic
    January 24, 2025

    For growth we need freedom of choice, a state sector of about 20% of GDP (not heading for 50%) doing only the very few things governments need to do. Law and order, defence, border controlā€¦ things they fail to do even with a huge state sector currently. Stop injecting people with net harm ineffective Covid Vaccines too.

    Free and fair competition in education, energy, healthcare, housingā€¦ between the private sector and the state sector. More people leaving school at 16 would be good too to learn practical skills on the job would rather than a worthless degree from the ex-poly of Bognor in media studies & human rights.

    Reply
  7. Lifelogic
    January 24, 2025

    Freedom of choice and no market rigging in cars, vans, heating systems, building constructionā€¦ too.

    Reply

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