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March 2020
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Welcome to the IEA Weekend Newsletter!
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Rules Britannia
Throwing out the baby…
End of his Teather…
A steer on the future
In the name of Liberty
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Rules Britannia
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Far from ‘taking back control’, the innate stickiness of the regulatory state means we risk losing the opportunity for meaningful change post-Brexit.
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This warning comes from the the IEA’s Head of Regulatory Affairs, Victoria Hewson, in her new report ‘Rules Britannia’ ([link removed]) .
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This is the first paper to be published as part of Regulatory Affairs ([link removed]) - a new IEA programme ([link removed]) dedicated to analysing regulation and regulators in the UK.
The report ([link removed]) , which warns that regulations are being judged on their “intentions” rather than their results, was trailed exclusively in the Sunday Telegraph ([link removed]) and Victoria’s comments were quoted at length by the Express ([link removed]) .
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Victoria wrote an article for the Telegraph ([link removed]) in which she argued that “escaping the dead hand of Brussels will count for little if we don’t tackle the amount of red tape generated here in Britain.” She also wrote for CapX ([link removed]) on the topic.
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Referencing Victoria’s paper, IEA Director General Mark Littlewood argued in The Times Business ([link removed]) that the government should focus on adopting a more “practical and proportionate response to regulation”.
You can watch Victoria's explainer video here ([link removed]) .
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Throwing out the baby... with the budget measures
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Chancellor Rishi Sunak used his first Budget to announce huge increases in spending to cope with the Covid-19 shock, as well as a massive £600 billion plan to “boost Britain”.
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Director General Mark Littlewood warned ([link removed]) that while ‘fiscal loosening’ to cope with Covid-19 is understandable the “hit to the public finances from the coronavirus is, as the Chancellor was at pains to stress, temporary and not structural, so there are no grounds for changing fiscal strategy – merely a need for some short term fiscal tactics.”
Mark appeared on BBC Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine show ([link removed]) to give his reaction to the Chancellor’s speech whilst our Digital Manager Darren Grimes gave his thoughts ahead of the Chancellor’s speech on talkRadio ([link removed]) .
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Elsewhere, IEA Editorial and Research Fellow Prof Len Shackleton warned ([link removed]) that big increases in minimum wages will “raise employer costs disproportionately in those poorer regions of the country the prime minister wants to help”.
Quoted by the Guardian ([link removed]) , Len said “Already, the ratio of minimum wages in Northern Ireland, Yorkshire and Humber, the East Midlands and Wales is higher than the 66% target the Conservatives have set.”
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Meanwhile, our Head of Transport Dr Richard Wellings welcomed the decision ([link removed]) to keep the freeze on fuel duty as “the right one”.
Richard added that “the government would do well to look at further reductions to boost economic activity in the longer term.
** End of his Teather...
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The Chancellor also signalled plans to reform entrepreneurs’ relief - which was the subject of an IEA blog ([link removed]) this week.
Taxation expert Richard Teather argued that approaching this as a single measure - whilst leaving the rest of our tangled tax system unchanged - would end up making things worse, not better.
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** A steer on the future
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The 2020s will see the introduction of one of the most profoundly transformative technologies for decades - the driverless car ([link removed]) .
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Whilst this is likely to have a profound effect on the way we live, it also poses a host of public policy questions across a wide range of areas.
On our podcast this week ([link removed]) , Digital Manager Darren Grimes discusses ‘The Road Ahead?’ with Andrew Lilico, Executive Director and Principal of Europe Economics.
You can subscribe to our podcasts on Apple Podcasts ([link removed]) , Spotify ([link removed]) and Podbean ([link removed]) .
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** In the name of Liberty
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LibertyCon, a gathering of 800 liberal students from across Europe, took place in Madrid last week - featuring Dr Stephen Davies, our Head of Education and Adam Bartha, the Director of Epicenter, our network of nine leading European think tanks.
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Steve addressed the challenges in modern economies posed by automation and artificial intelligence - outlining how robots taking over some professions can be a benefit to all.
You can read more on the impact of AI - and why we shouldn’t panic about it - in our paper Robocalypse now? ([link removed]) by Len Shackleton.
Adam talked about the future of the EU ([link removed]) and whether it’s possible to create a federal system based on classical liberal principles.
And during the conference, the IEA distributed hundreds of books and publications from past and present day authors, such as F.A. Hayek, Bastiat, Eamonn Butler, Christopher Snowdon and many more.
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