IEA Podcast

In this Institute of Economic Affairs podcast, host Maeve Halligan is joined by Managing Editor Daniel Freeman and Head of Lifestyle Economics Christopher Snowdon to discuss the new Chancellor’s first major speech as well as its emphasis on fiscal devolution, deregulation and “public control”. They unpack how and why nearly a million young people are now classed as not in education, employment or training, and examine new international test results showing England’s pupils holding steady while Scotland and Wales fall behind.
The conversation opens with an assessment of the Chancellor’s speech, questioning whether its talk of devolved spending pots and light-touch regulation marks a genuine shift from the previous Treasury approach or simply a change in presentation, and examining what the pledge for “public control” over industries such as water and buses would actually mean in practice given the state of the public finances. Daniel Freeman and Christopher Snowdon then turn to the findings of the ongoing review into youth unemployment, discussing why so many young people are being signed off with mental health conditions, how sickness benefit assessments have changed since the pandemic, and what reform might look like. The episode closes with a look at the 2025 PISA results, in which English pupils held their position against a backdrop of declining outcomes across most of the OECD, while Scottish and Welsh results fell sharply, and what that divergence suggests about curriculum reform and its link, or lack of one, to economic growth.
The Institute of Economic Affairs is a registered educational charity. It does not endorse or give support for any political party in the UK or elsewhere. Our mission 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 views represented here are those of the speakers alone, not those of the Institute, its Managing Trustees, Academic Advisory Council members or senior staff.


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In this Institute of Economic Affairs interview, IEA Managing Editor Daniel Freeman is joined by Julian Jessop, Economics Fellow at the IEA, to discuss his chapter in the new IEA book The Great Stagnation: Why Britain Stopped Growing. The conversation covers the impact of austerity and Brexit on Britain’s economic growth since the 2008 financial crisis, and asks how much either can really explain the slowdown.
On austerity, Julian argues that the “savage cuts” of the 2010s are largely a myth: headline public spending continued to grow in real terms through the decade, even as it fell as a share of national income. He makes the case that controlling the deficit after 2008 was necessary to avoid a bigger crisis, while acknowledging that capital spending, including on prisons, was cut further than it should have been. He also connects the tighter borrowing conditions the UK faces today, sometimes called the “idiot premium”, to concerns that the Government is not as serious about the public finances as the coalition was in the early 2010s.
On Brexit, Julian argues the overall economic data shows it was largely a non-event, with UK growth tracking similarly to France and Germany since 2016. He points instead to high energy costs as a better explanation for the UK’s underperformance, and sets out benefits from Brexit including new trade deals, lower tariffs, smarter regulation and reduced budget contributions to the EU. Asked to score austerity and Brexit out of ten for their role in Britain’s growth slowdown, Julian gives both a zero.
The Institute of Economic Affairs is a registered educational charity. It does not endorse or give support for any political party in the UK or elsewhere. Our mission 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 views represented here are those of the speakers alone, not those of the Institute, its Managing Trustees, Academic Advisory Council members or senior staff.


This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit economicaffairs.co.uk/subscribe

In this week’s IEA Podcast, IEA Director General Lord Hannan is joined by Dr Kristian Niemietz, the IEA’s Editorial Director and Head of Political Economy, and Dr Christopher Snowdon, Head of Lifestyle Economics. They discuss the sharp rise in UK borrowing costs, with ten-year gilt yields hitting their highest level since 2008, and ask when rising bond yields actually tip over into a sovereign debt crisis. The conversation covers the parallels with the 2022 mini-budget, why bond markets have become so attuned to political rhetoric, how bond markets actually work, and whether Britain and the wider world are heading for a fresh bout of inflation.
Niemietz and Snowdon also examine the causes of Britain’s economic stagnation, and challenge the argument, revived in a recent speech by Andy Burnham, that the slowdown can be traced back to Margaret Thatcher’s reforms in the 1980s. They set out why the 1980s and Major years were, by historical standards, a period of strong growth, and question what a modern “post Thatcherite” settlement actually looks like.
The discussion turns to Donald Trump’s deal securing a share of Venezuela’s oil reserves, the Netherlands’ decision to move its gold reserves from the US to the UK, and what these episodes suggest about the reliability of American alliances. They close by discussing the psychological impact of Trump’s foreign policy on the UK and its allies, the Democratic Party’s choice of presidential candidates, and whether the old guard of Reaganite conservatism looks more appealing by comparison.
The Institute of Economic Affairs is a registered educational charity. It does not endorse or give support for any political party in the UK or elsewhere. Our mission 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 views represented here are those of the speakers alone, not those of the Institute, its Managing Trustees, Academic Advisory Council members or senior staff.


