Are politicians living in a tax-and-spend dream world?
5/27/202647 min
Are the government plans to help low income households hitting the right spot? Is there too much focus on symptoms and not causes? Could fiscal devolution happen too quickly? Why does the IMF often give the UK a rough ride on forecasts?
Paul Johnson - former director of the IFS - is back to give us his take on the economic reforms being discussed across the political sphere. Plus Robert puts him under pressure to tell us which government has been the worst economically. Will he answer? Listen to Robert and Steph’s chat wi...
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Transcript preview
First 90 secondsRobert Peston· Host0:01
Subsidizing trips to theme parks and free bus travel for kids. Does this look to you like the best way to protect people on low incomes from a cost of living surge?
Paul Johnson· Guest0:12
In a word, no. We're dealing with symptoms rather than underlying causes.
Steph McGovern· Host0:18
Everything around Andy Burnham's rhetoric is, "Look what I've done in Manchester." You're also cautious about it happening too quickly, aren't you?
Paul Johnson· Guest0:25
Surely the government has to, you know, do loads and loads to support people through an energy crisis or dealing with these short-term issues, even though some of them are, you know, potentially contrary to any idea of long-term growth. This government is only the latest in a long line of governments who talk the talk of wanting to do something about growth and productivity, and in the end, using a very technical phrase, bugger all.
Steph McGovern· Host0:45
We're delighted to say that this year The Rest Is Money is powered by Octopus Energy, and we've got Greg here. Greg, good to see you. So oil prices are very volatile. If they stay like that, what can we do to protect the UK economy?
Greg Jackson1:00
In the long run, electrification's the answer. Uh, ever since I was a kid, we've had periodic fossil fuel shocks, uh, and more fossil fuels aren't the long-term answer because the reality is that industry will never have spare capacity. They wouldn't invest in stuff if n- unless you're using it every day, uh, which means that whenever there's a constraint on supply, prices go up. We never used to have an alternative, but now with electrification, we do.
Steph McGovern· Host1:23
Nice one, Greg. Thanks for explaining that. Right, we're gonna go to the episode.
Speaker 51:27
[upbeat music] I sold my car on