Adam Smith

2 weeks ago | yahoo.com | Mike Rogers |Adam Smith

The United States’ industrial might helped save the free world in World War II. William Knudsen, the Detroit auto titan turned wartime production chief, put it simply: “We won because we smothered the enemy in an avalanche of production.”Could the U.S. meet a similar mobilization challenge today? The answer is likely no without real changes to our acquisition system — and our adversaries know it.

3 weeks ago | yahoo.com | Adam Smith

Next week’s spending review should go better for the Chancellor than widely expected – at least, in the short term. The Treasury communications plan would normally build up to the big day by focussing on things that might get lost in the moment. So if they can pre-announce an extra £1bn for free school meals and £16bn for transport projects, that suggests there is even more good news up Rachel Reeves’s sleeve. I suspect there will be reasons enough for Labour MPs to cheer on Wednesday.

3 weeks ago | yahoo.com | Adam Smith

With just days to go until the spending review, it is unsurprising that some Cabinet ministers are making it known that they are refusing to bow to Treasury demands. Led by Angela Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister, they, together with plenty of backbench Labour MPs, are directly challenging the Chancellor’s overall fiscal approach. Spending settlements are being used to make a point. They want a change to the fiscal rules or an increase in taxation to allow for more public spending.

1 month ago | yahoo.com | Adam Smith

In announcing his new package of measures on migration the Prime Minister has been keen to avoid putting a target on just how far net migration would indeed fall. This is understandable in many ways. Previously targets have been announced and not met. And the public simply don’t believe such ambitions. The judgment has presumably been made that it is better to show a reduction than talk about a specific one.

2 months ago | yahoo.com | Adam Smith

The Government is trying hard to convince us that the country’s economic woes and the precarious state of the public finances are all the fault of global events. “The world has changed” is the new mantra, repeated as often as possible by ministers and in press releases. One cannot ignore the impact that Donald Trump’s tariff policies have had on the global economy in general and the knock-on consequences for the UK in particular are real.