Tag Archives: economy

Opinion: Labour’s embracing of economic liberalism is to be welcomed

By David Thorpe | Published 9th February 2012 - 9:28 am

The first sign that man is moving from the reckless abandon of late youth to the windswept comfort of early maturity can be found in his reaction to the sight of falling snow. Where once it would have been an excuse to declare the days schedule defunct, this year it signalled only the onset of boredom.

Consequently I dusted down my new year’s resolution to ‘laugh a lot more’ and began thinking about Labour’s attitude to economics. I propose to look at the Labour leadership’s deeper economic instincts to provide a guide as to how they might actually run the economy.

Ed Balls

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged economic liberalism, ed balls, ed miliband, orange book, vince cable | 14 Comments

The IFS’s verdict on Labour’s deficit argument is in – and it ain’t pretty

By Nick Thornsby | Published 2nd February 2012 - 3:54 pm

Yesterday saw the publication by the Institute for Fiscal Studies of its annual ‘Green Budget‘, which looks generally at the global and UK economic picture as well providing a detailed analysis of the UK fiscal position. The document is fascinating in many respects, but one of the parts that particularly caught my eye was its devastating take on Labour’s position on the deficit.

Since the Autumn Statement, when figures for the estimated size of the budget deficit in future years were revised upwards, one of Labour’s main arguments has been that by cutting “too far, too fast” the government has …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged ed balls, ed miliband, featured, IFS, labour | 7 Comments

Opinion: No economic growth? Here’s what to do

By Paul Reynolds | Published 2nd February 2012 - 12:57 pm

To summarise the current UK position, ‘demand management’ is out (no money left and anyway it didn’t work), so growth must come from supply-side measures (excluding subsidies or protectionism), and from ‘natural’ private sector growth (born of financial stability and debt reduction).

With the peculiar separation in the UK which has evolved between the ‘real economy’ and the civil service, media & political elites, this has left the political system scratching its head over how to achieve ‘fiscally sustainable quality growth’. The result has been a series of ad-hoc programmes – some designed to substitute for an ailing banking sector (growth funds, loan guarantees), some …

Posted in Op-eds | 5 Comments

Opinion: 29 Days to save the UK

By Bill le Breton | Published 1st February 2012 - 6:55 pm

We are lucky it is a leap year. It gives us an extra day to save the country.

Here are two graphs, both from the Financial Times. This one shows the UK’s Nominal Gross Domestic Product. It shows the development of the double dip recession we are facing.

The figures are up to October 2011. The next will be published in February, but expect the trend lines to continue ‘south’.

Then, here’s a chart of a measure of the supply of money in the economy. It is a broad …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged centre forum, money supply | 19 Comments

LDVideo: Danny Alexander on the Coalition’s economic record

By Stephen Tall | Published 26th January 2012 - 10:10 pm

Lib Dem chief secretary to the treasury Danny Alexander was grilled by BBC Newsnight’s Jeremy Paxman on Wednesday night about the UK’s negative growth figures — here’s what Danny had to say about the Coalition’s economic strategy:

(Available on the BBC website here.)

Posted in YouTube | Also tagged danny alexander, jeremy paxman, newsnight | 3 Comments

PMQs: The importance of Doncaster, almost to the exclusion of everything else

By Paul Walter | Published 26th January 2012 - 12:56 pm

At Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday, David Cameron and Ed Miliband first clashed on the subject of economic growth (or, indeed, contraction). That entanglement was, more or less, a score draw. But Ed Miliband was much stronger during a later exchange on the NHS reform bill, culminating with this belter:

I shall tell the Prime Minister what is happening in the NHS: waiting lists up, morale down. What does the majority-Conservative Select Committee on Health say about his reorganisation? It says that it will be a “disruption and distraction that hinders the ability of organisations to” release savings.

Let us be frank: this

…

Posted in PMQs | Also tagged david cameron, ed miliband, eleanor laing, malcolm bruce, NHS, sir robert smith | 3 Comments

Andrew Marr bids for record-breaking number of different topics in one interview

By Mark Pack | Published 22nd January 2012 - 11:15 am

I wonder if somewhere deep in the BBC there is a target for how many different topics must be asked about in political interviews each month and someone woke up this morning to realise that January’s quota is about to be missed. Or perhaps there was a typo in Andrew Marr’s contract and his BBC salary is based on number of topics covered rather than number of minutes of screentime filled.

Whatever the reason, this morning’s interview with Nick Clegg saw a helter skelter tour around a huge number of topics, making for a comprehensive tour of current political issues but …

Posted in News | Also tagged andrew marr, david laws, nick clegg | 4 Comments

Opinion: Is a “John Lewis economy” a liberal economy?

By Chris Nicholson | Published 22nd January 2012 - 10:50 am

Nick Clegg hit the headlines last Monday in a speech at a CentreForum/City of London event calling for a “John Lewis economy” . John Lewis is employee owned where employees get a bonus each year depending on the performance of the group. Last year this led to every employee getting an 18% bonus on their salary. But they do not hold individual shares in the company and so do not have the associated direct potential of building up substantial asset ownership .