This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit economicaffairs.co.uk/subscribe

Great Stagnation: https://iea.org.uk/publications/46605/Purchase the book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-Stagnation-Britain-Stopped-Growing/dp/0255368607
This event marks the launch of the Institute of Economic Affairs’ new book, The Great Stagnation: Why Britain Stopped Growing. The panel is chaired by Daniel Freeman, Managing Editor and Deputy Editorial Director at the IEA, with opening remarks from Lord Daniel Hannan, Director General of the IEA, and Andrew Griffith MP, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer. The panellists are Tom Clougherty, independent policy advisor and former Executive Director of the IEA; Julian Jessop, Economics Fellow at the IEA; Julia Williams, co-founder of the Centre for British Progress; and Kristian Niemietz, Editorial Director at the IEA. Together they examine why UK growth per head has flatlined over the past two decades, and what might be done about it.
Andrew Griffith opens by setting out the scale of the problem, from record government borrowing to interest payments that now exceed the combined defence and NHS budgets, before making the case for lower taxes, deregulation and reform of employment law and judicial review. The panel then turns to the causes of the slowdown. Tom Clougherty argues that post financial crisis regulation choked off business investment and looks at how repeated spikes in marginal tax rates on capital have held back recovery, while Julian Jessop makes the case that neither austerity nor Brexit can explain Britain’s poor performance.
Julia Williams raises the risk that Britain is unprepared for the economic disruption of artificial intelligence, given how much of the economy depends on service sector jobs. Kristian Niemietz sets out his “defence of stupid growth”, arguing that the UK simply does not build enough homes, roads or energy capacity to sustain growth, whatever else it gets right. The discussion closes with audience questions covering tax on high earners, comparisons with Sweden and the Nordic countries, South Korea and the United States, and the effect of an ageing population on Britain’s growth prospects.
The Institute of Economic Affairs is a registered educational charity. It does not endorse or give support for any political party in the UK or elsewhere. Our mission 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 views represented here are those of the speakers alone, not those of the Institute, its Managing Trustees, Academic Advisory Council members or senior staff.


This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit economicaffairs.co.uk/subscribe

In this Institute of Economic Affairs podcast, IEA Director Daniel Hannan is joined by Kristian Niemietz, IEA Head of Political Economy, and Maeve Halligan, IEA Spokesperson, who has just joined the Institute. They discuss intergenerational fairness, examining a report from the IPPR which proposes taxing older homeowners more heavily to help younger people, and the collapse in graduate job opportunities, with entry-level roles falling from 55,000 in 2017 to around 8,000 today.
The conversation turns to the effect of minimum wage increases and higher employer National Insurance on youth unemployment, which has risen sharply since 2022. They also discuss the expansion of university education, arguing that too many young people are funnelled into degrees rather than apprenticeships or technical education, and consider the Government’s proposed mansion tax, including the prospect of tax inspectors assessing property values above £2 million. The discussion also covers why the UK’s tax burden, now around 40% of GDP, is at its highest level since 1947.
The episode closes with a look at Iceland’s referendum on reopening negotiations to join the EU, weighing up what Iceland stands to gain or lose on fisheries, agriculture and trade if it were to give up its current arrangement within the European Economic Area.
The Institute of Economic Affairs is a registered educational charity. It does not endorse or give support for any political party in the UK or elsewhere. Our mission 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 views expressed here are those of the speakers alone, not those of the Institute, its Managing Trustees, Academic Advisory Council members or senior staff.


This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit economicaffairs.co.uk/subscribe