When we left the EU our per capita GDP was $41,124 , a useful one fifth higher than the EU average and 8% above the Eurozone average.
We were well behind the clusterĀ of smaller non EU countries of western Europe who have adopted different economic models that served them well.
Switzerland at $86,601 and Norway at $67,389 are the largest and well above our levels and higher than the USA at $63,413. The Channel Islands, Greenland, Iceland and the Isle of Man are also well above.
Luxembourg and the Republic of Ireland have managed high gdp per capita within the EU by defying its dislike of lower taxes and setting themselves up as corporate tax havens. This has attracted substantial investment by large foreign companies, and head offices to book business legallyĀ through a low tax jurisdiction.
The Norway model rests heavily on large exports of oil and gas, with the country investing tax on this activity in a sovereign wealth fund. This fund now owns an impressive $1.4 trillion of assets on behalf of the Norwegian people. Norway has attracted substantial investment in reliable renewable power in the form of hydro for most of its own energy neds. Hydro power producesĀ 95% of it electricity and 63% of its total energy. It has allowed the country to establishĀ a large investment in heavy energy using industry, including aluminium production.
The Swiss model has rested on building commercial success in pharmaceuticals and chemicals, watch and jewellery design and fabrication and banking. Switzerland produces most of its Ā electricity from hydro and nuclear, but imports a lot of oil and gas for other energy needs.
These countries demonstrate the huge opportunities for a smaller nimble country outside the EU bloc. Lower tax rates are central to most of the success stories, though Norway has done well by exploiting her advantages in energy. The UK should copy parts of both these strategies to get incomes per head closer to these achievements.
December 27, 2021
Everyone sensible surely knows that to increase living standards you need cheap reliable on demand energy, low simple taxes, small government, real freedoms, fair competition and choice (especially in health care and education), far less regulation, relaxed and faster planning, no net zero insanity, no pointless/counter productive lockdowns or warsā¦ Everyone except Boris, Sunak, Carrie, Lord Debden, Kwatang, Greg Hands & most of this dire deluded cabinet that is.
December 27, 2021
Tim Stanley today – In 2021, the Tories surrendered the country to the medical-socialist state
The only way out is for the Government finally to govern like conservatives, but my hopes are fading
Indeed even Thatcher failed to tackle the dire state virtual monopolies at the NHS and Education.
December 27, 2021
LL. +1
December 27, 2021
The Swiss and Norwegian models also rest to a fair degree on not paying the Americans billions each year to maintain nuclear weapons on their soil, as the UK does, which could only ever be used as and when directed by them anyway.
It’s a Protection Racket, plain and simple.
They are both in the SM and CU – in practice if not technically – too.
December 27, 2021
Your comments on nuclear weapons show that you have no knowledge of the subject.
December 27, 2021
And his comment about Switzerland and Norway both being in the EU Customs Union “in practice” shows that he also has no knowledge of that subject.
December 27, 2021
Rubbish NHL
Our whole nuclear defence programme only costs Ā£5 billion a year.
To give a context our national GDP is 1.96 trillion.
The Swiss and Norway economic success does not “rest to fair degree” on that relatively small sum.
December 27, 2021
I think he was talking about GDP (a rubbish measure anyway) not profit and loss, so your comment is pointless.
December 27, 2021
Neither is in the CU. Both are in the SM and Schengen. Because the politicians betrayed the popular vote.
December 27, 2021
The UK spends 2.3% of GDP on NATO.
That is far, far more than 2.3% of taxation revenues.
December 27, 2021
Moved onto NATO now I see NHL
Now your CND post has been rubbished.
The UK is a major member of NATO and pays more than our fair share.
Shame many EU member nations do not.
December 27, 2021
UK always seem very keen to pay billions into various world organisations, foreign aid etc., but not so keen to improve the miserable state pension.
December 27, 2021
Peters2
Indeed Trump pointed this out to many EU Countries a couple of years ago, they were getting America protection on the cheap, and then paid the Soviet Union money for energy.
Talk about cake and eat it !
December 27, 2021
a little wiser than spending on UN?
December 27, 2021
You mean on ‘Defence’, don’t you?
December 27, 2021
Sixty percent of Norway’s exports go into the EU under EEA/EU agreement, it pays an access fee to the EU. Switzerland is 99% in the EU via over a hundred bilateral agreements including free movement, it also pays an access fee. Data miners tell me if Switzerland actually became an EU member, the Swiss population wouldn’t notice any difference.
December 28, 2021
Yes, it’s interesting to speculate, as to the basis on which Sir John implicitly claims to be able to unpick the effects of their taxation laws from their near-complete immersion in that context, isn’t it?
December 27, 2021
Of course your right but we have a left wing government wedded to tax waste and spend especially in so called green projects.
DRAX is the ultimate demonstration of government stupidity felling trees, shipping them half way across the world and burning them creating GOOD CO2. Ā£4 billion annual subsidy.
December 27, 2021
Burning millions of tons of wood, whilst wanting to ban log burners even in rural areas where no gas pipes reach and many who actually know how to handle them and rely on them. Allowing people in smokeless zones to have them was a folly, just like the ‘Chelsea Tractor’ syndrome, just so fashionable types in Islington can pretend they are Tom Good. Usual city and surburban mentality of know nothing and want to know nothing politicians who have no idea how their constituents live.
December 27, 2021
“Burning millions of tons of wood,”
Even Sir John called this carbon neutral. Hmmm.
Reply I said it was accounted in that way by the CO2 rules
December 27, 2021
REPLY TO REPLY …which are nonsense.
December 27, 2021
Just young coal really – worse in fact in CO2 per MWH terms.
January 4, 2022
Young coal ? Just have to wait for proper conditions to turn it into peat then some millions of years under compression to be transformed into coal.
And this BS comes from a Natural Science Tripos graduate!
December 27, 2021
I see the latest scam for the NHS is telling volunteers and retired GPS they can’t give booster jabs as they are not trained. This despite having successfully worked in the past. Coyld6this be the NHS insisting on only using nurses be so they can plead staff shortage in hospitals to get more lockdown.
December 27, 2021
My mum at 85 used to inject my dad twice a day with insulin, after a five minute explanation. Why waste doctors doing it?
