IEA Executive Director Tom Clougherty has been quoted in The Daily Mirror responding to the new government’s King’s Speech which promised a litany of new measures from liberal planning reforms to stricter employment red tape.

Tom 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 starry-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.”

Read the full article here.

Tom was also quoted in This Is Money, Guido Fawkes, The Intermediary, Energy News Live, The Scotsman, and Proactive Investors.