David Frost: prepare to fight for Brexit

Plus: Jackdaw isn't enough, and Healey’s Budget will be built on sand

Oct 21, 2026

At last – four years after the last Tory government approved it, the Jackdaw gas field will go into production later this month, improving our energy security and even reducing emissions (by cutting carbon-intensive LNG imports).

We shouldn’t stop there. As my colleague at the Centre for Policy Studies Sean Ridley wrote for CapX today, approving Rosebank will be a much bigger test of Labour’s willingness to put pragmatism over ideology.

In this week’s episode of The Capitalist, I sat down with David Frost, who negotiated the Brexit deal. Lord Frost says that as Andy Burnham talks of rejoining, it is time to launch a new campaign to keep Britain out of the EU. We also discussed the radical liberalisation our economy needs.

Elsewhere on CapX today, former Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride warns that whatever headroom John Healey sets aside next week, his Budget plans rest on unrealistic spending assumptions, leaving them incomplete and ultimately undeliverable.

And for more big thinking from the CPS, in association with Create Streets, see our Stat of the Day, on the millions of homes that could be built near stations and rail lines using low-quality green belt land.

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

Why Healey’s Budget plans don’t add up

Mel Stride

‘The best course would be to grip spending, not least on welfare, and use the savings to cut the deficit and taxes on business, that essential engine of growth.’

As John Healey prepares for his first Budget next week, the markets will be watching closely. In all likelihood he will leave himself a very slender headroom, the smallest amount that markets will tolerate. Healey would be wise to reassure the markets further by at least signalling that significant welfare cuts are coming. But who would believe him? Read More

Ministers must stop stalling on Rosebank

Sean Ridley

‘The UK’s political class must realise that Britain needs to put pragmatism before ideology in its energy policy.’

The Government has finally approved the Jackdaw gas field in the North Sea after it was stuck in regulatory limbo for years. Now ministers must approve the more controversial Rosebank field as well. Together, both sites will boost tax revenue by £4.1 billion over the next decade, and support thousands of jobs. We cannot afford to let green ideology trump the economic case for more North Sea production. Read More

The Capitalist: David Frost on how to free Britain

This week on The Capitalist, I discussed with David Frost why Andy Burnham’s move towards rejoining the EU didn’t surprise him, why he thinks the stay-out side is at risk of complacency and why the campaign to keep Brexit’s freedoms needs to start now.

But much of the conversation was about what Britain has failed to do since leaving, and the ‘massive, massive liberalisation’ he says is needed. Frost resigned from the Johnson government at the end of 2021 because it wasn’t challenging the big-state, high-spend status quo. He sets out what he thinks has gone wrong: state spending well above early Blair-era levels, markets of every kind gummed up by regulation and the erosion of a shared national project. He also explains why neither the Conservatives nor Reform UK are yet going far enough, and what it would take to make the Civil Service serve ministers again.

Best of the Web

Why is Britain blocking AI?

Tom Ough, UnHerd

‘Even on environmentalist terms, then, the hunger for reliably-powered data centres ought to be harnessed rather than fought.’

Microsoft has pulled out of a data centre deal in Essex that would have hosted thousands of Nvidia chips. The project was initially announced and celebrated jointly by Donald Trump and Keir Starmer. It stalled and eventually fell through because the site couldn’t connect to the grid despite government support. To build twenty-first-century infrastructure, we need to learn from America’s simpler planning laws. Read More

Get the Brexit economic debate right

Ryan Bourne, The Times🔒

‘Brexit has certainly had significant net costs to date. But if we must debate the case for rejoining, can we at least explore the whole ledger?’

Andy Burnham wants to rejoin the EU. He has been boosted by a Goldman Sachs report which suggests we should aim to integrate more with the bloc, but it completely ignores the EU’s protectionist attitude to AI and the economic downsides that come with it. Brexit hasn’t been costless, but we need to explore all aspects of re-integration. Read More