December 27, 2021
Seems they have to do the ‘diversity training’ first. Total nonsense of course and typical of managers with nothing much to do.
December 27, 2021
+1
December 27, 2021
LL
+1
Perfect summation.
December 27, 2021
Lifelogic :
Agreed.
We also need freedom of thought and speech and meritocracy underpinned by a fair and rigorous examination system.
No cancel anti-culture and no forced diversity, a Marxist device hatched to stamp out meritocracy, one of the enlightened Westās most powerful tools for equality and prosperity.
December 27, 2021
Jeremy Hunt says – Voters wonāt forgive their tax hike being wasted – well Jeremy if spent by the NHS it almost certainly will be wonāt it. So idiotic are they they are using GPs to do vaccinations. Why did you not sort out the NHS monopoly in you 4+ years as health Sec. Jeremy?
We are paying for politiciansā capitulation on fracking – we sure are?
Matthew Lynn in the Telegraph.
December 27, 2021
Why did he not sort out the NHS? Because they thought (and still do by the looks of the latest messing around with it) that the re-organisation in 2012 was genius. All part of the planto reduce it to uselessness so it can be privatised, nothing to do with giving good care to the paying public.
December 27, 2021
After 11.5 years in office they’ve done nothing to solve health tourism either.
December 27, 2021
I disagree, this government has solved it, by ignoring the issue and allowing foreign nations use our taxpayer funded NHS for freeā¦.who are the fools; Iāve got to have insurance for all the countries of the world I visitā¦.lets face it you donāt even need a passport to enter the UK
December 27, 2021
Both my wife and I have been texted today almost insisting that we should book a ‘Covid-19 vaccine or booster’ -see website for details (what website!).
We both went to our NHS app and sure enough our booster are there.
Joined up – NOT !
December 27, 2021
Same here, we had our jabs 3 weeks
December 27, 2021
I’ve had the same texts from the NHS and my surgery for weeks. I had my booster in November and I have my pasport on my phone.
December 28, 2021
Grow up.
December 27, 2021
University education does little for school leaversā job prospects, says Lord Young. Former employment secretary ādismayedā at how expansion of higher education sector has led to degrees being ādevaluedā (Telegraph)
Thank goodness someone is finally saying this. Even when they do earn a little more the university degree is rarely the reason for it, they were probably just brighter and keener to get on at the outset. Plus they end up with a large student debt and loss of three+ years earnings.
Having said this the contacts made at a decent university can be quite useful, good for finding wives, partners and husbands or investors, jobs, advice, employees, which surgeon or consultant is competent for you conditionā¦
December 27, 2021
After Blairs decision to get 50% of school leavers into university, the number of jobs available to graduates was insufficient, so the ‘powers that be’ decided to make more jobs reliant upon degrees, that had never needed degrees before. This, in turn, led to the graduates in those jobs demanding higher pay , better public funded pensions and other perks, and quicker promotion, which in turn increased the civil service and public employee bills exponentially.
Talk about putting the cart before the horse! Just another example of politicians being unable to see the long term consequences of their actions.
December 27, 2021
Like policing – made a graduate profession by May. In 2022, the Home Secretary needs to terminate the police graduate programmes. Constables don’t need it – they need to be able to run fast and put knifeists into a court via hospital – and the higher ranks can be ‘trained’ rather than ‘educated’.
December 27, 2021
Scrap the appalling College of Policing and the appalling recording of ānon crime hate incidentsā too. What is hot air only Priti doing about this?
December 27, 2021
Goodness three of your usual obsessions already. Skiing getting boring?
December 27, 2021
Nig 1,
Five in a row.
And he has not even mentioned PPE graduates yet.
December 27, 2021
Since you mention PPE, the NHS has been run by PPE chaps Hunt, Hancock, Simon Stevens for years and they certainly have failed to get it remotely into shape – the new CEO is a history grad who has alas already shown herself to be innumerate on Covid numbers. Though much is made of her being a woman for some daft reason. I would prefer a numerate, medic of either sex but with some real world experience of running efficient businesses and (not NHS) hospitals myself.
December 27, 2021
Pity PPE was not available when needed (a joke for the hard of humour, no need to tell me what it means)
December 27, 2021
I am back. Skiing was wonderful, lots of sun, snow and excellent Italian food and I can still ski well enough (despite my age and the two year gap). Worth it despite the state oppression – three tests needed and three flight tracker apps, green passes (and having to check in 3 hours before take off)!
December 27, 2021
Yet another good article from Sir John. This government is aiming to impoverish the UK, and hand all the power (please excuse the pun) to foreign powers. Just as this government rolls out the red carpet for illegal immigrants, it also rolls out the red carpet for foreign powers to buy (take) all our assets, especially essential services, in exchange for future control of the UK.
I really cannot understand the stupidity of this government. They can’t all be idiots, so the only explanation can be one of malicious intent, or fear of crossing the ‘party line’. We need more Sir Johns! A lot more, but we need them to shout louder and longer. The Conservative party, and the UK, may just be saved if this should happen.
December 27, 2021
I am informed that this government has just granted 60,000 work visa to any foreigner who wishes to come here and work in the care industry. This is to replace those that the Health Secretary has just forced out due to his COVID policies.
December 27, 2021
Indeed. Rank stupidity is the norm with this Government. Any deportations with the 4* crews from Dover…………….?? thought not.
December 27, 2021
+1
And they sneaked it through on Christmas Eve apparently.
Would there have been a vote on it?
December 27, 2021
Shirley M
All good inward investment we are told but at the cost of profits and control.
All well and good if the balance of outward investment exceeds inward in an ideal world.
Control of basic infrastructures should remain however inefficient relatively.
December 27, 2021
Sir JR,
Interesting analysis the model also fits well with high tax countries such as Denmark, Sweden and Holland who are as well members of the EU, but they like NOrway onthe other hand are high tax countries.
This also has something to do with training and higher levels of educaiton , which we unfortuantely have not been very good at developing tn the UK, so lwoeer taxes is unfortuantely not enough, although the theory sounds good
December 27, 2021
Our Government is only good for green agenda own goals, mass immigration, high taxes and socialist state. It is NOT CONSERVATIVE in any shape or form!
