In 2016, the UK voted to leave the EU. Before, 2016, Eurosceptics would talk in admiring terms of Norway and Switzerland. Countries outside the EU, but with most of the economic benefits. The problem is that after the simplicity of a campaign to leave the EU, the question of what came next was surprisingly tricky. …
In the past few decades, the European economy has fallen behind. Whilst the US economy booms, Europe struggles to avoid recession. In dollar terms, in 2008, the EU was 90% the size of the US, today it is 65%. As a share of world GDP, Europe is declining, overtaken by China and in the future …
In the post-war period, the UK economy grow at 2.5% a year, but since great financial crisis, growth has slowed down markedly. The OECD report that since 2010, the UK has seen growth of just 0.1% in average wages, significantly lower than the majority of our main competitors. If current trends of growth are maintained, …
And after a decade long-boom in house prices, the past 12 months have been a real turning point. Real house prices have already fallen 13%, and last month Rightmove reported a £6,000 decline in average asking prices. But some commentators believe the worst is still to come due to higher interest rates and a struggling …
Since 2008, the UK’s growth rate has slowed down sharply. Before 2008, productivity grew at 2.2%, but in the past 15 years, it has averaged just 0.5%. It is not just the UK which has seen a slowdown in productivity, but the UK has definitely fared much worse. It has become known as the UK …
After years of delays and rising costs, HS2 has been severed. The most valuable part of the route, connecting the north to London has been cancelled leaving the least valuable section a suburb of Birmingham to a suburb of London (hopefully it will make it to Euston but no guarantee). It risks being a £50 …
Europe’s population is set to fall from 750 million to 570 million within six decades, and this will have profound economic and social costs. In the 1950s, 1 in 12 people were over 65, now it is 1 in 4. At the end of the century, it will be 1 in 3. That’s 33% of …
Last year, the UK saw a record level of net immigration, 600,000 – and although last year was exceptional, it is forecast to remain above pre-Brexit levels until 2026. Last year was also a year of record rent rises and chronic housing unaffordability. Given the UK’s inability to meet housing targets, how much is immigration …