‘The only answer is growth’, the Chancellor told Labour conference today – but does he know how to deliver it?
John Healey’s speech had few specifics, and no answers to the big obstacles in the economy’s way, from expensive energy and high labour costs to the record tax burden. Perhaps sensing the danger of Labour being painted as the Welfare Party, he did warn that ‘a bigger and bigger benefits bill’ was not progressive and that bringing it down was a ‘moral duty’. Good luck getting that past the backbenchers.
Meanwhile, Andy Burnham is promoting his commitment to put the creation of a National Care Service in the next Labour manifesto, while carefully avoiding the question of who pays for it. He does promise more detail tomorrow. There have been strong hints that part of the plan is to scrap the triple lock on pensions. A brave move if true, but not one that will actually cover the upfront costs.
Much more on both below.
And for those frustrated with the state of our higher education system, Anthony O’Hear argues on CapX today that it is time to recall the spirit of 1209, when a bunch of fed-up Oxford scholars founded Cambridge. Is the only way to escape the stifling managerialism bred by the Dearing Report to create new colleges outside state control?
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
Bureaucrats own our universities
Anthony O’Hear
‘We are now in Dearing’s world, a world of multiple and confusing bureaucracies (a civil servant paradise).’
The introduction of student fees in 1998 could have seen universities gain independence from the state. The opposite happened. Fees were proposed in the Dearing Report, which broke with the ideal of learning for its own sake and cast a managerial blight over higher education that has only spread since. It's time to escape Dearing's shadow. Read More
Nimbys: no skyscrapers anywhere – even Vauxhall
James Ball
‘People object to high-rise buildings when there are none in the area, because it will “change its character”, so surely you can’t turn around now and say we can’t have more skyscrapers in the area because there are enough already?’
Lambeth Greens are objecting to a skyscraper in Vauxhall, of all places. If built it would be the second tallest residential building in the UK. These Nimbys argue that a skyscraper would break the area’s character, even though Vauxhall is full of high rise buildings. The developers have done everything right and still just got all the usual blowback from the Nimbys. Read More
How to make local government more efficient
George Killeen
‘Devolution will succeed if it is done well – which must start with acknowledging the faults of the current parish and town council system.’
Local parish councils are the only tier of local government able to raise a council tax precept with no statutory ceiling. This has meant that parish taxes have doubled since 2013 with no discernible benefits. An efficient council size is like Goldilocks looking for the right porridge bowl. Too big or too small, the council is ineffective. Grouping small councils with its neighbours is a win-win cost saving strategy. Read More
Stat of the Day
Best of the Web
John Healey’s ‘industrialisation’ fantasy
Michael Simmons, The Spectator
‘Without addressing the reasons British industry currently is totally unviable, any hope of reindustrialisation is for the birds.’
The Chancellor John Healey spent much of his speech today talking about the UK’s dire fiscal situation. It’s a good sign that he wants to get spending under control. But the rest of his message retreated to the fantasyland of reindustrialising the country. Our industrial energy costs alone make this prohibitively expensive, let alone our regulatory environment. Read More
Burnham’s omni-solution is more taxes
Adam Smith, The Telegraph 🔒
‘Once the state goes beyond paying for catastrophic protection and pays for every pound of care required by every person in the country, it ends up subsidising those who could comfortably have met some of their own costs.’
Andy Burnham is trying to set up a second NHS to provide social care. He’s not thought it through. Social care isn’t a genuine market failure: the market is missing because insurers don't want to write policies for liabilities with no upper limit. Andrew Dilnot estimates a care service would cost at least £18 billion, and scrapping the triple lock won’t cover it. The only way to pay for this will be eye-watering tax increases. Read More
Voters don't want a return to British Leyland
The Capitalist: the past was worse than you think
And if you want more...
– Is there really room to raise taxes? (X)
– England’s education revolution (The Freeman)
– Humility is civilisation’s price of admission (The Daily Economy)
Can we make CapX better?
Or reply to this email to let us know your thoughts.
We'll be back tomorrow.
We need to get rid of this bunch of fool before we get ourselves into trouble that we can't get out of. None of them know what they are doing!!!!