Scotland raised its top income tax rate to 48% to make the rich pay more. New HMRC data suggests the result may have been the opposite: Scotland collected about £22m less. We can't be sure, but Scotland may have fallen over the Laffer curve. 🧵:
The House of Lords Constitution Committee is starting a wide-ranging inquiry into strengthening our constitutional safeguards - as proposed by (Lord) Peter Hennessy. Look East, look West, and see the urgency. Written evidence requested by 28th of September. committees.parliament.uk/committee/17...
The UK’s constitutional safeguards inquiry launched by Lords Constitution Committee - Committees - UK Parliament
The House of Lords Constitution Committee has today published a call for evidence for its inquiry into the UK’s constitutional safeguards. It is inviting interested individuals and organisations...
committees.parliament.uk
This was a really moving interview. We're enormously proud of Peter at Queen Mary. He's been a lone voice for a particular kind of virtue in public life: not as something we admire in ourselves, but as something we practice towards others - and especially our opponents. And he really embodies that.
Rory Cellan-Jones @rorycj.bsky.social · 4w agoWhat a moving interview on R4 BH with Peter Hennessey - says he’s retiring because his Parkinson’s means he can longer think clearly, but he sounded far clearer and made more sense than most people you hear on the radio
Excellent paper. Well worth a read. My only worry is, given the ever increasing proportion of the tax take accounted for by the NHS, triple lock pension and debt interest, whether there will be the resources to fund it.
Dan Turner@dtturner.bsky.social · 4w agoTwo years ago Labour promised a “devolution revolution” to drive growth. Today, with @officialedballs.bsky.social, Nyasha Weinberg, @annastansbury.bsky.social and @esmeelsden.bsky.social, we publish our verdict: a government at risk of squandering the best opportunity in a generation. 🧵
There are respectable arguments for breaking up HM Treasury. Other countries separate the finance and economic ministry roles; others separate the finance/economic role from the budget ministry. But now is not the time. Let me explain why. 1/
Join us on 8 July when Angela Rayner, Kim McGuinness, Lord Gove, @nickmacpherson.bsky.social & Ed Balls will launch a @harvardbizgov.bsky.social @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social paper: 'Regional Growth Two Years In' thestrandgroup.kcl.ac.uk/event/region...
Regional Growth Two Years In: Is the government on track to boost UK growth by closing regional divides? - The Strand Group
The eighty-first Strand Group event launching a new paper: 'Regional Growth Two Years In: Is the government on track to boost UK growth by closing regional divides?' for King's College London and the ...
thestrandgroup.kcl.ac.uk
In a sane world, all factors of production including land would be taxed to keep marginal tax rates low. Lloyd George took on the Lords in the People's Budget to get a Land Tax on the statute book. Several years, elections & a world war later he repealed the tax after raising virtually no revenue.
Financial Times@financialtimes.com · 3mo agoAt his campaign launch, Andy Burnham indicated that he was open to radical tax reform, reflecting his longstanding view that tax should shift from income derived from work to income from wealth and assets. ft.trib.al/f7DfxVP
@ciaranm.bsky.social was my private secretary at HM Treasury before going on to be the Cabinet Secretary's right hand man. I can confirm he is right on this, as he invariably is on everything else. #badbusiness
This paper represents a small but deeply impressive and genuinely important achievement by the much maligned British state in what is probably the most important global issue of our era. Hear me out ( 🧵) 1/ www.aisi.gov.uk/blog/our-eva...
Our evaluation of Claude Mythos Preview’s cyber capabilities | AISI Work
We conducted cyber evaluations of Anthropic’s Claude Mythos Preview and found continued improvement in capture-the-flag (CTF) challenges and significant improvement on multi-step cyber-attack simulati...
aisi.gov.uk
I’m teaching a class on lobbying for future policymakers on Monday. Hard to do better than this sensational oped from @nickmacpherson.bsky.social about money in UK politics and the transition from big banks to big tech—but the song remains the same. And the loser is public trust in government.