December 27, 2021
Thank you SJR. A very well constructed argument for a major change of direction for a massive boost to the economy and income but I am filled with pessimism and despair at us ever taking even a small step in that direction with this PM and Govt.
We have the resources of coal and gas but refuse to use them because policy is driven by belief in completely false religion of ‘Climate Change’.
We have already been bankrupted with the insane approach to Covid, locking up the healthy to protect the sick. Now even worse to come with greencr*p and zero Carbon.
December 27, 2021
You make powerful points about the benefits of lower taxes. The problem for the UK, shared by most of Europe, is the fact that it has saddled itself with a combination of high energy costs and high social security costs. The portion invested in the NHS appears to be growing beyond control and now threatens to destroy the economic activity on which it depends. The Johnson governments non responses to these issues suggest they do not even begin to understand them let alone look for solutions.
December 27, 2021
+10
December 27, 2021
Good morning.
One of the other reasons why these countries do so well is because they have high calibre administrators. The politicians know that they must make sure that those who work within the State are performing as there is no one else to blame.
For nearly half a century our political class and establishment have, and continue to do so, sub contract out their responsibilities. This has allowed both the lazy and ineffectual to flourish whilst those who are less well connected but are far more competent are pushed back.
We need to change the system. We need to seperate the Legislature from the Executive, with the Executive having its own admin staff to complement the Civil Service. There would be far better government scrutiny and the administrators employed in the Executive would be of a far better calibre as they would not be seen by a PM as a possible rival and replacement. It would therefore have the effect of making those in charge work for the UK and its interests rather than those of a particular party.
December 27, 2021
Norway and Switzerland have real access to the EU’s single market, just like the 11 eleven European countries ranking higher than the UK (no 22) on the World GDP per capita Ranking 2021.The UK might focus on becoming less “anti EU”.
Reply Scraping the barrel there! They are richer because they pursue better tax, energy and business policies than the EU
December 27, 2021
Sounds like a very solid argument for joining the SM and CU, if it doesn’t prevent them from doing that then, doesn’t it, Sir John?
December 27, 2021
We’ve had that argument and you…….lost. Get over it.
December 27, 2021
There has been no public consultation as to the post-brexit relationship with the European Union.
If there ever were, then polls say that you would suffer a thumping defeat, sunbeam.
December 27, 2021
Remainers would hardly be likely to add anything sensible to the debate, so they would need to be excluded from the public consultation, wouldn’t they?
December 28, 2021
EVIDENCE? You are daydreaming again.
December 27, 2021
Whoād have thought? Less than a year into the Brexit mess and Mr Redwood of all people is telling us how wonderful life is for Norway inside Margaret Thatcherās single market! Perhaps we should join?
Reply The single market is not part of the Norway success.
December 27, 2021
Sir John I really don’t know why you bother to reason with ill-informed stupid.
December 27, 2021
Sir JR
What is that statement on the single market for Norway based on. Do statistics exist?
December 27, 2021
Then the UK would need to comply with EU rules, directives and regulations.
No really independent nation would want to do that.
And despite not being in the SM/CU the biggest traders with Europe are China, America, South Korea and India.
None are in the EU nor its SM/ CU
December 27, 2021
Sir John is selling these two nations as examples to follow though, Pete.
Either we do or we don’t.
Do you agree or disagree with our host?
reply No I am selling those policies they have adopted which I think work best.
December 27, 2021
What a strange logic from you NHL
I mentioned four nations that trade successfully with Europe without SM/CU membership.
Examples which show you dont need what you claim is required to trade successfully with the EU.
December 27, 2021
The figures quoted above refer to when we were in the single market and being pillaged by the 11 EU countries ranking above us Peter.
Merry Christmas btw
December 27, 2021
We have a low GDP per capita because we have had open borders.
December 27, 2021
To say āopen bordersā would suggest that theyāre managed in some wayā¦we have no borders
December 27, 2021
The UK tax system pushes the wealthy and hard working abroad and deters the from wealthy coming. It also gives UK businesses less to reinvest & expand and less incentives to do so.
December 27, 2021
British governments don’t care one jot about the balance of payments. If they did, they would have taken firm action to prevent ‘cash-cow’ utilities, airports and the like, being snapped-up by foreign businesses and pension funds. We need a lot more ‘economic nationalism’ on display next year.
P.S. What would be our GDP if we hadn’t subsidised the EU for nearly five decades?
December 27, 2021
Well, California subsidises all but twelve of the US’s fifty states.
Seems to do OK GSP-wise, wouldn’t you say?
December 28, 2021
we have our own version -we subsidise Scotland, Wales and N.I. – AND for many years to come we will be subsidising EU.
December 27, 2021
The UK like a car engine needs a full rebuild before we start tuning it up
December 27, 2021
It’s a pity, that someone put valve grinding paste into the sump with brexit though, isn’t it?
December 27, 2021
It is really Great Britain that you write about in your last paragraph, JR, not the whole of the United Kingdom. Part of which notional realm still awaits full liberation from anti-democratic EU domination. I was thinking that we could tie Boris Johnson onto his horse and send him into battle like El Cid.
December 27, 2021
Poor Denis. Didnāt you vote for the deal that put a border down the Irish Sea?
December 27, 2021
No, as I have said before on at least one occasion.
https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2019/11/15/my-views/#comment-1071048
December 27, 2021
It is the EU which has put a border down the Irish Sea.
December 28, 2021
Barbara
“There will be no border down the Irish Sea” we were told.
December 27, 2021
What small minded crap you write Andy. I’ll put it in term even you might understand. The diner(electorate) decides he wants Christmas Pudding (Brexit). Chef Boris and all his commi chefs choose the recipe (The BrexitAgreement). If the recipe contains minced chicken ( a border in the Irish Sea and many other rogue items), and the electorate do not like the pudding, the fault in this case is the chefs not the electorate as a whole or Denis’s in particular. Try directing your argumentative skills to the source of the problem as opposed to the first name you meet in the playground.
December 27, 2021
The source of the problem is Brexit. Which I now mostly find very funny.
December 27, 2021
The source of the problem lies with remainers who cannot reconcile themselves to Brexit.
December 28, 2021
Whinge, laugh, whinge, laugh….sounds like a problem encountered a lot in closed Institutions.
