The NHS will soon cost more than the GDP of New Zealand Opinion Spending on health and social care will hit £200bn by the end of this parliament – more than the entire economy of New Zealand – as Britain heads towards being a £1.5 trillion state, says Emma Revell New Zealand sounds, by all accounts, like a pretty sweet country. For a start, it is one of [...]
Badenoch wants a battle of ideas – we should wish her well Opinion One week before emerging victorious in the Conservative leadership race, Kemi Badenoch was asked by Sophy Ridge on Sky News whether she wanted to be Prime Minister. “I don’t think it’s about wanting to be prime minister,” she said, adding, “I think it’s not an award. It’s not like winning a competition. It’s actually a [...]
Let’s be honest… this Budget is austerity for the private sector Rachel Reeves has introduced a new kind of Marxism with this Budget, where private industry foots the bill for an expanding public sector, and the poorest don’t get better off, says Mattew Lesh Just two months ago, in a speech delivered inside Downing Street, Keir Starmer declared that growth and wealth creation were his government’s [...]
Firms worry about flatlining growth amid Budget tax rises concerns October 30, 2024 Private sector firms expect to see growth flatline in the final months of the year, a survey suggests, as concerns about the Budget build. For the second successive month, the Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI) growth indicator showed that businesses do not expect to see any change in activity over the next quarter. The CBI [...]
If growth is the challenge then investment is the solution October 14, 2024 The UK needs to drastically improve its ‘fundamentals’ in housing, energy, transport and digital infrastructure in order to attract private investment, and today's summit is the right place to start, says Dan Tomlinson MP
How do you really improve schools? (Hint: it’s not smaller classes or paying teachers more) October 14, 2024 Malawi, one of the poorest countries in the world with overcrowded classrooms and teacher shortages, is embracing pioneering technology – and turning its schools around, writes Bjorn Lomborg Childrens’ educational test scores are a major cause for concern across the world. Learning plummeted nearly everywhere during the Covid pandemic – but even before that, standardised [...]
Americans do it better (investing, that is) October 9, 2024 British companies are often accountable to passive shareholders, such as pension funds, leading to risk aversion and short-termism. The US invests differently, with much better results, says Tom Focas The UK economy is in dire need of a rejuvenation. Growth is still stagnating, productivity lags behind global competitors, and industries that once anchored the nation’s [...]
Britain’s ‘Computer Says No’ attitude needs a reboot October 1, 2024 Modern Britain is the victim of needless rules, a useless public sector and a lack of ambition, writes James Price
Households face ‘bleak’ outlook unless Starmer kickstarts growth August 29, 2024 The improvement in living standards will also be heavily weighted towards the start of the parliament.
Millennials will be hit hardest by tax rises August 29, 2024 The generation that’s about to reach the most rewarding of years of their careers face spending their entire working lives earning less and paying more for worse public services, says John Oxley Few will have been cheered by Sir Keir Starmer’s speech this week. While Harold Macmillan might have told voters that they’d never had [...]