simon wren-lewis @sjwrenlewis Twitter profile

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@Akin_nnnnnn_

@stwgemoy

simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

5 years

It is very simple. Labour do not need to lie because the facts are on their side. In contrast the Tories have to make stuff up.

rachel shabi

@rachshabi

5 years

Study finds 88% of Conservative ads and zero Labour ads are dishonest and untruthful. BBC: they’re all as bad as each other

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

6 years

Apparently the Prime Minister quoted me saying about Labour's 2017 manifesto "the numbers did not add up" In fact I said "Let us suppose the IFS was correct" and examined consequences. I have never taken a view on whether they did/didn't add up. If that is what she said, she lied

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

6 years

This is so important. See this study that suggests UKIP support followed media coverage rather than vice versa We saw the same with Trump. The media has to stop pretending they have no influence.

Does Media Coverage Drive Public Support for UKIP or Does Public Support for UKIP Drive Media...

Does Media Coverage Drive Public Support for UKIP or Does Public Support for UKIP Drive Media Coverage? - Volume 50 Issue 3

www.cambridge.org

Owen Jones

@owenjonesjourno

6 years

The BBC made Nigel Farage. He'd be nothing without them. And now the media is going to normalise the new far right of Steve Bannon and Tommy Robinson.

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

5 years

So the LibDems would allow No Deal to happen just to prevent Corbyn leading a government whose only task is to stop No Deal and call an election. So much for being a Remain party.

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

3 years

Another COVID thread. The results are clear. The government made a bad mistake in getting rid of compulsory masks, not introducing vaccine passports, and not protecting children at school. France kept compulsory masks in public places and schools, has vaccine 1/9

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

2 years

With her focus on growth, Truss is following in the Johnson tradition of covering up what you are doing by saying you are doing the opposite. See, for example, levelling up, or high wage Britain. How do we know this? Two reasons. (1) Because Truss included in her 1/7

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

5 years

When Labour didn't want to adopt the full IHRA definition of antisemitism, there was a media outcry. When the Conservative party do not want any definition at all for Islamophobia, the media is largely silent. Whatever happened to balance?

Sayeeda Warsi

@SayeedaWarsi

5 years

Huge development- Police chiefs support ⁦ @APPGBritMuslims ⁩ definition of #Islamophobia 👏🏽 Sadly Westminster ⁦ @Conservatives ⁩ refusal to adopt the definition is rooted in self preservation not national interest #IslamophobiaDefined

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

5 years

I'm no Corbyn fan and have been very critical of his stubbornness on Brexit, but this is just mad. No one more than Johnson, Cumming, May, the ERG?! Did Labour's performance in the 2017 GE make Brexit more likely to happen? Did voting against Tory Brexits? Does backing PV? Mad.

Jo Maugham

@JolyonMaugham

5 years

If the book of Brexit comes to be written, it will tell of how no one did more to make it happen than Corbyn 🔸️sabotaging Remain in 2016 🔸️"invoke Article 50 now" 🔸️ignoring illegality 🔸️misleading on single market 🔸️thwarting an emergency Govt 🔸️disrupting a 2nd ref

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

3 years

I have been puzzling over why none of the commentariat has called this budget out for what it is: an austerity budget. Let me first justify why its an austerity budget. 2010 austerity had two aspects. The first was shrinking the state: a large squeeze in public spending 1/13

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

6 years

This will become an acid test for the BBC. Both the OBR and IFS think there is no Brexit dividend - it is a politically motivated fiction. If the BBC starts routinely talking about the Brexit dividend as if it really exists then they really will have become the Brexit BC.

Robert Peston

@Peston

6 years

When you hear ministers describing the imminent boost to NHS spending as a Brexit “dividend”, think 🦄. Britons will pay for it through increased taxes and the burden of higher debt

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

5 years

Woke up to a triumph for Remain. On latest vote count from BBC, UK clear Remain 40.3%, clear No Deal 34.9%, Lab 14.1% Con 9,1%. Clear Remain even just beat No Deal Brexit in England. If that is not the headline you are seeing, it is another example of Brexit bias I'm afraid.

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

5 years

Oh dear. Zero evidence presented here. There was a 40% increase in hate crime against all religions between 2017/8 and 2016/17, about half directed against Muslims. If you want to convince people you don't have a political agenda against Corbyn, this is not the way to do it.

