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Ross Clark

Ross Clark

The Spectator

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How Labour plans to justify its tax hike

Oh, the suspense. It seems that we will have to wait until next week to discover the details of the £20 billion ‘black hole’ which chancellor...

yesterday 5

The Spectator

Ross Clark

Are we really experiencing more ‘extreme’ weather?

The UK climate is getting ever more extreme. We know this because the BBC keeps telling us so, most recently in today’s reporting of the annual Met...

previous day 5

The Spectator

Ross Clark

Miliband will need natural gas to hit net zero

Three weeks into the new Labour government and it is already becoming clear where some of its weaknesses lie – none more so than Ed Miliband’s...

23.07.2024 4

The Spectator

Ross Clark

Can Labour afford to give teachers and NHS staff above-inflation pay rises?

Well, that didn’t last long. Having preached to us about fiscal responsibility and ‘securonomics’, Chancellor Rachel Reeves appears to be about...

22.07.2024 6

The Spectator

Ross Clark

Why is British retail so sluggish?

Is the retail sector ever going to recover from Covid-19? The rest of the economy seems to be purring quite nicely at the moment, with GDP up 0.7 per...

19.07.2024 7

The Spectator

Ross Clark

Brexit / Keir Starmer is deluding himself about the EU

‘We cannot let the challenges of the recent past define our relationships of the future,’ declared the Prime Minister ahead of today’s meeting...

18.07.2024 8

The Spectator

Ross Clark

Labour’s war on nimbys won’t work

Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner has promised the ‘most ambitious programme of devolution this country has ever seen’, with new powers for...

17.07.2024 7

The Spectator

Ross Clark

Britain has entered a birth rate crisis

Few will notice, yet this year England and Wales are almost certainly going to cross a remarkable threshold: the number of deaths will exceed the...

15.07.2024 6

The Spectator

Ross Clark

What makes George Osborne think he’s a centrist?

Don’t bother going after the Reform UK vote – the next Conservative leader should target voters lost to the Lib Dems instead. So says George...

13.07.2024 9

The Spectator

Ross Clark

The problem with Ed Miliband’s North Sea oil crackdown

Just Stop Oil continued its campaign by spreading orange paint over road junctions in Westminster this week, but why bother when the organisation...

12.07.2024 20

The Spectator

Ross Clark

The message Starmer should send to Thames Water

Less than a week in to his government and Keir Starmer is already facing an ideological battle within the Labour party – over the nationalisation,...

11.07.2024 6

The Spectator

Ross Clark

The problem with Rachel Reeves’s ‘National Wealth Fund’

What country ever went wrong with a sovereign wealth fund? It is easy to envy Singapore and Norway – the latter of which now has £1.3 trillion...

10.07.2024 10

The Spectator

Ross Clark

The four day week has no place in the public sector

What a surprise. South Cambridgeshire District Council has declared its controversial experiment with a four day week – which put council staff on a...

09.07.2024 8

The Spectator

Ross Clark

Will Reeves be brave enough to take on the eco blockers?

On the eve of the election the then shadow minister without portfolio Nick Thomas-Symonds appeared to be getting Labour’s excuses in early. If an...

08.07.2024 7

The Spectator

Ross Clark

Ed Miliband will be a terrible Energy Secretary

I know it has only just begun, but it is not too early to start wondering: what will it be that causes the Starmer government its first serious...

06.07.2024 10

The Spectator

Ross Clark

Two-party state / Are the Lib Dems and Reform really right to feel happy?

It’s a disaster, a cataclysm, a wipeout. Half the cabinet will lose their seats, and Labour will be in power for a decade. All those things will be...

05.07.2024 10

The Spectator

Ross Clark

Stanley Johnson and the trouble with Green Tories

I have a theory about intra-Johnson family politics. Some time in 2017 or 2018 Stanley agreed to shut up about his opposition to Brexit if Boris...

04.07.2024 5

The Spectator

Ross Clark

Why German carmakers don’t want EU tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles

I recant. On a number of occasions I have asserted that the European Union is run by lobbyists acting on behalf of French farmers and the German car...

04.07.2024 4

The Spectator

Ross Clark

What Labour gets wrong about inheritance tax

What is the primary purpose of a tax: to raise revenue to fund public services or as a tool to help engineer society in a way which the government...

03.07.2024 10

The Spectator

Ross Clark

What Labour means for housing

Labour appears to be planning to make housing a big priority for its first weeks in power, which is perhaps unsurprisingly, given that it will have...

03.07.2024 6

The Spectator

Ross Clark

The shame of Royal Mail’s postal vote delay

Britain’s creaking infrastructure and frequent paralysis of public services deserved to be a bigger factor in the election campaign than it has...

02.07.2024 10

The Spectator

Ross Clark

Proportional representation won’t save the Tories

Members and supporters of the Conservative party do not generally speak in favour of proportional representation (PR) – which is hardly surprising...

01.07.2024 9

The Spectator

Ross Clark

The problem with Reform’s plan to scrap Net Zero money

Never mind net zero – let’s spend the money on the NHS instead. That, in an echo of the infamous promise on the side of the Vote Leave battle bus,...

26.06.2024 5

The Spectator

Ross Clark

The bookies must learn from the Westminster betting scandal

Nothing excuses the behaviour of the Conservative MPs, party officials and police protection officers who took a flutter on the date of the general...

26.06.2024 8

The Spectator

Ross Clark

The Greens’ heat pump plan won’t work

‘I’m literally in the process of getting quotes’ may well make it into the pantheon of feeble political excuses alongside ‘I did not inhale’...

24.06.2024 10

The Spectator

Ross Clark

How has Farage fallen for the idea that the West provoked Russia?

