Press Release: ASI Report calls for government to slash export-boosting quango's budget and powers

• The UK’s share of exports is declining whilst the cost of UKTI has risen over 70% under the current government.

• UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), the quango charged with boosting British exports, is not fit for purpose.
• The 10 recommendations listed in the report to improve UKTI include: slashing headquarter personnel from 500 to 50, turning UKTI into a stand-alone executive agency, empowering potential UK exporters and scrapping many of the quango's statistical bulletins.

In a new report from the Adam Smith Institute, “Is Government Helping Exports?” Senior Fellow of the Adam Smith Institute Tim Ambler critiques the 2013 research into UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), commissioned by Daniel Kawczynski MP, and argues the reforms it suggested were not radical enough.

Estimated to be spending £100m over its targeted budget, UKTI is not delivering enough exports to justify its costs. The report argues that UKTI is representative of some of the worst inefficiencies of the bloated quango state.

The report provides ten recommendations that, if adopted, would put a stop to wasted tax dollars and cut the agency down to size. The most important of these reforms include:

• Transforming the UKTI into a stand-alone executive agency, with UK regional staff integrated with Chambers of Commerce
• Put the UK’s [potential] exporters and receivers of inward investment in charge; it is not the role of civil servants and government officials to be picking winners and losers
• Scrap the OMIS and other statistical reports and surveys; pointless target-driving does nothing to help exporters build partnerships overseas

• Slashing UKTI's headquarters personnel from 500 to 50 

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

“UK Trade and Investment – the government agency that is supposed to provide advice to exporters – seems more of a costly bureaucratic hindrance than a help. It costs far more than its official £270m budget, probably as much as £400m. This cost has soared by 70% under this government, and yet the UK's share of exports continues to decline.

“UKTI has a bureaucratic tick-box culture and there is no clear measure of what it actually does for exports. Businesses complain that its UK staff are office-bound and lack business acumen, while its overseas staff fail to communicate opportunities quickly and effectively to business.

“UKTI is top heavy and simply does not know how to help exporters succeed. Merely tinkering with it will not help. Potential exporters, rather than ministers and civil servants, should be put firmly in charge. The focus should not be on preparing reports and surveys, but in trying to make business contacts between UK exporters and potential partners overseas, and it is not obvious that a bureaucratic quango can actually help them much.”

The author of the report, Senior Fellow of the Adam Smith Institute, Tim Ambler, notes:

"The UK is failing to meet Government export goals by a wide margin.  The department charged with this responsibility, UKTI, does good work and has good intentions but overall it is poor value for the £400M p.a. it costs UK taxpayers. It needs radical reform.  This report's 10 recommendations would, if adopted, significantly improve UK international trade and investment."

For further comments or to arrange an interview, contact Tim Ambler at tambler@london.edu / 01263 740698 or contact Kate Andrews, Communications Manager, at kate@adamsmith.org / 07584 778 207.

The Adam Smith Institute is an independent libertarian think tank based in London. It advocates classical liberal public policies to create a richer, freer world.

Ben Southwood quoted on brownfield plots in City AM

The Adam Smith Institute's Head of Policy, Ben Southwood, was quoted in City Am, arguing that "going after brownfield plots is somewhat of a red herring." Read the article here.

"But going after brownfield plots is somewhat of a red herring, says the Adam Smith Institute's head of policy, Ben Southwood: "Brownfields are a strange obsession - very unlikely to actually provide enough space to actually make a dent in the housing crisis, but often of much higher environmental value than the greenfield sites we are supposed to protect."

Dr Eamonn Butler's comments on borrowing featured in the Daily Express

Director of the Adam Smith Institute, Dr Eamonn Butler, was featured in the Daily Express, arguing the "recent spate of good news is “fake” and is urging the Government to move quickly to avoid another financial meltdown."

Read the article here.

ASI comments on HMRC raid featured in over 50 local newspapers

The Director of the Adam Smith Institute, Eamonn Butler, was quoted in over 50 local newspapers this weekend regarding the government's plan to allow HMRC to raid private bank accounts for owned taxes. Take a look at a few examples here, here, here, here, and here.

Dr Eamonn Butler's comments on HMRC raids featured in the Daily Mail and the Independent

Dr Eamonn Butler's comments on HMRC's new plan to raid private bank accounts to collect owed taxes were featured in the Daily Mail.

Read the Independent article here.

Read the Daily Mail article here.

"A string of critics say the proposals, which were contained in the fine print of the March Budget, could also end up  punishing the innocent.