The Jewish Chronicle

@JewishChron

5 years

Our leader this week on the spike in antisemitism - 'The cause of this ongoing record increase is no mystery. It can be summed up in two words: Jeremy Corbyn'

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

5 years

What tired, ignorant rubbish. At today's real interest rates, there will be no debt to pay back. But without any investment in a Green New Deal there will just be climate change threatening the planet.

BBC Politics

@BBCPolitics

5 years

“Throwing all kinds of fiscal responsibility out of the window...paid back by future generations” Institute of Economic Affairs' Kate Andrews says today’s young people would later pay back the costs of Labour’s 2019 election pledges #politicslive

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

4 years

Just watched the #Marr interview with Miliband, and then I remembered a senior BBC presenter trying to persuade me the BBC had no responsibility for the mess we are currently in. What on earth was Marr doing portraying government talking points as undeniable facts?

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

5 years

Completely the wrong take. Defeating Johnson and No Deal requires Remain voters to vote tactically, as many Labour voters did here. My fear is that not enough LibDem voters will reciprocate in Lab/Con marginals.

Labour for Europe

@Labour4EU

5 years

Awful and entirely predictable result for Labour. We're paying the price for years of equivocation on Brexit and the electorate are giving up on us. Everyone in the Labour Party should be telling @jeremycorbyn it isn't good enough. He should step up and back Remain or step down.

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

2 years

So please let's treat her crusade for growth for what it is: just one more slogan that is meant to distract from past and future failures. In this case past and future failures in achieving the growth in living standards most other countries have and we used to have. /end

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

4 years

To question is divisive and unpatriotic. To oppose is divisive and unpatriotic (PMQs). When will people wake up to the type of government we now have?

Matthew Thompson

@mattuthompson

4 years

Bloody hell. Asked a fairly reasonable question in the Commons, Matt Hancock replies: “I will not have this divisive language. I will not have it.” You will not have Parliamentary scrutiny? Then you may be in the wrong job, sir.

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

5 years

New post: The othering of Jeremy Corbyn By othering I mean treating Corbyn (or more generally the Labour left) as beyond the pale in terms of conventional politics. It is what the media has consistently done, it works, and the costs of that could be great.

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

6 years

Incredible. We cannot have democracy=referendum on a final deal because the far right will not like it! Some people have learnt nothing from history. You are supposed to represent the Labour party, not UKIP or worse.

Caroline Flint

@CarolineFlint

6 years

It is clear. There is an 11th hour attempt to overturn the result of the EU Ref 2016. Even if it means siding with Johnson, Rees-Mogg et al to stop any deal & leave us crashing out. The consequences are dire & a 2nd Ref will lead to far right resurgence, discord & distrust

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

5 years

I had noticed this before and it is really interesting. It is the generation that watched war films after the war that love Brexit. Those closer to the war do not.

LSE British Politics and Policy

@LSEpoliticsblog

5 years

Britain’s wartime generation are almost as pro-EU as millennials

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

5 years

Depressing. There is an academic consensus that we need a lot more public investment across most major countries. There is also a recognised shortage of safe assets like government debt. Why do these scare stories get through to those who have a responsibility to know better?

Brian Cox

@ProfBrianCox

5 years

In the real world, outside the UK’s frenzied internal arguement with itself, this matters. Neither Labour nor the Conservatives will be able to borrow all the money they are pledging if international investors take fright.

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

4 years

Despair. @Channel4News does shock/horror at the deficit/debt. Says some economists think current debt is unsustainable. Link to possible future tax hikes. No mention that IMF + most academic economists say otherwise. Biased reporting that has learnt nothing. Mediamacro forever?

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

6 years

According to the BBC website, the most important story today is this: Does this exemplify all that is currently wrong with BBC political reporting? Discuss

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

4 years

I'm puzzled. It is a fact that many of Labour's political opponents deliberately exaggerate the extent of antisemitism in the Labour party. By stating that fact, does that mean I cannot be a member of the Labour party? Cannot help but think this is a major mistake by Starmer.

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

5 years

This is parroting the Tory line that austerity was Labour's fault. As wrong coming from the left as it was from the right. Austerity wan't inevitable after the Global Financial Crisis. It was Osborne choosing to shrink the state, because Labour hadn't. Know your true enemy.