Nigel Farage enjoyed a combative exchange with Nick Robinson in his BBC Panorama interview this evening, and acquitted himself well on many issues....

22.06.2024 20

The Spectator

Ross Clark

Economic recovery has come too late for Sunak

Today’s retail sales figures, showing that volumes increased by 2.9 per cent in May after a fall of 1.8 per cent in April, provide yet another sign...

21.06.2024 7

The Spectator

Ross Clark

The Surrey oil judgment undermines our democracy

The Conservatives are in favour of granting licences for new oil and gas extraction; Labour is against it. But what does it matter what either party...

20.06.2024 9

The Spectator

Ross Clark

How Keir Starmer plans to rule through the courts

Never mind Labour’s promise not to raise income tax, national insurance or VAT – the party will soon be jacking up taxes for everyone. That sums...

20.06.2024 40

The Spectator

Ross Clark

It shouldn’t be surprising that a Muslim son of immigrants is funding Reform

Should it really be a surprise that Zia Yusuf, a Muslim entrepreneur who made his fortune setting up a company that runs an app providing concierge...

19.06.2024 10

The Spectator

Ross Clark

Why is Jim Ratcliffe backing Starmer?

On the face of it, there could hardly be a better example of a turkey voting for Christmas than the news that Jim Ratcliffe has come out and backed...

18.06.2024 10

The Spectator

Ross Clark

Why the Tories’ tax black hole attack on Labour will backfire

The Conservatives love trying to reduce their estimates for the cost of a Labour government down to a neat per-household figure, which makes it easy...

17.06.2024 7

The Spectator

Ross Clark

David Cameron is driving voters in Farage’s arms

Who on earth at Tory campaign HQ thought it was a good idea to send Lord Cameron into battle to attack Nigel Farage and try to head off the gathering...

15.06.2024 10

The Spectator

Ross Clark

Starmer wants to go for growth – but will he end up like Liz Truss?

Keir Starmer, it turns out, was a secret Liz Truss fan all along. Launching his party’s manifesto this morning he is going to tell us that growth...

13.06.2024 20

The Spectator

Ross Clark

When will the Greens get real?

There is something a little refreshing about the Green party. In contrast to Rishi Sunak, who has no option but to carry on pretending he has the...

12.06.2024 10

The Spectator

Ross Clark

Sunak’s National Insurance pledge could backfire

Two years ago, as Chancellor, Rishi Sunak chose to jack up National Insurance contributions. It is a mark of how all over the place this government...

11.06.2024 5

The Spectator

Ross Clark

Council tax / Lib Dem policies are as barmy as their campaign

Ed Davey has finally taken a break from fooling around to launch some policies. But one of them, in particular, is not going to please a great number...

10.06.2024 5

The Spectator

Ross Clark

How many more houses will Labour actually build?

Is Labour really going to help get 80,000 people on the housing ladder over the next five years under its Freedom to Buy scheme, as it is claiming...

07.06.2024 8

The Spectator

Ross Clark

What happened to the ‘gigafactories’?

Remember all those ‘gigafactories’ that were going to decarbonise our road transport and create many thousands of green jobs into the...

06.06.2024 8

The Spectator

Ross Clark

The trouble with the Tories’ ‘Family Home Tax Guarantee’

There is a very big problem with Jeremy Hunt’s Family Home Tax Guarantee, though which he promises a Conservative government would not increase the...

06.06.2024 10

The Spectator

Ross Clark

Labour could end up spending far more than £2,000 per household

It is small wonder that Treasury officials are unhappy about Conservative claims about Labour tax rises being attributed to them. The civil service is...

05.06.2024 10

The Spectator

Ross Clark

The problem with Sunak’s migrant cap

It is perhaps no accident that Rishi Sunak has rushed out his proposal for a cap on migrant workers and their dependants the day after Nigel Farage...

04.06.2024 10

The Spectator

Ross Clark

Nigel Farage’s election U-turn could be deadly for the Tories

No wonder that Nigel Farage has decided that he would rather be leader of Reform UK than merely honorary president, and that he would like another...

03.06.2024 20

The Spectator

Ross Clark

After Rishi / Who will survive to lead the Tories?

In spite of his conviction for falsifying business records, Donald Trump is still expected by many to make a remarkable political comeback in...

01.06.2024 30

The Spectator

Ross Clark

Labour’s energy plan doesn’t add up

So, we have a little more flesh on the bones of Labour’s energy policy, with the party giving more details of Great British Energy, the state-owned...

31.05.2024 30

The Spectator

Ross Clark

Home insulation is the latest net zero farce

Zoe Godrich of Swansea might best be described as collateral damage in Britain’s glorious march towards net zero. Three years ago, she had her...

30.05.2024 20

The Spectator

Ross Clark

Climate / Why are white men being shamed as transport polluters?

Black women are the worst for carbon-intensive travelling habits, according to the Guardian, citing research by the Institute for Public Policy...

29.05.2024 40

The Spectator

Ross Clark

The truth about pensioners and tax

The Tories’ ‘Triple Lock Plus’ is a pretty blatant attempt to secure the votes of a demographic group which is more inclined to vote...

28.05.2024 8

The Spectator

Ross Clark

Private schools can’t complain about Labour’s VAT raid

Of course Labour’s policy of charging VAT on private school fees is all about throwing a bit of red meat to those in the party who are motivated by...

27.05.2024 20

The Spectator

Ross Clark

Why is UK retail doing so badly?

This morning’s retail sales figures are not what Rishi Sunak will have hoped for as he pitches his case for re-election on economic recovery. They...

24.05.2024 10

The Spectator

Ross Clark

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