December 27, 2021
I’ve just seen a tweet from Liz Truss. She has referred to her country as ‘GB’. It’s a sad state of affairs when the Foreign Secretary doesn’t know which country she is representing. Having proved that, despite being a woman, she can’t multi-task, perhaps she should give up the Equalities brief – and then take a good, hard look at her passport.
December 27, 2021
I’ve just sent a helpful letter to her, or at least in her direction even if it does not actually reach her.
It starts by referring to the first sentence in this article:
https://www.standard.co.uk/insider/liz-truss-profile-background-brexit-northern-ireland-b973558.html
and continues:
“… my immediate reaction was that I would like to help you oust the Great Charlatan from Downing Street, and so I would be especially happy to point you in the direction of a straightforward solution to that “conundrum” which was first suggested to Theresa May nearly four years ago and which was published here:
https://www.maidenhead-advertiser.co.uk/news/letters-to-the-editor/128146/easy-solution-to-eu-border-conundrum.html
āEasy solution to EU border conundrumā.
December 27, 2021
I fear that the Tory parliamentary party will vote in another āremainā PM, and hey-presto weāre back to square one ā this country will never be settled until it returns a āleaveā PM to fit with the majority of wishes of the voting public
December 28, 2021
They don’t want to be “liberated” thanks, Denis.
NI is booming, thanks to its privileged status in the SM and CU.
The nEurotics want to hide that simple fact, naturally.
January 1, 2022
https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/opinion/columnists/economist-leo-varadkar-is-wrong-to-say-northern-ireland-has-benefited-from-the-protocol-3511863
“Economist: Leo Varadkar is wrong to say Northern Ireland has benefited from the protocol”
“He may have been misled by a Financial Times article stating that official data showed that GDP in NI had grown faster than the rest of the UK between the final quarter of 2019 and the third quarter of 2021.”
“… the FT article did not point out that NIās good performance occurred in 2020 rather than in 2021 after the protocol came into force. If we focus on performance in the period during which the protocol has operated, ie. during 2021, the data does not support Mr Varadkarās conclusion.”
“Since the protocol came into force, the evidence from official statistics is that economic growth in NI has been one of slowest of any UK region.”
December 27, 2021
So our GDP is outperforming the EU average. But do those other countries include prostitution and drug dealing in their GDP, as I believe we have done for a few years now?
Reply Yes
December 27, 2021
Well, there’s interesting.
Since the UK has about twice the European Union pro-rata crime rate, I wonder what that, overall, contributes to GDP, since we include those two?
December 27, 2021
A lot of that crime imported from………..your new and recently joined EU states!
December 27, 2021
Without more, if the UK population were wholly exchanged for Continentals, then its crime rate would be halved.
December 27, 2021
give me strength… St Romania, St Bulgaria…..
December 27, 2021
Romania, has a population about 20 million, Bulgaria around 8 million, out of 400 million for the European Union.
Incidentally, the prison population of the UK mirrors the outside one, in terms of UK-raised v. from abroad.
However, although only one-in-six people outside prison smoke, about 90% of those inside do.
That tells us that we should watch smokers FAR more carefully than we do foreigners, and that employers might wish to consider that fact too.
December 27, 2021
I think you are confusing cause and correlation.
Is cigarette smoking the cause of their imprisonment – or could it be the other way around?
December 28, 2021
Neither in general, Matt.
However, what causes people to become criminals and also to smoke may be related or even the same thing.
So you should watch smokers more carefully than you do foreigners, if it is potential criminality which preoccupies you.
December 27, 2021
any possibility we actually record crime, they don’t bother?
December 27, 2021
NLH – sometimes you are so naive I could weep for you!
December 27, 2021
I don’t see any references in this article to slashing politicised State spending and extensive reform of Labour’s now all-powerful politicised public sector without which John’s recommendations will simply add to the nation’s stock of debt. Where’s the logic in John’s recommendations?
The Tory party is fearful. It knows it now cannot reform the out of control public sector so it cowers away and passes on the cost of these Marxist lunatics to the people. That cost comes in many destructive forms.
We are all on an almost daily basis faced with one simple fiscal equation. Income MUST equal expenditure and vice versa. It is that simple. It is no more complicated than that. Forget fancy political ideas and references to ‘economic models’ and such like. This fundamental truth displeases political operators. Deviation away from this truth destroys the fiscal integrity of a nation.
It is my belief that those now in charge are acting in a manner that is criminally negligent and to put it mildly, they genuinely couldn’t give a toss
reply I have made many suggestions to save public spending. Today on twitter I am following up yesterdays article with pleas to produce more domestic energy to cut energy subsidies.
December 27, 2021
+many
They are criminally implementing a terrible agenda of destruction.
Surely, if in any way genuine Johnson would have delivered a really good Brexit?
And he would have faced a pandemic in a sensible way.
December 27, 2021
As was said yesterday, all the ingredients are there for the UK to do the same if not better. We just need a government that thinks and facilitates the same. When will realisation dawn in Downing Street.
December 27, 2021
When there’s a change in management.
December 27, 2021
+1
December 27, 2021
Perhaps the ‘Under New Management’ team will be away studying navel for a few years?
December 27, 2021
I have been commenting on this site for many months that we should have hydro power and fracking but our government put all the resources into wind and solar alongside expensive gas bought from Russia which will not supply us with good affordable energy over a full 12 month period.When will they ever learn?I suggest never.
December 27, 2021
It’s not just the total GDP per capita that we need to look at, it is also how that GDP per capita is actual distributed.
We delight in letting the top earners hoard further riches while paying out ever increasing sums to the lower end (and recent arrivals) in benefits.
Those in the middle are left to cope with the increasing costs with no additional income. The economics of survival is no fun and makes life a drudge Sir John.
Your party has made life a drudge for masses.
December 28, 2021
Your last line was always the aim of the Tories.
When people are living hand-to-mouth they have no time or energy to devote to organising themselves and to improving their standing generally.
December 28, 2021
rubbish. Sounds like a personal chip on shoulder reaction?
December 27, 2021
All very well but Norway is a village, it has about five million people, clinging to the coast
It has a good line on hypocrisy, claiming to be green and clean whilst running its small economy on fossil fuels. It is a very expensive country, which wipes out a lot of the gains, the hypocrites often shop in neighbouring Sweden.