Momentum 🌹

@PeoplesMomentum

5 years

Blair favoured deregulation of the banking industry - leading to one of the worst crashes in modern history. While spending on public services was higher, his legacy will ultimately be the austerity that followed his failure to stand up to big finance.

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

5 years

People often ask me why Labour cannot get rid of unpopular Corbyn and get a more popular leader. I suspect the answer involves seeing adds like this rather than mugs with 'Controls on Immigration' written on it.

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

2 years

anti-growth coalition those opposed to Brexit. We know with pretty near certainty that over the last few years Brexit has reduced UK growth, and may well continue to do so. So how can Remainers be anti-growth, when one of the key objections to Brexit 2/7

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

4 years

The government could have stopped this. They chose not to. How many will die as a result?

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

4 years

"Changing the testing target to include tests sent out but not actually tested illustrates that journalism in the UK is broken". Discuss

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

4 years

The 'nobody could have handled the pandemic better than the Tories' is much the same as 'Donald Trump really won the 2020 election' or 'driving to Barnard's Castle is a great way to test your eyesight'.

Owen Jones

@owenjonesjourno

4 years

My timeline is full of people claiming that nobody could have handled the pandemic better than the Tories. This is a lie. A gratuitous, absurd lie. This is how they messed it up at every stage - and unleashed an entirely avoidable calamity.

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

5 years

New post: Is Labour’s economic plan credible? Short answer is yes, but rather than obsess with 'does it add up', we should talk about how Labour will revitalise the economy.

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

3 years

There is something very wrong with our Prime Minister and his MPs that they treat the lives of the citizens they are meant to look after so trivially. To call this libertarian is to hide criminal neglect behind an ideology, particularly when so many of its other actions are 7/9

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

6 years

One of the huge political ironies since 2010 is Conservatives claiming that immigration needed to be lower, but simultaneously claiming credit for GDP growth that resulted from their failure to lower it. I have never seen this rather obvious point made in our broadcast media.

Adam Tooze

@adam_tooze

6 years

Since the early 2000s UK growth has been extensive i.e. driven not by productivity increase but by adding workers, many of them new arrivals to UK. Frm @IPPR report h/t @sjwrenlewis

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

4 years

Mixed emotions about the FT mea culpa. “That consensus can be wrong was on display after the 2008 financial crisis, when many organisations — including this newspaper — advocated fiscal retrenchment.“ 1/4

A fiscal policy for all seasons

Spending approaches should be ready for a change in circumstances

www.ft.com

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

4 years

This fiasco is in danger of making a mockery of claims by Oxford and Cambridge that they want to attract talent from schools that do not normally send pupils to Oxbridge. There was no new information in the downward adjustment of grades, beyond that these pupils came from the 1/n

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

4 years

The facts did not change. What is missing from the FT leader is any attempt to ask themselves why they got it wrong, and why they pushed an idea that went against basic macroeconomic principles known since Keynes and abundant evidence that austerity would do great harm. 4/4

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

2 years

Like reverse Brexit (that's 4+% growth right there), not cut taxes and benefits as Osborne did, invest more rather than less in health, have less rather than more inequality and so on. Instead she is doing much the same as Osborne did. 5/n

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

6 years

New post: Why Brexiters look defeated The reason Johnson calls the Irish backstop monstrous.

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

5 years

The damage the LibDems can do. If you vote LibDem in Putney or Southport the Tories will win because of you. But if you are intending to vote Labour in Guildford, vote LibDem instead to get the Tory out.

Mike Smithson

@MSmithsonPB

5 years

The final round of @DeltapollUK constituency polls Putney CON 38 (-6) LAB 35 (-6) LD 24 (+12) Southport CON 43 (+4) LAB 35 (+2) LD 22 (-4) Guildford LD 41 (+17) CON 40 (-15) LAB 11 (-8)

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

2 years

is that it reduces growth? The reality is that one of the features of the last 12 years of Tory government has been the lack of growth in GDP per head and particularly real wages, relative to growth in other countries or previous UK governments. 3/7

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

5 years

Why is this even a question?

