Shabana Mahmood, the Home Secretary, has backtracked on her plans for stricter immigration rules. Most migrant care workers who arrived during the pandemic will be allowed to settle in the UK before 2030. But, under the new policy, most other migrants will have to wait 10 years before they can apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain. Tensions in the Government over immigration have scarcely been hidden today. Andy Burnham claimed it is ‘difficult to say’ whether the current level of net migration into the UK is too high or low – which was hardly the bold leadership needed on a contentious issue.
In a post on X, Jonathan Reynolds, the Business Secretary, promises that by ‘empowering our local leaders’ the Government will ‘drive the growth their communities deserve and expect.’ But devolution hasn’t exactly proved a panacea for delivering growth thus far. The London Mayoralty has a lot of planning power but a dismal record on housing delivery, for instance.
Chris Curtis, the Labour MP for Milton Keynes North, has blamed Adam Zerny, the independent leader of Central Bedfordshire council, for torpedoing a deal to give the area extra money and powers ‘because he decided that the geography wasn’t quite to his liking’. Curtis adds that: ‘One man has plunged us into the extraordinary position of turning down £1bn that the government is actively trying to give us.’
Rather than new layers of administration and failed attempts to give away £1 billion, read Lawrence Newport in CapX today on the real way to deliver growth.
In other municipal news, Labour confirm they will withdraw from power-sharing deals with the Green Party in 11 councils, due to the Green Party’s ‘anti-Semitic’ stance. A commendable decision. Will the Lib Dems now follow Labour’s example?
Below you’ll find all the latest pieces from CapX, plus what we’re reading from around the web.
Harry Phibbs
Guest Editor, CapX
Today’s Takes
Fresh thinking from CapX
Labour's mangled sixth-form-level Marxist class war
Stephen Pollard
‘When even someone as relatively sensible as Reynolds believes that employers are a class that don’t work for a living but somehow live off the backs of ‘working people’ then it shows the scale of Labour’s inability to grasp even the basics of wealth creation and growth.’
Emma Reynolds recently told GB News that she doesn’t think employers are working people. It is frustrating for a Treasury Minister at the heart of economic policy to hold such an antiquated view. It should be no surprise then that she was defending Labour’s tax increase on rental income. Reynolds is no Marxist. But it’s damning that she shows no understanding of how hard most employers work to create wealth and employment. Read More
Why Britain's decline is only a choice
Lawrence Newport
‘Many are just surviving, struggling to get by as life becomes increasingly difficult, and our politicians just regurgitate the same failed arguments and ideas.’
Britain has been in decline for some years now. We are rationing water in November, suffering high energy prices and low job opportunities, yet Britain’s decline is a choice. Generations are growing up conditioned to consultations, reviews and meetings about meetings but groups like Looking for Growth are taking radical action, like convincing the Government to accept the Fingleton Review’s recommendations in full. Read More
Stat of the Day
Best of the Web
Labour have betrayed aspiring homeowners
Matthew Lynn, The Telegraph 🔒
‘Ms Rayner has desperately tried to blame the Iran war, although it is hard to see why fighting in the Gulf stops anyone from putting up a block of flats in Middlesbrough or a terrace of semis in Swindon.’
Angela Rayner, as Housing Minister, has presided over a slump in housebuilding worse than the one we saw under the Conservatives. She could have swept away planning regulations, not to mention the fact that Nimbys are not a problem in Labour’s core constituencies. Housebuilders lack the incentive to build as their profit gets eaten by affordable housing targets and energy prices skyrocket. Rayner’s only answer has been to tax landlords and give tenants more rights. Read More
You can't tax your way to growth
Richard Fuller, ConservativeHome
‘The confusion over Labour’s position on welfare reform last week only reinforced the impression of an administration without a coherent plan.’
John Healey’s first Budget introduced more tax measures than any other Budget in recent history when there should have been tax cuts. The Chancellor also ducked the question of welfare spending as borrowing is going up more than expected. It is an economic and leadership failure that Healey is lacking a plan to get spending under control while burdening workers with more taxes. Read More
A lifetime at the forefront of the battle of ideas
Kristian Niemietz
The Capitalist: Liam Halligan & Daniel Herring – what’s in the Budget?
And if you want more...
– The race to keep AI under control (Financial Times 🔒)
– Could AI make the economy more human? (The Daily Economy)
– Labour’s leaks are corroding parliamentary standards (City AM)
Can we make CapX better?
Or reply to this email to let us know your thoughts.
We'll be back tomorrow.
While it’s true it is too early to say whether it’s too high or too low, it is worth remembering that the issue of migrant boats was down to Fartage and Brexit. The data tells you that.
Under Labour net migration has dropped to 170,000 this year according to Andrew Neil - he also pointed out the only PM to have an immigration crisis named after him is the blond tousled twat Boris Johnson, a TORY PM.
CapX should try to keep up. 170,000 is just 0.25% of the population.