The village analogy applies to its often authoritarian politics
December 27, 2021
Norway built its revenues from oil and gas mainly before the global consensus as to phasing them out as a prime energy source was reached.
December 27, 2021
it wasn’t especially ‘smart thinking’ it was mostly ‘bleedin’ obvious’ that coal was running out for most countries, oil pricing a cartel that could start inflation at a whim.
Remember Scotland’s offshore bonanze pissed at the wall. Not smart.
December 27, 2021
Your Brexit does not make us like Norway or Switzerland. It makes us like North Korea. Cut off from reality and led by an over-weight weirdo.
Norway is not in the EU but it is in the European Single Market (you know, the one Margaret Thatcher created). This -unlike Brexit – significantly limits the amount of bureaucracy in trade between Norway and EU countries. Norway is also a part of Schengen allowing free movement of workers between it and EU countries. Most Norwegians think their arrangement is substandard because they get a negligible say over new European rules which affect them.
Switzerland is also in Schengen and also allows free movement. (But obviously not to Britons anymore). And it also participates in many areas of Margaret Thatcherās single market – although it is technically not a member of it. Its relationship with the EU is dealt with by via of hundreds of bilateral deals which nobody likes. The queues of lorries at Swiss border crossings and the two sides constantly sniping at each other show you what is wrong with their relationship with the EU.
During their epic 40 year tantrum against the EU and its predecessors you would have thought the Brexitists would have worked out a better model for a relationship with the EU that would work better for them. They didnāt. They just whinged a lot without coming up with a sensible alternative. This might explain why their Brexit is such a complete and utter mess.
Reply No comment on Channel Islands, Isle of Man and Greenland. The power of lower taxes.
December 27, 2021
Both Norway and Switzerland held referenda on membership of the EU / EEA respectively, in the 90s. As in the U.K., the political, business and media establishment was solidly for the EU/EEA. Both publics voted by a narrow margin for greater independence – sort of mini-brexits. Both countries are now amongst the most prosperous in the world. Switzerland is Europeās strongest economy measured across a broad set of criteria. And in both countries support for EU membership has collapsed – its as low as 10% in recent polls.
Why do you think that could be?
December 27, 2021
I really wouldn’t waste time responding to Andy (or a couple of the other EU fanatics who post here). EVERYTHING he says is a LIE.
December 27, 2021
On Covid Andy and his chums compare us with Singapore and South Korea and say how much better they are than us. Not when it comes to economic policy though for some reason !
December 27, 2021
So how much do you think membership of the EU Single Market might be worth?
https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2021/05/23/some-questions-for-the-bbc/#comment-1230928
“Please do reveal your numerical estimate for the previous value of the EU Single Market to the UK economy.
To help you along, according to Michel Barnier the average benefit across all of the EU was about 2% of GDP, but others pointed out that the benefit was not evenly distributed and for the UK it was only about 1%.
The odd thing is that when he was appointed as the EUās chief Brexit negotiator it was well known that in a previous role he had produced this measly estimate, but nobody on the UK side ever said anything about it.”
https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2021/05/23/some-questions-for-the-bbc/#comment-1231050
“Well, his report is here … ”
Why is it necessary to keep saying the same things over and over again?
December 27, 2021
It is not Mrs Thatcher’s single market. She would have wanted a free market based on trusted trading and mutual recognition, which is what we should still have with the EU. The EU SM is a protection racket, designed to protect French agriculture and German manufacturing. Together with the single currency, it disadvantages the other countries, and has enabled a political power grab over all the countries of the EU by the Commission. It has also shut out Africa in a most cruel way, pretending that “Aid”, paid for mostly by the British, will make up for that.
December 28, 2021
‘paid for mostly by the British, will make up for that.’
And America which they also despise…
December 27, 2021
The power of suspect money pouring in, I think Sir John would better have said.
December 27, 2021
If you have proof of wrongdoing you should report your fears to the authorities.
Assuming it isnt just another of your baseless smears NHL?
December 27, 2021
As the BBC reported:
A new list of corporate tax havens has named Jersey as the seventh most “aggressive” in the world.
The Tax Justice Network created the ranking by assigning a “haven score” based on 20 different criteria.
Both Jersey and Guernsey scored 98 out of a possible 100, putting them “up there with the worst”.
The top three are the British Virgin Islands, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands, with Guernsey in 15th place and the Isle of Man in 17th.
Jersey was higher than Guernsey because of a larger volume of foreign direct investment.
So who knows?
December 27, 2021
Jersey and Guernsey and the others you list do nothing illegal.
They are independent territories that democratically decide to set their own taxation rates.
“Worst” you say NHL
I would say they are very successful places.
But then you like China.
We can’t have competition can we?
December 27, 2021
No, they make their own laws to legalise what they want to do.
Just like Traffic Of Influence would have put several eminent Tories in prison in countries with better laws, but not here.
The public have rumbled this now, with Labour having 8-12% leads in the polls.
December 28, 2021
Off on an irrelevant tangent NHL after your first post is rubbished.
Must be difficult to keep up the quality with over 40 posts a day from you.
Maybe a few less but better quality.
Or take up a new hobby to fill your days better.
December 28, 2021
‘they’ making laws? What! The people have nothing to do with making laws or choosing them. You don’t want to talk about dictators unless they are western origin.
Still wearing Scargill’s cap?
December 28, 2021
Like to Switzerland you mean?
December 27, 2021
Andy : “Most Norwegians think their arrangement is substandard because they get a negligible say over new European rules which affect them.”
According to Wikipedia :
“Norway had considered joining both the EEC and the European Union, but opted to decline following referendums in 1972 and 1994. According to the European Social Survey conducted in 2018, 73.6% of Norwegians would vote ‘No’ in a Referendum to join the European Union.”
December 27, 2021
So the Norwegians are cakeists too then?
However, not quite as daft ones as others.
December 27, 2021
Huge congratulations again to Boris Johnson and the U.K. government for pursuing the independent vaccine policy, especially with pressing ahead with giving the excellent and altruistic Oxford Astra Zeneca vaccine to the vulnerable early.
This policy is now reckoned by experts to account for the UKs current lower death rate from covid – 1.7 per million per day versus 4 per million in the EU. Perhaps those who were so shrill in their condemnation of the independent vaccine policy, and who parroted the anti-vaxx drivel of EU figures such as macron and von der Leyen could post a note of humble apology?