BBC Radio 4 Today

@BBCr4today

5 years

Should politicians be called out on air as liars if they say things which aren't true? #r4today

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

2 years

How to deal with that embarrassment? Make a feature of being pro-growth. (2) If Truss really wanted to be pro-growth, you would look at what your government had done over the last 12 years and do something different. 4/7

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

5 years

Just out in today's Guardian There is a disconnect between people's experiences and how the economy is reported partly because the media either can't or won't challenge the Tory lie that they are supporting public services or that the economy is strong.

Strong on the economy? The Tories are weak – and the media should say so | Simon Wren-Lewis

Data shows the economy has been weaker since 2010 than under Labour between 1997 and 2007, says Simon Wren-Lewis, emeritus professor of economics and fellow of Merton College, Oxford

www.theguardian.com

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

6 years

New post: Why the UK cannot see that Brexit is utterly, utterly stupid What is it that those overseas can see that the UK cannot? What accounts for this difference?

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

6 years

Thread on Corbyn's speech today, having now seen summary sent to press and 'check against delivery' version. The section that has attracted interest is "A key sentence is “For the last 40 years, a magical kind of thinking has dominated the way Britain is run. We’ve been 1/n

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

5 years

If enough people vote for the LibDems in Lab/Con marginals because of talk like this then we are ensured a majority Tory government that will enact No Deal or a hard Brexit. Whose responsibility will Brexit be then?

Best for Britain

@BestForBritain

5 years

Swinson is entitled to criticise Corbyn’s Brexit record. It doesn’t alter the fact that he, not Johnson, is offering a referendum with Remain on ballot. Remainers will need to work together to combat what is now an existential threat. The old tribalism just won’t work anymore ~JL

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

6 years

The logic here is indisputable. 2016 was not a mandate for No Deal (ND). The government can prevent ND by revoking A50. Therefore using billions of our money on ND preparations is a complete waste of our money. It is an unbelievable scandal that hardly anyone is talking about.

Chris Grey 🇺🇦

@chrisgreybrexit

6 years

Government no deal preparations are irresponsible, unnecessary and dangerous. My latest Brexit Blog post (and, definitely, final one before Christmas):

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

5 years

This is very important. The 5% man on question time should have had his error corrected by someone behind the scenes at the time and then by the chair, not by a fact check site that far fewer people read. Many cases like this.

Stephen Bush

@stephenkb

5 years

Little bit about the £80k man, this week’s ITV debate and the problem with factcheck services:

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

6 years

@CCHQPress But I never said they did not add up. She lied about that.

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

7 years

900 high class UK jobs sacrificed on the alter of Brexit. The UK still has no idea how it is going to respond. Typical of the whole endeavour.

Netherlands Embassy 🇬🇧

@NLinUK

7 years

Congratulations to #Amsterdam , which has narrowly beaten Milan to be selected as the new location of the European Medicines Agency! @EMA_News

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

6 years

@CCHQPress Would you like to apologise on behalf of her party?

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

1 year

Seeing some absurd takes like “as a license fee payer I don't pay Lineker's salary to hear his political views”. It's your choice to follow Lineker on twitter. If you don't, the reason you have read his tweets is thanks to the Mail, Telegraph + BBC management, not Lineker! 1/n

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

3 years

Time and again the scientific advice is act sooner than later, and our government acts very much later. It keeps on making exactly the same mistake: last year in March, in September, over Christmas and now since the summer. They just don't want to learn. 4/9

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

6 years

I think this is wrong. The Brexit story is very much a UK affair. The only 'crumb' the EU could have thrown May to change the vote today was Ireland, and it is to their credit that the EU did not do that.

Paul Krugman

@paulkrugman

6 years

If they'd thrown May a few crumbs, today might have looked very different. The arrogance of the EC, completely untempered by the disasters of austerity, is very much part of the British story 2/

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

3 years

own readers or large parts of broadcast media who would spend days talking about one plane crash or terrorist incident yet fails to put a human face to the statistics, fails to outline the science, fails to compare England to other countries and ask why we are so different? 9/9

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

4 years

Glad to see the FT is thinking straight in 2020, having learnt the lessons from its support for austerity in 2010.

