The Blog
30 November 2016This feels like a bit of a moment for London housing. Last week the chancellor, Philip Hammond, announced a bumper settlement for affordable homes in the capital – £3.15bn to support the construction of 90,000 new units between now and 2021. That’s getting on for 20,000 a year (albeit starts rather than completions), which is… [Read More]
15 November 2016The results are in on housebuilding efforts during the first of the five years of the current parliament. The government’s ambition – reaffirmed under Theresa May’s new leadership – is to build a million homes by 2020, which would be an average of 200,000 a year. The net supply of housing statistics for 2015/16, published… [Read More]
11 November 2016On Wednesday Ireland submitted a formal appeal to the EU courts regarding the European Commission’s ruling that it must claim back €13 billion in taxes from Apple. Back in August the Commission ruled that two Irish tax rulings, one in 1991 and one in 2007, allowed Apple to pay a very low effective corporate tax… [Read More]
1 November 2016Civitas recently published a study of trade with the EU in order to estimate the balance of power between the EU and UK in the forthcoming negotiations. A free trade agreement with the EU that continued the current zero-tariff policy would be the best approach, but the study started with assumption that we should be… [Read More]
12 October 2016A striking passage in Communities Secretary Sajid Javid’s speech to the Conservative Party conference last week was his quite forthright message to the major housing developers: ‘It’s time to get building. The big developers must release their stranglehold on supply. It’s time to stop sitting on landbanks, delaying build-out: the homebuyers must come first. Almost 280,000 planning permissions… [Read More]
Today the Labour Party set out a list of questions asking publically for details of the government’s negotiation plans. If answered by government, such questions could seriously undermine the UK’s chances of a good outcome. Despite constant complaints about the lack of clarity over Brexit and the UK government’s demands, it seems to me perfectly clear what is wanted.… [Read More]
11 October 2016Richard North has published a blog[i] outlining criticisms of my recent research. My research primarily outlined why Article 112 in the EEA Agreement could not be used by the UK to gain permanent migration controls. Whilst this article is partly a response to his blog, the primary purpose is to layout my argument based on… [Read More]
9 September 2016Liam Fox, the International Trade Secretary, is attempting to create a network of trade deals ready to be signed by the time the UK leaves the EU. If Article 50 is triggered in early 2017, as currently expected, this could be as soon as 2019. But many doubt the UK’s ability to complete trade deals so… [Read More]
2 September 2016At the first cabinet meeting since the summer recess, Theresa May gave a list of crucial government reforms. Near the top of the list was the need to tackle the UK’s ongoing productivity problem. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will play a crucial role in addressing this problem. In 2015, SMEs accounted for 60 per… [Read More]
1 September 2016As UK government ministers met yesterday to discuss the future deal they hope to reach with the remaining members of the EU, the EU was once again trying to save the reputation of the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) as it tries to conclude negotiations before the end of the year. But over the summer TTIP… [Read More]
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