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Edmund Conway

Ditching the triple lock is no silver bullet for the pensions crisis

The odd thing about the triple lock – the pensions formula which has become so expensive that the government is now considering ditching it – is that it was never expected to be all that costly. When the coalition government introduced it in 2010, their models suggested it would rarely get triggered.

More than a u-turn. Why Philip Hammond's reversal on National Insurance matters

It is difficult to know where to begin. There is nothing new about u-turns from Chancellors – Lord knows George Osborne did enough of them. But Philip Hammond’s volte face on National Insurance must surely go down as one of the most screeching and humiliating in years. Mr Osborne took

The real powerhouse of the UK economy

Which of the following sectors would you say has made the biggest contribution towards UK economic growth over the past two years: manufacturing, banking or domestic workers, such as cleaners and nannies? The answer is domestic workers. That’s right: “Activities of households as employers of domestic personnel”, which means

The Autumn Statement in seven charts

As Autumn Statements go, this was both thick and thin. Thin in terms of the number of pages in the document itself – a mere 64 of them, which makes it more of a pamphlet than a major fiscal document, about half the length of its predecessors. But in terms of

The Why, not the What. Could we Brits learn something about exit polling from the Americans?

Who voted for Brexit and why? Did the Leave vote ultimately come down to a battle between old and young? Was it largely down to the white working class or was it a wider movement? Was it motivated by people’s dislike of EU laws, of regulation, or of free

The dangers of the R word

The dangers of the R word

Even if you weren’t following the referendum campaign closely you’ll probably remember a few of the economic highlights (lowlights?): the Vote Leave £350m bus; the “punishment Budget” and George Osborne predicting that there would be a recession if Britain left the EU. Now we know that all three

The elephant (not) in the room

At the time of the Bank of England’s interest rate decision, no-one in the room knew who was going to be Britain’s new Chancellor. This might seem like an odd thing to mention, given right now the main story people will be obsessing with is the element of