Lost in the woods

Published in the Spectator Coffee House here. 

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10 February 2011

Dr Eamonn Butler argues in the Spectator that the government should go further and sell off 92% of the Forestry Commission's assets following the release of Miles Saltiel's paper 'Seeing the wood for the trees'.

Forest sell off is not radical enough

You can read the article in Guardian Comment is Free here. 

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Old Teaser

10 February 2011

Following the release of the report 'Seeing the Wood for the Trees' by Miles Saltiel, Dr Eamonn Butler tells Guardian Comment is Free readers that the Forestry Commission has failed to deliver benefits for the environment or the public.

Government should sell off over 90% of Forestry Commission’s land to raise £4.3bn

10 February 2011

· The Adam Smith Institute’s latest report argues that 92% of the Forestry Commission’s land could be privatised without endangering valuable broadleaf forests.

· The Forestry Commission should act purely as a regulator to avoid any conflict of interest. It should not own or operate woodland.

According to a report released today (THURSDAY) by the Adam Smith Institute the government should be more ambitious in their plans to sell off the Forestry Commission’s land. 92% of the Commission’s land is coniferous or non-wooded, including farmland, and could be sold to raise up to £4.3bn without any impact on the broadleaf woodland most valued for public use.

These broadleaf forests, valued for their heritage and amenity, only make up 8% of the Forestry Commission’s land, and are generally not up for sale. The vast majority of the Commission’s woodlands are coniferous, with no bio-diversity, little variety of fauna and scant public amenity, says the report’s author, Miles Saltiel.

The Commission is also subject to inherent conflicts of interest as the largest single forest-owner and as the forest regulator, leading to chronic obstruction of Britain’s forestry sector. It has also failed in its key aims, including the following:

· Prevention of countryside erosion – its forestry practices is believed to have contributed to the acidification of Britain’s rivers

· Provision of visual amenity to the public – little has been done since insensitive tree-planting policies before the late eighties

· Assistance to the survival of natural fauna – the monoculture of plantations has limited ecological diversity

· Provision of a return on the public’s investment – this has never happened

The Forestry Commission’s failure to meet its aims mean that it is not fit for purpose and should sell or lease all its land, subject to covenants and arms-length regulation, which would protect the environment and ensure continued public access where appropriate. The Commission would then become a purely regulatory body. This would save the government £240million per annum in administrative costs, while also raising £4.3bn.

In this scenario, heritage woodlands like the Forest of Dean could be protected through a scheme of “voucher privatization”, whereby local citizens are given a stake in the forests rather than using charities or other intermediary groups. As the report notes, most of the UK’s broadleaf woodland is already privately owned, so this is not as radical a proposal as critics might suggest.

Dr Eamonn Butler, Director of the Adam Smith Institute, said:

“The Forestry Commission is a quango that has failed on all its objectives. It is not fit for purpose: it cannot regulate the UK's forests and be the largest forestry owner and manager itself.

“If we want to improve the forest environment, boost public access, and get better management and new capital into our woodlands, we need to open up state forestry to new people with new ideas. And we should do that not just in England, but in the other parts of the UK where the dead hand of state forestry denies real amenity and return to taxpayers.”

You can read the full report here. 

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Will the VAT rise be bad for business?

Read the debate in full here.

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Old Teaser

31 January 2011

Tom Clougherty explains why the VAT rise will have a negative effect on business in Director Magazine.

Is selling off public forests a good idea?

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Old Teaser

28 January 2011

Dr Eamonn Butler argues that it is right to sell off public forests on BBC Radio Somerset.

You can listen to Eamonn here (about 20mins into the show)

Scotland Bill may give useful tax cuts and a dose of realism

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Old Teaser

30 January 2011

Dr Eamonn Butler argues that the Scotland Bill is a small step in the right direction in the Sunday Post.

Britain's shrinking economy

Read the article in full in The Guardian here. 

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Old Teaser

25 January 2011

Dr Eamonn Butler gives his verdict in The Guardian on news that GDP fell by 0.5% in the last quarter.

Enlightened crusade to save Adam Smith's home

Published in The Scotsman here. 

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Old Teaser

20 January 2011

Dr Eamonn Butler supports plans to restore the final home of Adam Smith and bring it back into use in The Scotsman.

Tom on BBC Look North on council cuts

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Old Teaser

19 January 2011

Tom Clougherty defends the need for councils to make cuts and argues that the cuts should go deeper.

Watch Tom on BBC Look North here (at approximately 3min 50secs) 

Tax Freedom Day will be 30 May 2011

Britons will work for 149 days to pay their taxes in 2011, according to respected free-market think tank the Adam Smith Institute. Every penny earned in the UK between January 1 and May 29 will be taken by the taxman to support government expenditure.

This means that Tax Freedom Day, the day when people stop working for the government and start working for themselves, will come on May 30 in 2011.

The most up to date government statistics suggest that Tax Freedom Day came on May 27 in 2010. This means that Britons will spend three extra days working to pay their taxes in 2011, compared with the year before.

The main reason for this is that the government has raised VAT, in order to help reduce the UK’s record budget deficit.

Tom Clougherty, executive director of the Adam Smith Institute, condemned the VAT rise saying:

“As well as hitting every household in the country, the VAT hike is going to dent consumer confidence and put a dampener on our economic recovery – as the Office of Budget Responsibility has already pointed out.”

He added:

“The government is right to give priority to cutting spending and plugging the deficit. But as Tax Freedom Day shows, Britons are still desperately overtaxed. The fact that we spend almost five months working for the State – and only seven months working for ourselves and our families – is a shocking indictment of big, wasteful government.”

Dr Eamonn Butler, director of the Institute, added:

“The coalition should examine the possibility of making targeted tax cuts now to encourage economic growth. But in the long term, they need to fundamentally overhaul the entire tax system. Lower, simpler, flatter taxes would be fairer for individuals, and better for the economy.”

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