In his first outing in the Commons as Communities and Local Government Secretary this week, Sajid Javid described the green belt as “absolutely sacrosanct”. He was only reiterating the position of the new prime minister, Theresa May, on this subject but he was more than happy to drive the point home. This will anger a lot… [Read More]
Last Thursday, after almost a week of collapsing share prices in the housebuilding sector and lots of anecdotal stories of housebuyers pulling out of transactions or suddenly dropping their bids by 10 per cent, ministers held a meeting with members of the Home Builders Federation (HBF). The subtext beneath this gathering was, or should have… [Read More]
The first thing to be quite clear about is that the NHS is not going to get another £350 million a week to add to its budget. Such a figure ignores the money that the UK receives back from the EU in rebates, reducing the figure by at least £200 million. The balance would have to be shared by… [Read More]
By Michael Burrage The European Commission’s record of negotiating service trade agreements has been particularly poor when compared with that of independent countries. In 2014 it had in force agreements, excluding those of the EU itself and with EFTA countries, which covered markets receiving just 1.85 per cent of the total UK world services exports.… [Read More]
As the EU referendum draws near and the possible repercussions for the NHS following a British exit become a polemical topic of discussion, it is pertinent to ask what issues might most affect the NHS? One piece of legislation affects the NHS more than any other: the European Working Time Directive (EWTD). Introduced in 2009,… [Read More]
By Michael Burrage Christine Lagarde of the IMF, and Angel Gurría, of the OECD, have supported of the campaign to remain in the EU by providing grim forecasts of the UK economy post-Brexit. Their forecasts were necessarily largely guesswork, since none of them know what a post-Brexit government will do, or for that matter, how… [Read More]
By Michael Burrage Roberto Azevêdo, the WTO’s director-general entered the debate about Brexit in an interview with the Financial Times. It attracted wide media attention partly because he issued a stark warning that ‘pretty much all of the UK’s trade [with the world] would somehow have to be negotiated.’ And also because his bluster seemed… [Read More]
By Michael Burrage The economic argument for remaining in the EU pivots on the supposed benefits to members of the Single Market. It is because the UK must keep access to this market that it must put up with all the other costs, obligations and inconveniences of membership. And since non-members only have access to… [Read More]
The leaders of ten trade unions claim that workplace rights will be under threat if we leave the EU. It seems that they have been drawn into the privileged world of high-powered meetings in Brussels and gone native to such an extent that they are divorced from the true interests of their members. The European… [Read More]
The NHS needs more doctors. Each year the General Medical Council (GMC) registers 23,544 doctors as being fit to practise. It is a telling statistic that while over 8,000 of these newly registering doctors come from abroad annually, British universities train as few as 6,000 new medics. This number reflects a limit imposed by the Department of Health… [Read More]