FT Economics

@fteconomics

4 years

Now is not the time to worry about the UK debt burden

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

3 years

“mercifully low” number of deaths. Many more than the total number of MPs in parliament died last week from COVID. Calling this low reflects the government's attitude, where their dislike of measures like mask wearing is more important that nearly a thousand lives a week 6/9

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

4 years

New post: Why do some find the economics/health trade-off so hard to get? Because it’s like the Phillips curve. There is a level of economic restrictions that gets R=1. Anything less because of an "economics/health trade-off" is self-defeating.

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

4 years

Fascinating comparison between Madrid and New York, where New York has avoided any rebound in cases. Differences: NY had more tests and more tracers, and has been more cautious in opening certain types of social consumption. Sunak may regret his £10 off a meal out.

Miguel Hernán

@_MiguelHernan

4 years

1/ Look at the shape of these curves. New York and Madrid had similar epidemics until they spectacularly diverged. In March, both cities were caught by surprise and shut down because of #COVID19 . In September, the situation is under control in NY and alarming in Madrid. Why?

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

6 years

When the BBC is called out on this time and time again and yet continues regardless, you realise that either they know exactly what they are doing, and/or they have not the slightest interest in what the academic consensus is.

Ian Dunt

@IanDunt

6 years

Pretty perfect example of false balance here. No-deal Brexiters given exactly the headline they wanted.

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

4 years

Another lame excuse for a mistake that cost tens of thousands of lives. If this explanation was correct, it would imply an immediate and hard lockdown by end Feb while at the same time creating that capacity (starting in Feb). What we had in reality was herd immunity.

James Forsyth

@JGForsyth

4 years

Boris Johnson now plans to go South Korean on the virus. So, why wasn’t this the plan all along? The answer: the state simply wasn’t capable of doing this earlier in the crisis. The necessary infrastructure did not exist

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@sjwrenlewis

2 years

Her one major departure from Osborne's policy is not to obsess about the deficit. Unfortunately she has gone from one extreme to the other and allowed a first budget that was fiscally unsustainable. We all know how that went. 6/n

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

3 years

The health secretary yesterday urged people to wear masks and act responsibly, while his own MPs sit in parliament with no masks in sight. How can you ask people to behave responsibly when his party refuses to do so. The heath secretary talked about the current 5/9

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

2 years

The starve the beast strategy requires a period of a year at least between tax cuts and calls for spending cuts, so the two are not closely linked in voters minds. The market reaction to Kwarteng's unfunded tax cuts means that will not be possible. 1/6

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

3 years

it has to be time to start implementing the measures France and others have in place. Yet, astonishingly, the government is doing nothing. Rather than try to stop a disaster in hospitals happening, they are just going to wait for it to happen, inviting another lockdown. 3/9

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

5 years

I have the same problem watching Johnson as I have watching trump. How can anyone trust anything this man says? And there each one is, standing for the highest office in their land. It is so incredible it is painful to watch.

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

4 years

but not the majority of academic economists who always opposed austerity. So many words and so much time was spent by me and others trying to get both theory and evidence across to organisations like the FT. It is not luck or chance that we were right and they were wrong. 3/4

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@sjwrenlewis

1 year

New post: How the political right has used ‘impartiality’ to first gain political power, and then take over the BBC Lineker's tweets present no threat to the reputation of the BBC, but they do represent a threat to the government.

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

3 years

the opposite of libertarian. Why do the elderly, most at risk from this virus, continue to vote for the government that has so little interest in their lives? Could it be because large sections of the print media encourages the government's indifference to the lives of their 8/9

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

4 years

schools they say they are trying to attract. So by using these grades to reject students they are either revealing that they don't really want these kind of students after all, or that they do not understand what has happened. In either case they look very bad.

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@sjwrenlewis

6 years

When I saw the headline I was skeptical, but I think this is right. Neoliberalism didn't recognise externalities, and portrayed state action as always a failure, and tax as a burden.

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

3 years

passports and started vaccinating teenagers in the summer, with now less than 5,000 cases a day compared to 45,000 in the UK. With UK cases now showing a sustained rise towards previous peaks, hospitals filling up with any catch-up on postponed cases coming to a halt, 2/9

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

6 years

Great chart. It illustrates one of the key ideas in (neoclassical) economics: the diminishing marginal utility of consumption. It is one reason why it makes sense to tax the rich to give to the poor. Worth remembering the next time someone tells you mainstream economics is evil.

