Electrify everything! Octopus boss on Britain's energy problems
The Spectator’s Michael Simmons in conversation with Greg Jackson, CEO & Founder of Octopus Energy and non-executive member of the Cabinet Office Board.
Michael Simmons
Michael Simmons is The Spectator's economics editor. Contact him here.
Thursday
Despite the rate cut, inflation remains a danger
The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has just voted to cut interest rates to 3.75 per cent and in doing so has delivered the Chancellor an early Christmas present. The five to four decision brings rates down to from the 4 per cent they’d been held at since August. The cut is the fourth this
Tuesday
Rachel Reeves can’t escape blame for rising unemployment
Unemployment has risen again. Figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show the UK’s unemployment rate rose to 5.1 per cent in October – the highest joblessness rate since 2021. Payrolled employment fell too by 38,000 in a single month, meaning 187,000 jobs have now been lost since last November, in a blow
Saturday
Will Scotland switch course in 2026? with Gordon McKee
18 min listen
The Spectator heads into Christmas a little bit less Scottish as we bid farewell to our political correspondent Lucy Dunn. Before Lucy leaves for STV, she joins Coffee House Shots – with fellow Scots Michael Simmons and Labour MP Gordon McKee – for one final episode reflecting on the state of Scottish politics. They discuss
Friday
Why Wes Streeting is right about junior doctors
Junior doctors, now known as resident doctors, will strike from December 17 to 22, which Wes Streeting has said will ‘wreck Christmas’. The doctors are demanding a 26 per cent salary rise over the next few years to make up for the erosion in their pay in real terms since 2008 – this is on
How Rachel Reeves shrank the economy
The British economy is shrinking. Figures just released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that GDP fell by 0.1 per cent in the three months to October. The contraction came after growth of 0.1 per cent in the three months to September. On a monthly basis the economy shrank by 0.1 per cent
Thursday
Is the superflu really ‘unprecedented’?
The NHS is facing a ‘worst-case scenario’ for flu this winter. That was the verdict of Professor Meghana Pandit, national medical director for the NHS, this morning as she warned the tsunami of ‘super-flu’ cases sweeping the UK is ‘unprecedented’. Worse still, the peak of this wave is ‘not in sight’. Her warning came as
Wednesday
Kemi wins PMQs
12 min listen
Kemi Badenoch’s good form continues at Prime Minister’s Questions. The Tory leader was once more visibly enjoying herself today as she feasted on Labour misfortune, and she did a good job in covering the breadth of problems in the government. She used her six questions to ask about different departments and how they were faring:
Post-Budget briefing: what will it mean for your finances?
40 min listen
In the wake of an extraordinary Budget – leaked an hour before the Chancellor addressed Parliament – The Spectator brings clarity to a turbulent political and take stock of how the announcements will impact you. Michael Simmons speaks with John Porteous of Charles Stanley and James Nation, formerly of the Treasury and No. 10, to
Monday
Are thousands of kids really living in poverty?
10 min listen
The Chancellor laid our her plans to scrap the two-child benefit cap in the Budget last week. Previously Rachel Reeves and the Prime Minister were against lifting the cap, but pressure from Reform and the back benches meant the government u-turned. The Resolution Foundation has backed this policy, arguing that it will help lift children
Thursday
Labour is now the party of welfare, not work
Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have gone into bunker mode. The pair – whose political fortunes are so tightly bound – have been forced all week to defend the Chancellor’s claims at last week’s Budget that there is a black hole in the country’s finances. Mendacity soon gave way to something closer to bewilderment. Neither
Friday
The black hole myth & the brain drain conundrum
16 min listen
With Budget week finally at an end, certain mysteries remain. Chief among them is why the Chancellor decided to give an emergency speech preparing the public for a rise in income tax. On 4 November, Rachel Reeves summoned journalists to Downing Street early in the morning to warn that ‘the productivity performance we inherited is
Thursday
Young people are fleeing Britain
Net migration has fallen to its lowest level in four years. Figures released this morning show that 204,000 more people arrived in the UK than left in the 12 months to June – a drop of more than two-thirds compared with the year before. The real story, though, is that inward migration remains close to
Wednesday
Rachel Reeves’s Budget is a shambles
As Budget days go, today was unprecedented. The complete list of measures announced by Rachel Reeves – along with their costings and economic impacts – was leaked by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) an hour before the Chancellor took to her feet. The OBR apologised and called it a ‘technical error’. The headline is
Rachel Reeves’s farcical Budget
15 min listen
As Budget days go, today was unprecedented. The complete list of measures announced by Rachel Reeves – along with their costings and economic impacts – was leaked by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) an hour before the Chancellor took to her feet. The OBR apologised and called it a ‘technical error’. The headline is
Rachel Reeves’s Budget is a shambles
What we have seen today is unprecedented. The entire list of Budget measures announced by Rachel Reeves – along with their costings and economic impacts – were leaked by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) an hour before the Chancellor took to her feet. The OBR apologised and called it a ‘technical error’, but make
How bad will Rachel Reeves’s Budget be?
After a needlessly long run-up, Budget day is finally here. Investors, bond traders and house builders are breathing a collective sigh of relief – not because of what the Chancellor will say at around 12.40 p.m., but because the speculating, pitch-rolling and U-turning is finally over. Under the rules of engagement between the Treasury and
Tuesday
Why Reeves's smorgasbord Budget won't fix Britain
14 min listen
James Nation, managing director at Forefront Advisers, and Michael Simmons join James Heale to analyse what we know, one day ahead of the Budget. James – a former Treasury official and adviser to Rishi Sunak – takes us inside Number 11, explains the importance of every sentence and defends the Budget as a fiscal event.
Monday
Benjamin Disraeli to Rachel Reeves – how each Chancellor drank their way through the Budget
Rachel Reeves is due to deliver her budget this Wednesday. Throughout the years, the only person permitted to drink inside the House of Commons is the Chancellor. What has been the tipple of choice for each Chancellor dating back to Benjamin Disraeli? Michael Simmons and James Heale drink their way through the ages, discuss the
Britain's expensive energy problem – with Claire Coutinho
16 min listen
Britain has an energy problem – while we produce some of the cleanest in the world, it’s also the most expensive, and that’s the case for almost every avenue of energy. On the day the Spectator hosts its Energy Summit in Westminster, a report commissioned by the Prime Minister has found that the UK is