At the inaugural Politics in Pubs Central London event we were joined by Benjamin Elks of the Taxpayers’ Alliance and Alastair Mellon of the SDP for a discussion on how we achieve genuine, sustainable economic growth.
Visit Politics in Pubs at https://politicsinpubs.org.uk/ for more on their events in London and beyond. We also have a brief write up of this event below.
Dragon Slayed – Politics in Pubs in London
On the 30th April Politics in Pubs made its central London debut at The Warwick in Pimlico. We were joined by Alistair Mellon of the SDP, a civil engineer, property developer, and former SDP candidate, and Benjamin Elks the Grassroots Development Manager for the Taxpayers’ Alliance.
The event featured a panel discussion with our two guests on the theme ” Slay the Stagnation Dragon: Ignite Real Economic Growth!”, followed by audience Q&A.
The panel discussion started with a diagnosis of the problems we face. Alistair discussed how productivity is everything and we have major drags on the economy like sky-high energy prices and chronically low public/private investment in R&D and infrastructure. Ben talked about high taxes and spending being the core problem. Average household lifetime tax burden is now greater than £1.2 million. Taxing work/investment reduces both. He also said Welfare spending projected at £407 billion by 2030-31 is unsustainable.
The thorny topic of housing led to some disagreement. Alistair argues the private sector alone won’t deliver enough homes (historical averages ~195k/year). He favours competent state-led new towns using compulsory purchase near transport nodes. Ben stressed the need for planning reform over more state intervention, pointing to failures like Homes England which with more budget and staff, had achieved fewer homes built.
The panel discussed AI and the Future of Work. Both were relatively optimistic and mentioned new jobs will emerge through creative destruction. Focus will be needed on retraining, soft/people skills, and sectors like construction and defence.
The discussion was pragmatic, and positively policy heavy. Both were also critical of the political establishment (both main parties). Alistair is more focused on targeted state action and industrial strategy, while Ben focuses on tax cuts and spending restraint. There was however common ground on productivity, energy, defence, and the need for competence/accountability.
The Q&A was a lively discussion across the room picking up on many of these themes.
Thanks to both our guest, if you are keen to know more and watch out for future dates in London.