Resolution Foundation

@resfoundation

6 years

Higher incomes matter for well-being, but they have diminishing returns. An extra £1,000 of income delivers a far greater well-being boost to a household with £10,000, compared to one with £100,000.

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

6 years

If this piece is correct about Tuesday meetings, it means that every time the BBC has the tax payers' alliance, or the IEA, or the Adam Smith Institute and many other funding-opaque think tanks on, they are getting a coordinated extreme neoliberal line.

Toby-B 🇺🇦🍉

@MajorGrubert

6 years

I was surprised to learn of regular meetings of the Tufton St 9.

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

5 years

Good thread: "I've read so many "it's childish to blame the media" comments (from those in the media) and this is delusional at best. When every line someone gives you is parroted from the media, the media is the main player."

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

3 years

The IMF have a nice chart that shows what a bad position the UK economy is currently in. Worst GDP compared to pre-crisis trend but also excess inflation. Many reasons, of which Brexit is clearly one.

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

5 years

It is clear what happened. BBC said no, Tories then used the terrorist incident to pressure the BBC, and fearing nasty headlines in the Tory press they caved. Alas typically weak.

BBC News Press Team

@BBCNewsPR

5 years

The Prime Minister will be interviewed on tomorrow's Andrew Marr programme. Statement here.

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

1 year

Important read. Brexit was bound to imply that most UK firms would follow EU standards, but the UK would no longer have any say in what those standards were. The government has, very quietly, now recognised that. Why 'sovereignty' can give you less control than cooperation.

Chris Grey 🇺🇦

@chrisgreybrexit

1 year

UKCA: a symbol of the folly of Brexit. New post on my Brexit & Beyond Blog (breaking its 'summer recess') on yesterday's announcement of the indefinite extension of the use of CE conformity assessment marking in the UK, and what it tells us about Brexit:

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

5 years

To call people who have worked here for years, paid taxes here, even married and had children here as not part of this country is disgraceful. For any decent person it should be beyond the pale. Yet it is Corbyn, not Johnson, who is othered by the media.

The Times and The Sunday Times

@thetimes

5 years

EU migrants have been able to “treat the UK as if it’s part of their own country” for too long, Boris Johnson said yesterday as he reprised the core message of Vote Leave’s 2016 EU referendum campaign.

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

6 years

The inability of some on the Labour left to understand why some people - including many of their own members - are passionate about the damage Brexit does (and not just economic damage) is a serious weakness.

Paul Mason

@paulmasonnews

6 years

It's rare I agree with the Morning Star but they're right on this. I am sick of these astroturfer elitists... it's all prep for a millionaire funded "centrist party" that will unleash illegal wars, benefit cuts + drive wages to the bottom...

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

6 years

and suggests this is down to a Conservative government hiding behind EU rules. Moral of this story. It is unwise to comment on speeches, particularly those by the Labour leadership, by referencing media reports of them. /end

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

4 years

New post: Trump tries to incite a putsch, and his UK cheerleaders reveal their own contempt for democracy Johnson "may not have encouraged a crowd to attack parliament, he just closed it down instead."

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

6 years

Theresa May has persistently peddled lies about immigrants, that her civil servants have told her are untrue That can justifiably be called fueling hatred and violence. Owen Jones is 100% correct on this issue.

What Theresa May said about immigration in her infamous speech to Tory conference

The set out her views on immigration in her 2015 speech to Conservative party conference

www.independent.co.uk

BBC This Week

@bbcthisweek

6 years

After Owen's film, here's full studio debate in the #bbctw studio @afneil @OwenJones84 @leicesterliz #choochoo

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

5 months

We need everyone who has the opportunity to say this.

Peston

@itvpeston

5 months

"These fiscal rules are not good" Former Bank of England Chief Economist Andy Haldane says Jeremy Hunt & Rachel Reeves’ fiscal rules are holding back investment and growth, describing them as "self-defeating on their own terms". #Peston

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

5 years

On the issue that has dominated UK politics for 3 years, Labour's position is vote for us and we will tell you what our position is 3 months after we win. There are going to be plenty of celebrations tonight among LibDems and Tories.