Financial Times@financialtimes.com · 6mo agoCounting the cost of money in politics ft.trib.al/sAx2W1p | opinion
My thoughts on the events of this week for tomorrow's FT. url.uk.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/YlnhCgZmgt...
Counting the cost of money in politics
Revelations of Mandelson’s cabinet leaks spotlight the symbiotic relationship between government and bankers
url.uk.m.mimecastprotect.com
Alistair Darling and the official Treasury were always aware that investment banks had an inside track to Number 10. But the brazen nature of that inside track is rather breath-taking.
Dan Neidle@danneidle.bsky.social · 6mo agoWho leaked this Number 10 discussion to Jeffrey Epstein? And are there consequences for the leaker? It’s an internal discussion re. getting markets moving in the aftermath of the financial crisis. No doubt of great interest to Epstein and his financial market clients.
I commend this review which I carried out in 2013. The recommendations remain relevant today. assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7f09...
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk
The only way to raise serious revenue is to raise a tax which everybody pays. Raising a tax which someone else pays rarely raises the revenue needed and creates endless pressure from special interest groups. Compare and contrast Mr Osborne's 2 1/2% VAT increase with his pasty tax. #omnishambles
Nikolaus Pevsner famously described the demolition of Sir John Soane's Bank of England, as "the greatest architectural crime in the City of London of the twentieth century". Here is Project Soane's initial recreation of parts of it. @nickmacpherson.bsky.social youtu.be/TlSdcXIqufQ?...
Visualizing architectural wonders lost to history: rendering Project Soane
YouTube video by RAMSA | Robert A.M. Stern Architects
youtu.be
Case study week on the 'Chancellors and the Treasury' module on @strandgroup.bsky.social MA Government Studies - Expert advisers @nickmacpherson.bsky.social @officialedballs.bsky.social prep students before they re-enact the day UK left the ERM in Sep 1992, a historic and chaotic 24 hours
2 thoughts on the spending review. 1. Raising public service productivity is more important than ever. 2. 15 years of prioritising the NHS, education and "triple lock" (and now defence) by cutting all other programmes, in particular the home office and justice) is no longer sustainable. #soundmoney
Sound economic analysis from the ever insightful @dsmitheconomics.bsky.social. #freetrade www.thetimes.com/article/06e1...
Starmer must defy Trump by hugging other tariff victims closer
Britain doesn’t deserve to be on the end of Donald Trump’s taxes, but the solution may be to form an economic coalition of the willing and focus on what we’re good at
thetimes.com
My Trade Secrets response to the tariffs. Bad news: these tariffs cd be worse than the 1930s & the Republicans are inflicting their deep pathology on the world. Good news: this is as yet a US trade war, not a world trade war. Others can resist following Trump's crazy road. First 300 clicks free.
A US tariff pathology is unleashed upon the world
[FREE TO READ] The Republicans have allowed a destructive economic nationalist to lead America into chaos
on.ft.com
The biggest challenge for the Chancellor is delivering the revenue forecast. Despite all the tax increases since Labour last left office, the tax burden only rose by 2.1 per cent of GDP in 15 years. Today's forecast assumes a similar rise in just 5 years. If only raising revenue was that easy...
Debt service costs are set to rise from £105.2bn to £131.6bn over the next 5 years, a growth rate significantly ahead of spending on public services and welfare. a reminder that the Chancellor is right to prioritise fiscal consolidation. #soundmoney
Good to know Canada is in safe hands. If ever someone was well qualified to deal with the extraordinary challenges Britain's most reliable and loyak ally faces, it's my old friend Dr Carney. #freetrade
Mark Carney@mark-carney.bsky.social · last yr.It is my honour to serve. Canada has given me everything. Now, I’m ready to give everything for Canada.
Love the way no one over here paid any attention to Australia when a massive Chinese warship started live-firing off its coast, but some random influencer no one’s ever heard of steals a baby wombat and our media can’t get enough 😀😬
Freedom and democracy are always worth fighting for. Slava Ukraini.