December 27, 2021
And yet we are paying for the over priced and experimental Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for the booster – is this just using up excess stock have ordered them?
I was unable to get an AZ vaccine as a booster which disappointed me from a taxpayer and efficacy perspective.
December 27, 2021
I have refused – and will continue to refuse – a ‘booster’ (I am doubled vaxxed) until I am offered an AZ jab. I don’t want the stupid, over-priced US vaccines when we have a BETTER and CHEAPER UK-made alternative available. It has been shown that the AZ vaccine provides a far better T-cell response than the US RNA vaccines, and it is this T-cell protection which is most effective, especially in the long term. The government should be focusing and investing more in UK-made vaccines and treatments, and not importing filthy foreign rubbish. British is ALWAYS better!
December 27, 2021
And thanks to this great vaccination success that you praise to the skies, Richard1, Johnson will be announcing no more Covid restrictions today? Let’s see.
December 27, 2021
He ought not to be I agree.
December 27, 2021
The AZ gene therapy ā vaccineā which has been banned in 18 countries, due to fear of blood clots? That AZ product?
December 27, 2021
You ought not to be repeating this EU-inspired, unscientific & anti-vaxx drivel.
December 27, 2021
That’s the one Barbara. I had it, and was certainly glad of it rather than nothing, however.
The risks, although small, are not insignificant, and I see why some countries have abandoned it.
December 27, 2021
Being designed in Oxford, England had nothing whatsoever to do with it!
December 28, 2021
You really have got this victimhood addiction badly, haven’t you?
December 28, 2021
credit where it is due Martin. But then you don’t do honesty do you!
December 28, 2021
Since it was one of the first and in record time it was a great achievement, for which I for one was very grateful.
But facts must be faced.
Others are safer.
Given the choice, why blame others for preferring them?
My booster was Pfizer, incidentally, and I’m not sure how much AZ the UK still uses TBH.
December 27, 2021
I don’t think the AZ vaccine was intended as a gene therapy as the spike is incorporated into an adenovirus, unlike the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines; however, all these vaccines are subject to emergency authorisation bypassing the normal processes of validations for safety or effectiveness. That being the case, the fact that the know-nothing Arts graduates in power are badgering the population to “get the booster” is disgraceful. People are entitled to informed consent in relation to any medical intervention and when that intervention is based on vaccines which have not been tested thoroughly, they are not in a position to give that.
I have just watched a long presentation by an American heart specialist who claims that Covid-19
is perfectly treatable with existing medications but that the authorities where determined to prevent their use and penalised medics who used them. The only reason that that would be so, was in order to achieve the emergency authorisation of the vaccines which could not take place if there were no other effective treatments available.
Large corporations are powerful and can easily gull scientifically illiterate politicians in order to create wealth for their shareholders.
December 27, 2021
It is amusing that you think the Tory response to Covid has been anything other than a total car crash.
December 28, 2021
It’s striking that they single out NZ as the antithesis of their idea of the “correct approach” too.
Now, that really does tell us something.
For me, it is that they are raving lunatics.
December 28, 2021
Lunacy does have a high rate amongst the drug taking people of NZ. One in every six New Zealand adults (16.8%) had used drugs for recreational purposes. Illicit drug use in New Zealand is characterized by high prevalence rates, notably for cannabis and amphetamines type stimulants. Considering most only have sheep for company, it is a sad habit.
December 28, 2021
Check the ONS figures for drug use in the UK.
NZ has a lesser problem on my reading.
December 28, 2021
Who says New Zealand had the wrong approach NHL
You making things up yet again?
December 27, 2021
“UKs current lower death rate from covid ā 1.7 per million per day”
Are those the figures for death fro Covid or death with Covid? I assume the latter.
I note that certain scientists are urging the UK to count patients in Mental institutions who test positive for Covid to be included in the statistics as covid hospitalisations. I wonder why that might be?
December 27, 2021
When you have a sluggish British establishment whose heads are firmly wedged up their classics, who don’t care a thing for our industrial base you have to begin there with the changes if you want to have a nimbler country ready to exploit technological developments .
When you think about it, is there another Governing class anywhere in the world, or through history, that has waved goodbye into foreign hands so much of the inventiveness and achievements of its people ? Labour gave the Russians our jet engine technology, we were the first to have nuclear power, but now buying French and Chinese nuclear power plants, we were the only ones to develop VTOL aircraft, but now buying American VTOL airplanes for a king’s ransom. Where ever you look there is squandered opportunity. When you take stock the British establishment are a luxury we can no longer afford.
December 27, 2021
People like a quick buck, rather than invest. Mrs. Thatcher thought she could turn the UK into a home and share owning democracy, but as soon as the shares sold at a discount made up the money sufficient to provide a cheap foreign holiday ‘Sid’ sold out and the shares ended up on the Stock Exchange for any foreigner to buy until they got a large enough stake. Houses are no longer places to live in but make quick money – as soon as the price goes up they are sold for a bigger one or in the case of BTL landlords to increase a portfolio.
December 27, 2021
I understood a fair number of the small shareholders kept their investment , it was only when the City/ management flogged off the company were they closed out .
December 27, 2021
I fully agree and support your view Iain. I have been the same thing for years. We must rip the power from the Elites and all Tories. And that includes Sir John who helps support those who are determined to continue with the destruction of our nation’s sovereignty.
December 27, 2021
You are absolutely right, and many more examples could be given, such as the fact that we built the world’s first electronic computer during the war (Colossus), but destroyed it afterwards and never went on to develop the technology and equipment.
Basically, we have been ruled by xxxx and traitors ever since the end of the 19th century. Our current prime minister is just the latest example, as well as one of the worst, actually giving away our sovereign territory to our EU enemies. The traitor has to go, but will he be replaced by anyone better?
December 28, 2021
Iain Moore
And so it goes on as ever, much to our cost.
December 27, 2021
We are always pixie-led away from the main menu.
It is ALL actually about DESTROYING this country.
We chatter on about heating and supply chains and immigrants and everything but the main point is thatā¦..
The Left wants to raise this country to the ground and hand it like a popped balloon, back to the EU.
