Why does Britain spend more on a planning application for a new runway than other countries spend on actually building one?
In a new report for the Centre for Policy Studies – and a piece for CapX – Ben Hopkinson lays out the policy roadblocks that push up Britain’s infrastructure costs, and how to get them out of the way.
Infrastructure isn’t the only thing that’s worryingly expensive in Britain. Our borrowing costs continue to climb, with 30-year gilt yields breaking 6% this morning – fasten-your-seatbelt territory. Yet, as Damian Pudner writes for CapX today, Andy Burnham is acting as if our fiscal mess can simply be wished away. Buckle up.
Below you’ll find all the latest pieces from CapX, plus what we’re reading from around the web.
Marc Sidwell
Editor, CapX
Today’s Takes
Fresh thinking from CapX
Burnham can’t ignore Britain’s borrowing costs
Damian Pudner
‘No government can promise a universal care entitlement, cheaper energy, cheaper bus fares, more council housing, higher defence spending and protection for pensioners from the threshold freeze while refusing to take the welfare decisions that would pay for any meaningful part of it in this Parliament.’
Today, 10-year government borrowing broke 5.52% and 30-year borrowing smashed through 6%, what some economists call the ‘danger zone’. While the Chancellor said it’s not progressive to lose control of public finances, Andy Burnham is busy talking about introducing a second NHS for social care. The bond markets and the public need honesty from the Government. Read More
How to make infrastructure cheap again
Ben Hopkinson
‘The Bakerloo line extension, if it is ever built, will be the most expensive underground line built anywhere in the world outside of New York City.’
Britain is pretty good at spending money on infrastructure. But we don’t get much for our money. HS2, at up to £102.7 billion for 140 miles of track, is the most expensive high-speed railway in the world. A new report for the Centre for Policy Studies lays out eight policy challenges – and how to fix them. Read More
Healey needs a growth Budget, not more taxes
Douglas McWilliams
‘Lower prices, lower taxes and higher incomes are what we need after so many years of higher taxes, high inflation and squeezed incomes.’
John Healey’s Budget is fast approaching and it is more than likely that he will increase taxes again. Despite Burnham’s talk about ‘growth in every postcode’ a strategy of unfunded promises and more tax rises is unlikely to deliver. Instead, they must cut taxes and get spending under control. They also need to protect the tech sector from an EU ‘reset’. Read More
Stat of the Day
Best of the Web
Labour's housing revolution won't work
Emma Revell, City AM
‘The idea that people living in homes may want to buy them – buy the security that Burnham recognised, just minutes earlier, gave his family everything – is apparently for me and not for thee.’
In Andy Burnham’s keynote speech to the Labour Party Conference he spun an emotional tale about how his grandparents buying and owning their home unlocked aspiration in his parents which helped him reach Downing Street. But all of his housing policies will make it harder for young people to buy a home, let alone find somewhere to rent as he continues to punish landlords. Read More
Why realign with a failing bloc?
A wake-up call for the Right
Robert Shrimsley, Financial Times 🔒
‘Those who oppose big-state socialism have never been more in need of a strong Conservative Party and rarely further from having one.’
Labour have waited nearly 20 years for a leader like Andy Burnham: someone with the political skill to attempt to undo Thatcherism. His agenda, and his plan to use electoral reform to tilt the playing field against a divided Right, presents an existential threat to those who believe in free markets and a smaller state. The Conservatives need to regroup – fast. Read More
The Capitalist: the past was worse than you think
And if you want more...
– The economics of Celebrity Traitors (The Conversation)
– The dementia revolution (The Progress Network)
– Capitalism or free enterprise? (Daniel Mitchell)
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