Don’t mention Net Zero

Plus: reforming corporate welfare, and why we shouldn’t expect rate rises

Sep 17, 2026

Net Zero is losing its shine – and even the MPs on the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee have noticed. They recommend that the term be used less often – and dropped from the name of the department their committee scrutinises. Actually changing the policies driving Net Zero’s unpopularity doesn’t seem to be up for discussion.

Labour are continuing to pile more requirements on business, but the Shadow Chancellor Andrew Griffith has announced that the former director of the CPS, Robert Colvile, together with Lord Mackinlay, will be advising him on how to cut tax and red tape for small businesses and the self-employed. Ideas welcome.

And Britain’s failure to build anything seems to have put a temporary halt on plans for a large illegal migrant camp near the village of Piddington. There are not only issues with the gas and water supply, but signs of great crested newts, which would require a licence from Natural England. Never underestimate the power of Nimbys.

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

*Yang Bo/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images*

Corporate welfare is Britain's blind spot

Alan Hibben

‘You cannot reform what you cannot measure, and Britain cannot presently measure corporate welfare in any meaningful way.’

From support for wind farms to assorted tax reliefs, corporate welfare receives far less attention than voter welfare, but it should be easier to cut – if we actually knew the true cost to taxpayers. Until Britain stops administering corporate support as a fog of overlapping schemes, exemptions and tax breaks, nothing will change. Read More

The Bank was right not to follow the Fed

Damian Pudner

‘There’s simply no need to crystallise QE losses today, punishing the taxpayer, especially with the fiscal position so dire.’

The Bank of England chose not to raise rates today, and it was right not to. Some traders have started pricing four or even five rate rises over the next year. Looking at the evidence, that is lunacy: UK broad money is not accelerating. They are pricing an inflationary economy that Britain does not have. Read More

Stat of the Day

Best of the Web

Burnham shifts the blame

James Watt, City AM

‘The best social policy ever invented is a well-paid job. And those jobs are created by businesses, not politicians.’

Andy Burnham says young people not in work, education or training have been let down by ‘the system’. But Labour have spent the last two years raising employer National Insurance and pushing the youth minimum wage up by over a quarter. Burnham now runs the system, and should take responsibility for the consequences. Read More

An entirely expected fraud

John Wills, The Critic

‘Where each social home is a nominal £1m lottery prize, corruption will inevitably happen.’

Sky News found that a London woman paid a £1,500 bribe to move up the social housing waiting list. It should surprise nobody. A central London tenancy is worth some £35,000 a year and the officer handing it out earns barely £30,000. With allocations opaque and housing associations outside FOI, corruption is the predictable result. Read More