Who would not mine their own God-given coal?
December 27, 2021
Well there are so many differences between the Swiss and British approaches to life in general as well as economic management. Here are some key differences:
1 Education and training geared to a productive job, not generally to beauty therapy or sports science. Jobs then available in productive industry, owned by folks who would here be thinking about property profits.
2 Lesser celeb culture, no quick buck culture. Swiss are happy being consistently profitable in their field, not looking to a lottery win or X Factor appearance.
3 Strong currency maintained by being more productive. They invest in automation. Low interest rates and strong currency help this.
4 No thinking”out of the box”. They don’t need to, because there’s more in the box which is proven to work.
So the Swiss are perfect business partners because we have a totally complementary way of doing things. If we tried to copy them we could as easily end up being non creative, without their skill sets to achieve within the box. You can tweak taxes here and there, but if we can introduce creativity in engineering and other productive fields into our education system this would help our competitiveness and enable us to manage our economics.
December 27, 2021
Luxembourg figs are rather distorted as many people work there but do not live there – so the per cap fig is rather misleading. There is no reason why the UK could not be as right as Switzerland apart from the endless left we government we have suffered all my life. This reinforced by the dire left wing and climate alarmist/net zero obsessed BBC.
December 27, 2021
Interesting to read this.
Some three years ago I think I suggested more than once that our leaving the EU should give us about Ā£13 billion a year which we could use to kick start a Sovereign wealth fund.for ourselves, rather than wastefully spend it.
We should have about Ā£40/50 billion pounds of wise investment now if such a method of running our country had been adopted. Let’s hope a policy is now accepted. It doesn’t years of analysis first, it just needs to be started urgently.
December 27, 2021
A ‘sovereign wealth fund’ isn’t an option for a country running a sizeable budgetary deficit. As the government seems to have embraced ‘New Monetary Theory’, I can’t see when we might have a surplus again.
December 27, 2021
We still pay the EU and will for donkey’s years thanks to the duff deal Boris did.
December 27, 2021
GDP per capita is not a good measure of the standard of living of a country, GNP (now GNI) is better. In this globalized world ānet factor income from abroadā (NFIA) is significant. Ireland, which is a giant corporation attached to a small country, has a GDP that is higher than its GNI because of NFIA.
Have a look at this World Bank chart. It shows the UK has never recovered from the 2008 crash. Thanks to a decade of Osborne austerity, GNI per capita is down about 16% from 2008. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GNP.PCAP.CD?end=2020&locations=GB-NO-CH-IE-LU-US&most_recent_value_desc=true&start=1962&view=chart
Also, this chart of NFIA shows how $101 billion flows out of Ireland mostly back to the USA as part of the latter’s $222 billion positive NFIA.
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GSR.NFCY.CD?end=2020&locations=IE-GB-NO-US-CH&most_recent_value_desc=false&start=1970
Reply Figures show as on other measures U.K. higher than France, Italy, Spain etc and show low tax countries top the charts easily
December 27, 2021
I have yet to meet a politician who has the first idea of what the job of taxation is in a sovereign fiat currency economy. It is a brake pedal to stop private sector activity getting out of hand and causing inflation; or, doing things the government’s ideology will not tolerate, tobacco tax for instance.
Secondly, it is to divert useful private sector output, into the public sector for the common good of society. Sixty percent duty and VAT on road vehicle fuels, reduces the consumption of those fossil fuels and discourages people travelling long distances for work that yields little net benefit.
The UK Treasury currently has Ā£1,061 billion of its fiat currency “units of account”, it has spent into the private sector; called the “monetary base”. It is waiting for it to come back as taxes and be subtracted from that number. The trouble is the private sector, households particularly, are saving it and not spending it so it can be taxed.
This is demonstrated by the metric velocity of circulation (VoC) of the “monetary base”, that generates the GDP. This has now fallen to 2.0, far too low. That is, GDP at Ā£2,124 billion divided by Ā£1,061. Even at this low level of VoC we have some inflation. Is that supply side imported inflation and/or diminished capacity?
December 27, 2021
Yet your magic money theory stating the benefits of continuous printing of money already shows rapidly rising inflation
As monetary theory predicts will happen.
Watch as 10% inflation happens in 2022
December 28, 2021
Which party were in power the last time that happened?
December 28, 2021
Previous inflation happened for different reasons like the doubling of oil prices by OPEC.
Not due to huge increases in magic money creation and public spending like now.
And decades ago inflation occurred under both political parties.
December 27, 2021
It would be interesting to see England’s position in the table.
After all English taxpayers alone have to subsidise Scotland NI and Wales by a huge amount each and every year. Inevitably the economy of England suffers as a result.
I will investigate…………..
December 27, 2021
Two or three years back gov spending per head on services was NI Ā£11,042, Scotland Ā£10,651, Wales Ā£10,076 and guess what, England was down at Ā£8,898.
My guess is that more recent figures show England is impoverished still by Tory dislike of England and what it represents and the English people.
December 27, 2021
Indeed plus we have to carry a huge and very inefficient state, millions who just choose to life on benefits and an NHS that treats people who do not contribute to it.
December 27, 2021
This is very true. Just think how much better we would be if we had English MP’s concerning themselves with only English issues and not having to take other nations peoples into account, usually to the detriment of the English.
December 27, 2021
When we won the war, they got rid of Churchill, horses for courses you might say, Brexit won a parliamentary majorityā¦wonā¦time to move on
Heir to Churchill?
Heir toā¦ā¦.Thatcherā¦?
December 27, 2021
“We”?
Didn’t the twenty-plus million lives expended by Russia have some bearing on matters?
December 27, 2021
An article lauding EEA/EFTA members. Is this an admission at last that a WTO Brexit really was/is a damaging and stupid idea?
Reply No! try reading the article
December 27, 2021
Sir John, nothing is going to change unless and until the CON Party starts dismantling Blair’s left-wing Quangocracy and expanded Public Sector, including the University and politicised Charity-Quangos.
Starting with the BBC.
Since they haven’t got the guts to do it, nothing will change. Unless and until that is, enough voters change their behaviour and stop voting for the GreenCON.
