IEA Podcast

In this episode of Free the Power, the IEA’s occasional series looking at free market solutions to problems in climate and energy policy, IEA energy analyst and COO Andy Mayer speaks with Catherine McBride, CEO of the Great British Business Council and lead author of the report Premeditated Industrial Destruction. They discuss how three quarters of UK energy is not electricity but oil, gas and coal, and why decades of green regulation have quietly hollowed out Britain’s industrial base. The conversation takes in the collapse of the chemicals sector, the carbon border adjustment mechanism, flawed emissions accounting, and why the UK’s claimed 50% emissions cuts shrink to 19% once imports are factored in.
Catherine and Andy examine the specific industries that have been lost or are disappearing, from aluminium smelting and titanium dioxide production to ceramics and cement, and why highly productive industries are being replaced by low-productivity service jobs. They debate the role of the emissions trading scheme, the windfall tax on North Sea producers, and how the Government’s planning and licensing regime has made the UK uniquely hostile to domestic energy extraction compared to Norway and the US.
The episode closes with Catherine’s three priorities for any future government: lifting the windfall tax and other levies on North Sea producers, scrapping the licensing restrictions that prevent new wells, and reversing the net zero framework that she argues has made no measurable difference to global emissions while destroying competitive industries. She also highlights the critical minerals sitting in old coal mine tailings across the UK and the safety risks of the proposed carbon capture pipeline through the Peak District.
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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Britain wants growth. 87% of the public support it, cutting across age, income, and political affiliation. But there is a catch: most people do not believe they will ever actually see the benefits. While nine in ten expect big corporations and the wealthy to gain from a growing economy, barely half think it will improve their own lives. That gap between wanting growth and trusting it explains almost everything about British politics right now.
Matthew Lesch, public policy fellow and country manager at Freshwater Strategy, joins the IEA podcast to walk through a major new polling project of 3,000 people and a series of focus groups. The findings are striking. Two thirds of Britons think the country is heading in the wrong direction. Most believe their living standards are lower than their parents’. And when asked where the UK would rank if it were a US state by income per capita, the average guess was seventh. The real answer is 51st.
What does the public actually want? Lower energy bills, tax cuts for workers, more housing, and public services that work. Not ideology, not abstract GDP targets, just tangible improvements to daily life. Lesch breaks down the six political tribes driving opinion, explains why Reform and Green Party voters have more in common than anyone expects, and sets out what it would actually take to build a public mandate for pro-growth reform in Britain today.
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 insider.iea.org.uk/subscribe

In this Institute of Economic Affairs podcast, host Callum Price is joined by Director General Lord Frost and Editorial Director Kristian Niemietz. The episode covers the Home Office’s decision to revoke Kanye West’s travel authorisation, the Green Party’s push for rent controls ahead of local elections, and new evidence on the employment effects of the minimum wage.
On the free speech and visa question, the panel examines whether the government was right to bar Kanye West from entering the UK, whether non-citizens should enjoy the same speech protections as British nationals, and how visa denial powers tend to be applied inconsistently along political lines. Kristian argues the same standard applied at the border should mirror what would be permissible to say domestically, while Lord Frost contends governments retain a legitimate interest in controlling who enters the country, provided it is done within clearly defined rules.
The conversation then turns to rent controls, where Kristian sets out why near-unanimous economist consensus against them exists, distinguishing between first and second generation controls and explaining why both produce misallocation and supply problems. The panel also discusses Ryan Bourne’s recent Times column on the minimum wage, arguing that political pressure has pushed it far beyond the level at which negative employment effects can be avoided, and that the policies most often defended as helping low-paid workers tend in practice to harm them most.
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 insider.iea.org.uk/subscribe

What really causes recessions? Tyler Goodspeed, former chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers and author of Recession: The Real Reasons Economies Shrink and What We Can Do About It, joins Daniel Freeman to challenge everything we think we know about economic downturns. Drawing on over 300 years of economic history across Britain and America, Goodspeed demolishes the idea that recessions are the inevitable consequence of booms — arguing instead that economic expansions do not die of old age. They get murdered.
From the 2008 financial crisis to the dotcom bust of 2001, Goodspeed reframes some of the most consequential economic events in modern history. Was 2008 really caused by reckless mortgage lending and greedy bankers? Or was a record-breaking energy price shock the real trigger? Was 2001 the dotcom crash — or was it September 11th that tipped the US economy into recession? And what does 300 years of data actually tell us about speculative bubbles, creative destruction, and the moral stories we tell ourselves when economies collapse?
The conversation also turns to Britain’s chronic underperformance since 2008, and why the UK remains at least 30% poorer than the United States. Goodspeed argues this is not the unavoidable aftermath of a financial crisis — it is the direct result of policy choices on taxation, land use, energy costs and financial regulation. For policymakers who claim to want growth, his message is clear: the first rule, as with medicine, is do no harm.
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.
Recession is available now in bookshops on both sides of the Atlantic.


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

Is the triple lock on the state pension sustainable? What does the future of free speech in Britain actually look like? And when does safety regulation cross the line into doing more harm than good? Kristian Niemietz, Lord Frost, and host Callum Price tackle three of the most contested policy questions in British public life right now.
The panel examines the case for and against the triple lock, exploring what a fairer, more sustainable pension system might look like and how the retirement age should relate to rising life expectancy. They also dig into the Adam Smith Institute’s proposed free speech bill, asking whether Britain’s long-standing reputation as a bastion of free expression still holds up when you look at the laws actually on the statute book.
Finally, the group debates the real-world costs of building safety regulation, and whether politicians and the media are willing to have an honest conversation about trade-offs. It is easier said than done, but without that conversation, good policy becomes almost impossible to make.
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 insider.iea.org.uk/subscribe