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

6 years

I've said before I cannot see why May does not understand the game the ERG are playing. As long as No Deal is the default, they will block and block and block. Wanting to unite the party is understandable, but that does not mean being constantly played and looking foolish.

Robert Peston

@Peston

6 years

From what I am hearing, there is literally no chance of most Tory Brexiter members of ERG voting for Murrison/Brady amendment that has unofficial Downing St backing - even though Downing St now mooting that PM could seek to re-open the Withdrawal Agreement to...

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

4 years

Following a day when the UK death toll from CV exceeds anything in Italy or Spain, while doctors and nurses die from the lack of decent PPE, I keep coming back to this post Is the UK situation so bad because our media gives this government a free ride?

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

6 years

New post: The complete failure of the Brexit project

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

5 years

New post: Do Conservative MPs really think they can cope with the consequences of No Deal? A letter to a Tory MP outlining what the future brings after No Deal, and its not just shortages.

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

4 years

This is absurd. The best and quickest route to a recovery is to get new infections right down. There is no trade-off.

robert shrimsley

@robertshrimsley

4 years

Sunday Times splash reinforces point I made on Monday - Boris Johnson now sees the pandemic as primarily an economic crisis.

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

6 years

New post: The Tory party lost its way from 2010, not 2016 Did Cameron just make one big mistake? I argue that his ruinous austerity policy and his immigrant scapegoating ensured he lost the referendum he should never have called.

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

5 years

Annual average GDP per head growth under Labour (who had to deal with a Global Financial Crisis) about 1.5%. The same since 2010 under Tory Chancellors about 1%. But he knows he can keep on saying 'strong economy' and get away with it.

ITV News

@itvnews

5 years

Chancellor Sajid Javid told @itvjoel that the UK economy was "fundamentally strong" despite negative growth for the first time in seven years. Read Joel's blog here:

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

7 years

Rees-Mogg wants to turn this story into Hammond vs The Brexiters. But the simplest way of knocking his claim out of the water is to note that civil servants did not need to fiddle anything. Their results agree with most other studies.

Tim Shipman

@ShippersUnbound

7 years

Jacob Rees-Mogg has now explicitly accused Treasury of "fiddling the figures" on Brexit

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

3 years

fails to close the output gap and therefore keeps interest rates at their floor. In other words over five years we have fiscal contraction when we should have stimulus, which is macroeconomic illiteracy. Add to a shrunken state and you get austerity once again. /end

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

5 years

I would add that 2010 was the first time a government had cut back spending sharply in a recession since Keynes showed us it was a stupid thing to do. 2010 marked the end of knowledge based policy.

Prospect

@prospect_uk

5 years

It was austerity, not Brexit, that first tore up the accepted norms in British politics

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

3 years

The second was macroeconomic illiteracy. In a recession where interest rates are stuck at near zero you should use fiscal policy to stimulate the economy, not to shrink it. The aim is to expand the economy so that interest rates rise to more normal levels. 2/13

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

5 years

New post: The Remainers urging people to vote for a No Deal Brexit Every so called Remainer saying you cannot vote Labour is helping bring about a No Deal Brexit.

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

3 years

A Chancellor who doesn't understand that, when cases are increasing, a lockdown postponed means a much greater lockdown a few weeks later. Quite extraordinary that he didn't understand this. Is HMT to blame with poor briefing, or is it Sunak's failure?

ITV News Politics

@ITVNewsPolitics

3 years

In an interview with Political Editor @Peston , Rishi Sunak said he was against bringing in a Covid lockdown in September due to the "impact" it would have on "jobs and livelihoods", and he believed it would be "bad for the economy" and "long-term health"

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

4 years

One of the main people in cabinet pushing the dangerous idea that there is a health/economy trade-off is Sunak. He should realise that people will become economically active again when they feel its safe to do so.

Steven Swinford

@Steven_Swinford

4 years

Rishi Sunak held a 1½ hour session with 1922 committee today: * He suggested 2m rule should be cut to save jobs and help schools reopen * Warned 3.5million people could lose their jobs * Urged Tory MPs to encourage constituents to go shopping next week

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simon wren-lewis

@sjwrenlewis

6 years

What McDonnell appears to have said is a huge mistake, and is simply not tenable. It makes a mockery of what today's Labour party is supposed to be about. He needs to rethink this quickly.

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