When you have Tim Stanley, Matthew Lyon and Ambrose Evan-Pritchard writing excoriating opinion pieces about this appalling left-wing administration in the DT (plus Truss and Hunt giving their pitches to become PM, with Sunak, Javid and Patel no doubt still to come) you know the game is up for Johnson. It’s only a matter of time.
December 27, 2021
Yes, very good points Sir John, but nothing is going to happen as long as Boris the Traitor and the useless Kwarteng are in charge. First they scrapped Britain’s industrial strategy and put nothing in its place, so we are totally rudderless and cannot have any goals or set any path to travel. Then they destroyed our energy production, making us reliant on imports from our enemies and raising energy costs for manufacturers, lowering our industrial competitiveness. Basically, at every step of the way they have adopted exactly the WRONG policies. As long as those two cretins remain in post NOTHING is going to improve and you are wasting your time and breath. You need to focus on how to oust these failures and replace them with people who actually agree with you.
On a related note – exports, which are a driver of national growth and wealth – I have long believed that our foreign embassies should be tasked with growing British exports. Embassadors should be rated by the percentage growth in exports they achieve, and their promotion – or demotion – should be guided by how much they boost British exports. This would be a good use of our embassies, which should be informed that Labour is no longer in government and they should therefore stop delivering Robin Cook’s foreign policy. Instead of the idiotic, woke, gesture politics they are now engaged in, such as flying the ludicrous rainbow pride flags, they should be flying the flag of British businesses. Our embassies are an absolute disgrace and Liz Truss’s failure to redirect their energies shows she is not the leader Britain needs in order to make this country a success.
December 27, 2021
X – Tory
WOW you have been storing that one up.
Absolutely brilliant.
December 27, 2021
Where did you get this from , a cracker? Switzerland has a network of bilateral treaties with the EU that # amount membership of the single market . To take one example Swiss insurers can open branches in the EU countries and EU insurers have the same rights in Switzerland. The Uk has completely lost access to EAA markets unless in fully capitalises and regulates within them . Switzerland is part of the Schengen zone..fcs I did not hear Redwood selling us that deal amongst his referendum fairy tales .
Norway sits on a lake of Oil and is also an EEA member, a good argument f0r Nicola Sturgeon and rejoiners but for no-one else. Ireland did not have to defy anyone but to set low corporate taxes and has zero wish to follow the UK`s self harming example ..
Who else do we we copy ? Greenland population al little smaller than St Albans and with membership of FOM and much closer to the EU than we are …yes even this pipsqueak joke country does a better job
Iceland and Norway are EEA members.
God knows what point Sir John thinks he is making but I can only guess he wishes to show us just how impossible it is to make any economic case for cutting ourselves off from our neighbours.
Reply I am arguing for lower taxes and more domestic energy. TRY READING THE BLOG BEFORE ATTACKING IT.
December 27, 2021
Indeed, you are Sir John, but you were the one who wrote that title figuring Norway and Switzerland. If your point was about lower taxes and more domestic energy, in that case use examples that are relevant, not the weak cases that can be put down by anybody who has ten minutes to spend to check your half-constructed arguments.
Switzerland has low federal tax rates (max. is 13.2%) but it also has cantonal taxes (max. between 13 and 18%) and in some places additional local taxes.
As for the UK going the route of the Channel Islands, Isle of Man, Luxembourg do you really want the UK to become even more a tax haven country dealing with ādarkā money or helping some people evoiding/avading tax? Do you really expect this to improve the day-to-day life of the average Briton?
As an aside, the recently published 2021 Gini index of the UK is 35.1, of Switzerland 33.1, of Norway 27.6. What about you proposing measures to improve the UK Gini index? It might be a bit more complicated.
December 27, 2021
You have Sir John using caps lock.
Is this a first?
December 27, 2021
Is that you and your pal’s real ambition on here?
Rather sad I reckon.
December 27, 2021
Problem with your suggested reasoning and action JR means you have to have MP’s who are intelligent enough to recognise an opportunity when they see it.
Most of our lot just want to find fault and rubbish our own Country, as its much easier to find fault and criticise, rather than get on and put forward positive ideas and action.
December 27, 2021
Perhaps we should have Mp’s pay aligned to the Productivity and output of the individuals GDP, rather than gross output figures where you simply import more people, at more cost, to get that figure raised.
December 27, 2021
OFF TOPIC.
This is disgusting. BBC website.
A group of outdoor swimmers were forced to cancel their Boxing Day river dip after a water company announced a “sewage release” on Christmas Day. Residents in Wolvercote, Oxford, were informed about the release into the River Windrush in an email from Thames Water. Swimmer Dr Fiona Palumbo Tolan said the group found it “deeply distressing”.
Thames Water said sewage release was “sometimes necessary” to prevent flooding.
Dr Tolan said: “Every week we have to check for notifications of sewerage releases before being sure that it’s safe to swim. “It seems that what should be a very last resort in the case of extreme emergency has become a very common tactic of convenience for the water companies.”
The email from Thames Water confirmed an “ongoing sewage release” at nearby Whitney, adding: “If you’re thinking of entering the river, please remember that it can take up to four days for the sewage to clear.”
December 27, 2021
Norway used its North Sea oil money to build up a 1.4 trillion sovereign wealth fund. The Thatcher government, of which Sir John was a prominent member, chose to use our oil money to fund deindustrialisation and mass unemployment.
The second peak of oil production, under Blair, was sold off at low prices and used to fund massive increases in public spending.
So we could’ve had a sovereign wealth fund, but our governments chose to waste it instead.
December 27, 2021
Plus the oil companies were allowed to pump out as much as they wanted, as quickly as possible. Norway still has oodles of the stuff while we have virtually run out. It should have lasted another 50 years, but of course big business taking a quick buck was more important.
December 27, 2021
Apparently Kwasi Kwarteng is meeting energy suppliers about high gas prices. He only needs to read our host’s post yesterday to know that the answer is increased supply. If he doesn’t understand that then he has no right to have the job he has.
December 27, 2021
No John no John! we have made a terrible mistake in leaving the EU.
The Old Empire has gone long gone and for us time to soldier on
I’m an old Irishman, a sea captain of forty more odd years.. but ye made a terrible misrake
December 28, 2021
If you want to be subservient to the EU that you can go and live there. Most of us value our freedom from foreign rule and we must shed all remaining vestiges of EU control.