The UAE is offering India free oil in order to store crude there February 15, 2016 With millions of barrels of oil sitting in tanks and oil fields across the world, the UAE is offering India free oil in exchange for storing the commodity there. Local media reports suggest that the United Arab Emirate's Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) has agreed to store crude in Indian's maiden strategic storage, giving away [...]
Autumn Statement 2015: Scrap the spending cuts ringfence, say the Institute of Economic Affairs and Taxpayers’ Alliance November 23, 2015 The government's decision to ringfence certain areas of spending means this week’s Comprehensive Spending Review is likely to be “incoherent and incomprehensive”, a prominent Westminster think tank has said today. The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) said that because 70 per cent of government spending is protected, or ringfenced, cuts risk being made in the [...]
New Institute for Economic Affairs poll: most people don’t think politicians make decisions based on what’s best for the country October 29, 2015 New polling figures out today reveal just how disaffected the British public is with government. More than three-quarters of British people say they feel they have not very much influence, or no influence at all, on the national government’s decision-making, according to a new ComRes poll for the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), a free [...]
Row breaks out over closure of Redcar steel plant December 21, 2015 The government's handling of the closure of the Redcar SSI steel plant earlier this year has become the source of a row in the halls of Westminster. A report out today from the Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) select committee found the government did not do enough to save the plant from closure at the [...]
Brexit myths debunked: The Leave campaign shouldn’t fear arguing that leaving the EU would be good for the economy April 26, 2016 Conventional commentariat wisdom has it that the EU referendum pits those concerned about economics versus those concerned about immigration. But a quick perusal of the leading intellectual voices supporting Leave shows this is nonsense. Many have long thought the UK outside the EU would not only be more free and democratic, but more prosperous too. That’s [...]
Free-market think tank Institute of Economic Affairs slams NHS satisfaction, patient outcomes and funding structure December 4, 2015 A leading think tank is attacking the National Health Service (NHS) with a new paper arguing the service is failing current and future patients. Kristian Niemietz, head of health and welfare at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), said the NHS is a “demographic timebomb” with an unsustainable funding structure that leads to poor health [...]
Is socialist Bernie Sanders the most dangerous man in the United States? February 11, 2016 Chad Wilcox, chief operating officer at the IEA, says Yes. You’d be forgiven for mistaking the US presidential race for a reality TV contest to find the most absurd candidate able to dupe the masses into electing them. But absurd does not equal dangerous. On the latter metric, look no further than senator Bernie Sanders, uniquely [...]
Rip out four in five traffic lights to boost British economy, says Institute of Economic Affairs January 25, 2016 The government should scrap four in five traffic lights to boost the economy and improve road safety, an influential think tank has argued. In a new paper out today, the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) claims a “huge proliferation in traffic regulations over the past 20 years has imposed a heavy burden” on the UK economy, [...]
The UK needs a federal system of governance and not English votes for English laws, says the Institute of Economic Affairs November 4, 2015 The United Kingdom should develop a federal system of governance with limited responsibility for the UK government, according to the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), which said English votes for English laws (EVEL) is no solution to the problems caused by devolution. This system of government would give more powers to individual countries – Scotland, Wales, [...]
As RBS shares plunge on the news of a £2.5bn profit hit, should the government delay privatising the bank? January 28, 2016 David Buik, market commentator at Panmure Gordon, says Yes. Yesterday’s announcement that RBS has had to make further provisions of £2.5bn for the mis-selling of mortgages in the US and PPI, as well as writing back Coutts’s valuation, should have come as no surprise. The task of both former chief executive Stephen Hester and more recently [...]