I, along with most liberals judging by the reaction on Lib Dem Voice, warmly welcomed the substance …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged employee ownership, john lewis, nick clegg | 8 Comments

PMQs: Miliband hoist by his Balls’ petard

By Paul Walter | Published 19th January 2012 - 8:24 am

Let’s start with what Ed Balls, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor said in the Guardian on January 14th:

My starting point is, I am afraid, we are going to have keep all these cuts. There is a big squeeze happening on budgets across the piece. The squeeze on defence spending, for instance, is £15bn by 2015. We are going to have to start from that being the baseline. At this stage, we can make no commitments to reverse any of that, on spending or on tax. So I am being absolutely clear about that.

So, it was something of a surprise when Ed …

Posted in PMQs | Also tagged andrew george, david cameron, david hamilton, ed balls, ed miliband, tessa munt, unemployment | 15 Comments

Opinion on Nick Clegg’s speech today: Employee share ownership is classic liberalism

By Tom Frostick | Published 16th January 2012 - 2:24 pm

Last week David Cameron and Ed Miliband both sounded their commitment to tackling excessive payouts in the financial sector. Today was Nick Clegg’s turn. The speech he delivered to CentreForum and the City of London this morning was all about ‘responsible capitalism’ and ‘unlocking shareholder power’.

He talked about vested interests in the British economy and the need to shine a light on boardroom practices. He also expressed a desire to see wider employee share ownership – trust in people, rather than the “interventionist state” – and the move towards a “John Lewis economy”. Clegg said:

[Liberals] recognise that narrowing wage

…

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged shareholders | 26 Comments

LibLink: David Laws – Reasons to be cheerful in 2012

By The Voice | Published 16th January 2012 - 11:54 am

In the Daily Mail, David Laws gives readers a tour d’horizon of the economy, ending with some optimisim:

The first good news is that inflation should fall – and steeply. Last year, inflation rose because of higher energy and food prices, and the rise in VAT.

Most of those increases are behind us – last week, energy price cuts of five per cent were trumpeted. Inflation, which peaked last year at 5.6 per cent (retail prices), should be down to about 2.5 per cent by May.

That will help hard-pressed household budgets.

The second piece of good news is that

…

Posted in LibLink | Also tagged david laws | 10 Comments

Clegg sets out vision of “John Lewis economy”

By NewsHound | Published 16th January 2012 - 11:36 am

The BBC reports:

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has urged more companies to offer shares to their employees, saying it will improve productivity and unlock growth.

He told an audience in the City that the government planned to cut red tape, and reform the tax system to accommodate employee ownership.

It is hoped the measures will create what he called a “John Lewis economy”.

…The Lib Dem leader told the event hosted by the City of London Corporation and Centre Forum think tank: “We don’t believe our problem is too much capitalism – we think it’s that too few people

…

Posted in News | Also tagged nick clegg, shareholders | 4 Comments

‘There but for the grace of…’ A couple of things Lib Dems should consider before joining the attacks on Ed Balls

By Stephen Tall | Published 16th January 2012 - 7:55 am

Tempting though the schadenfreude is, I think Lib Dems would be wise not to enjoy too much Labour’s discomfort at Ed Balls’ decision to declare Labour cannot promise to reverse any of the Coalition’s cuts.

I can of course entirely understand the urge to shout ‘Ha! Told you so’ at the shadow chancellor. In an interview for The Guardian published on Saturday, Mr Balls stated categorically:

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged ed balls, featured | 30 Comments

Joint Statement: European Liberal Democrat Leaders Meeting

By Mark Valladares | Published 10th January 2012 - 8:23 am

Leading Government Ministers, Party Leaders and European Commissioners from Liberal Democratic parties across Europe, meeting in London at the invitation of Deputy Prime Minister and Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg, and under the aegis of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform party (ELDR), yesterday made the following declaration.

Jobs, Growth & Reform

Europe is at a dangerous crossroads. Without decisive and concrete action, we risk recession, rising unemployment and falling living standards. There is a real risk of Europe turning inwards, with a return to the protectionist policies of the past. Our ability to prevent this now depends on our …

Posted in Europe / International, News | Also tagged europe, nick clegg | 6 Comments

The Liberal Democrat challenges for 2012: The Budget

By Mark Pack | Published 3rd January 2012 - 8:50 am

To mark the start of 2012, we’re running a series of posts over consecutive days on the main challenges for the Liberal Democrats in 2012. I’ve already written about the four priorities for the party’s new Chief Executive, Tim Gordon, but as the Liberal Democrats are more than just the one man whilst he has four, this series sets out six for the party.

Political pundits rarely get their predictions right. It isn’t that they are particularly bad at punditry, it is just that – as research has shown across several fields – experts generally have a pretty poor predictive record. One prediction, however, that is rather safer than leaving your chocolate in my safe-keeping is that the economy will continue to be the dominant political issue.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged lib dem challenges 2012 | 8 Comments

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