King’s Speech: Pro-growth reforms risk being dragged down by red tape, warns IEA
17 July 2024
SUGGESTED
Monetary Policy
17 July 2024
Economics
Housing and Planning
Commenting on the King’s Speech, Tom Clougherty, Executive Director of the free market think tank, the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), said:
“The King’s Speech promises several welcome measures to get Britain building and growing again, particularly measures to enable more infrastructure and housing. The biggest handbrake on growth is undoubtedly our broken planning system.
“But we must not be stary-eyed about the rhetoric on growth when much of the agenda pushes in the opposite direction. Pro-growth measures risk being held back by new red tape and risky ‘mission-led’ central planning.
“The ban on new North Sea oil and gas will continue to hamstring Britain’s recovery from the energy crisis. A stack of new regulations on the labour market will reduce flexibility and increase structural unemployment. Rail nationalisation and industrial strategy are fraught with the risks of wasted taxpayer money, trade union dominance, and cronyism. New AI regulations could make Britain less hospitable for investing in developing world-leading technologies. The smoking ban takes away freedom from future adults while risking the creation of a mass criminal black market.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
Contact: media@iea.org.uk / 07763 365520
The mission of the Institute of Economic Affairs is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems. The IEA is a registered educational charity and independent of all political parties.
“The King’s Speech promises several welcome measures to get Britain building and growing again, particularly measures to enable more infrastructure and housing. The biggest handbrake on growth is undoubtedly our broken planning system.
“But we must not be stary-eyed about the rhetoric on growth when much of the agenda pushes in the opposite direction. Pro-growth measures risk being held back by new red tape and risky ‘mission-led’ central planning.
“The ban on new North Sea oil and gas will continue to hamstring Britain’s recovery from the energy crisis. A stack of new regulations on the labour market will reduce flexibility and increase structural unemployment. Rail nationalisation and industrial strategy are fraught with the risks of wasted taxpayer money, trade union dominance, and cronyism. New AI regulations could make Britain less hospitable for investing in developing world-leading technologies. The smoking ban takes away freedom from future adults while risking the creation of a mass criminal black market.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
Contact: media@iea.org.uk / 07763 365520
- In April, IEA Editorial Director Kristian Niemietz authored Home Win which outlines a possible future in which Britain embraces a series of planning reforms and solves the housing crisis.
- Before the General Election, IEA Director of Public Policy and Communications Matthew Lesh wrote Shadow Expenses which highlighted the significant and uncosted burden of regulations pledged by the main parties.
- In Graphic Content: How Red Tape is Fuelling the Cost of Living Crisis, Matthew also explained how key goods and services like energy, housing, and childcare, have become significantly more expensive because of red tape.
- In May 2023, Matthew criticised the previous government’s proposals to make it more difficult to evict tenants, explaining that “landlords will inevitably be more selective about who they offer properties to and charge higher rents.”
- IEA Head of Lifestyle Economics Christopher Snowdon warned that a generational tobacco ban risks fuelling criminal activity while doing little to reduce smoking in his 2023 paper Prohibition 2.0.
- In Wealth Generation, University of Louisiana Assistant Professor Justin Callais and George Mason University Assistant Professor Vincent Geloso wrote for the IEA in February explaining how liberalising reforms to planning and the labour market can help to boost social mobility in the UK.
- IEA Editorial and Research Fellow Professor Len Shackleton has questioned the practicality of passenger rail renationalisation.
- IEA Energy Analyst Andy Mayer wrote for City AM this week criticising the ban on new North Sea oil and gas drilling: Banning North Sea oil will only benefit Saudi Arabia.
- IEA Communications Manager Harrison Griffiths has argued the case against modern proposals for mission-led industrial policy: What the communitarian Right gets wrong about industrial policy.
The mission of the Institute of Economic Affairs is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems. The IEA is a registered educational charity and independent of all political parties.
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