The best writing on politics, economics, ideas and technology. Sign up for our daily briefing. From @CPSThinkTank

Westminster, UK
Joined April 2014
CapX retweeted
'Higher levies on wealth would not fund the sort of welfare state Britons have become accustomed to. For that, politicians and voters would have to accept that broad swathes of society need to start contributing more.' @TheEconomist Budget preview: economist.com/britain/2026/1…
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"There's no point in politicians putting lots of effort into policies that can't solve our problems. Their job should be to persuade people of the solutions that will solve our problems." Have a listen to the latest @CapX The Capitalist podcast. briefing.capx.co/p/david-fro…
What's gone wrong with Britain's economy? Too much state spending. Markets strangled by regulation. And the erosion of a shared national purpose. @DavidGHFrost tells @marcsidwell why Britain needs a radical change of direction. Watch 👇
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57% of small business leaders polled by @CPSThinkTank say the Government isn’t on their side. Energy, business rates and staff costs are the top concerns, though they remain optimistic about growth overall. Full details by @rcolvile in this @CapX piece capx.co/small-business-lost-…
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A bigger state or a smaller state focused on growth? CPS Director @LiamHalligan explains the battle of ideas between Andy Burnham and Kemi Badenoch - and what their competing visions mean for Britain’s future.
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Britain ranks 30th out of 38 OECD countries for tax competitiveness. In a new report, Daniel Herring at the Centre for Policy Studies warns that a wealth tax and higher capital gains tax would make Britain even less competitive - making the UK the least tax-efficient place in the OECD to own property. cps.org.uk/research/a-wealth…
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Pleased to have had another article published by @CapX. Britain now pays more to borrow than Greece — but does that really mean we're a greater credit risk? I take a closer look at what bond yields actually tell us. #budget2026 #ukeconomy capx.co/is-britain-a-greater…
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Read me in the latest @CapX weekly briefing, a roundup of everything we published including the Editor's pick of the week and the latest podcast
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If not outright banned, traditional architecture has certainly been made more difficult to build by planners. I wrote recently for @CapX on how many local plans expressly push against "pastiche": xitter.cf/CapX/status/2108595944…
The white buildings are 19th century and pastiche architecture like that has not been “banned” by local authorities
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I'm back gracing your Substack/inbox in another @CapX briefing
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A tax today, a tax tomorrow and a tax from Thailand
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“Rich countries are not rich because they started out with vast amounts of capital. Rather, capital was accumulated because sound institutions and government policies made investment worthwhile.” capx.co/the-nobel-prize-is-m…
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Burnham’s EU dreams would be an expensive nightmare: If we did try to rejoin, we could expect punitive terms as a warning to others who might have considered leaving the bloc capx.co/burnhams-eu-dreams-w… via @CapX
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I've written an article for @CapX The UK should not be bullied by the EU into putting tariffs on Chinese EVs. It'd be a sign of weakness and bad for British consumers & firms. Link to follow
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I wrote about this for @CapX last week. @jreynoldsMP and his team should be congratulated for this - standing up to China and your own colleagues takes guts! xitter.cf/BenRamanauskas/status/…
I've written an article for @CapX The UK should not be bullied by the EU into putting tariffs on Chinese EVs. It'd be a sign of weakness and bad for British consumers & firms. Link to follow
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The IMF says that Britain “stands out” as the only major advanced economy set to reduce government borrowing over the coming years.But, based on previous behaviour, the fiscal constraints written into Labour’s spending plans are highly unlikely to materialise. "One thing we know about this Labour Party is that it hates cutting spending," says Daniel Herring, Head of Economic and Fiscal Policy at The Centre of Policy Studies. Previous attempts to remove the winter fuel allowance or trim welfare spending were reversed after a backbench rebellion. And that was straight after, rather than in the run-up to, a general election. So you have to have somewhat heroic levels of trust to believe that Labour ministers will stick to these spending plans. “The fact is,” says Herring, “no chancellor for a long time, of whatever party, has stuck to their fiscal rules …. That’s why we are in danger – a major shock will blow up these plans and expose the UK to the wrath of international lenders, who will demand radical cuts to public spending, which will hurt the people Labour are trying to help” Read the full @CapX piece here: capx.co/the-imf-has-fallen-f…
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A capital gain is not a wage. It is a reward for taking a risk – with no guarantee of return. Higher CGT risks fewer job-creators and less tax revenue. The Budget should back Britain’s risk-takers. My latest for @CapX: capx.co/healeys-capital-gain…
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Tax rises are coming, but how much more can Britain take? CPS External Affairs Director @emmamrevell argues that growing spending commitments risk another round of tax rises - driving away the people and investment we need to grow. There is another path… reform spending, face the difficult choices and make it easier to build a business in Britain.
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Self-employment grew 11% in UK industries with high AI adoption, compared to 1% in lower-AI industries. What could this mean for the future of work? Mercatus scholar Liya Palagashvili examines the evidence at @CapX: bit.ly/4hF54YH
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RT @CPSThinkTank: Could Net Zero repeat the mistakes of Britain’s gold standard? In 1931, a rigid economic commitment came at a heavy cost…
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