"Eamonn Butler, director of the Adam Smith Institute think-tank, said: ‘Plans to allow HM Revenue and Customs to take money directly from the accounts of tax delinquents are a fundamental assault on the rule of law.

"'Next year is the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta, but the basic civil  protections it gave citizens against arbitrary power are being systematically eroded."

ASI's Sam Bowman discusses the nationalisation of railways on LBC

Research Director Sam Bowman discusses the nationalisation of railways on LBC on 4th May 2014. Listen to the interview here.

ASI football research featured in City AM

Research on national vs. foreign football players in the Premeir League carried out by the Adam Smith Institute's Head of Policy, Ben Southwood, was featured in a City AM article. Read the article here.

"But data compiled by think tank the Adam Smith Institute (ASI) and revealed to City A.M. – see chart – shows there is virtually zero relationship between the amount of minutes spent by Englishmen playing in the top tier and England’s international performance.

"If anything, the numbers, based on 21 years of statistics, suggest that England’s Fifa ranking is actually negatively affected by an increase in playing time for English players.

“It may well be that less experience means a worse team, but if so it seems like it’s being cancelled out by another effect: many footballers say that foreign players have raised the overall standard and this may be what’s going on,” said ASI head of policy Ben Southwood. “Dyke’s policy will make English clubs worse without any likely benefits to the national team now or down the line.”

Press Release: HMRC's raid on private bank accounts is an assault on the rule of law

Commenting on the Chancellor's plan to allow HMRC to seize owed taxes from private bank accounts, Director of the Adam Smith Institute, Dr Eamonn Butler, said: "Plans to allow HMRC to take money directly from the accounts of tax delinquents are a fundamental assault on the rule of law.

"Next year is the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta, but the basic civil protections it gave citizens against arbitrary power are being systematically eroded. Governments have become elected dictatorships.

"HMRC can already decide that someone owes tax that they have deliberately 'avoided' – even if they have complied with every tax law. This is arbitrary power that we cannot safely entrust to any official. Reinforcing that power with further powers of confiscation – in the absence of any magistrate or court decision – is even more dangerous.

"Even fair-minded officials make mistakes. Worse, the new plan passes the burden of proof – and the costs of proving it – from the authorities to the citizen. That is contrary to the fundamental principle that people are innocent until proven guilty.

"Perhaps 17,000 people will be affected by this each year. Many of them will, of course, be people who are completely innocent and the subject of official mistakes. Some will see their businesses ruined, and their employees losing their jobs, because of officials arbitrarily raiding their accounts. Others, worryingly will be people who the authorities decide to bully and make an 'example' of just because they are well known."

For further comment or to arrange an interview, contact Kate Andrews, Communications Manager, at kate@adamsmith.org / 07584 778 207.

The Adam Smith Institute is an independent libertarian think tank based in London. It advocates liberal public policies to create a richer, freer world.

Press Release: We must resist the protectionist urge on AstraZeneca takeover

Commenting on the takeover of AstraZeneca, Research Director of the Adam Smith Institute, Sam Bowman, said:  "Pfizer’s takeover of AstraZeneca must be allowed to go ahead unmolested by politicians. The case for blocking the takeover is simple protectionism: the idea that government should interfere in international trade flows to stop native jobs from being lost.

"This idea is long-discredited: Mergers and acquisitions take place because firms and their shareholders see opportunities for efficiency gains that come from increased economies of scale and scope – blocking a takeover on the basis of economic nationalism would likely lead to a poorer, less efficient world than it could otherwise be. That is true even if the takeover results in job losses in Britain (and it is far from clear that it will).

"More urgently for the country, blocking a takeover could have a profound impact on multinational corporations’ view of Britain as an open economy where the rule of law prevails, chilling future investment into Britain.

"In fact, the takeover will lead to Pfizer-AstraZeneca domiciling itself in Britain, meaning that it will pay corporation tax here instead of in the United States. This should be seen as a triumph for the government’s corporation tax cuts, and encouraging evidence that cutting taxes leads to a larger revenue base, offsetting the cost of those tax cuts.

"Some have argued that this represents a ‘race to the bottom’. When it comes to corporation tax, that’s exactly the race we need. As recent Adam Smith Institute research has shown, corporation tax falls mostly on workers’ wages, with the rest acting as a growth-inhibiting tax on capital.The government should view this takeover as an endorsement of Britain’s relative competitiveness, and be emboldened to go even further by cutting taxes on investment."

For further comment or to arrange an interview, contact Kate Andrews, Communications Manager, at kate@adamsmith.org / 07584 778 207.

The Adam Smith Institute is an independent libertarian think tank based in London. It advocates liberal public policies to create a richer, freer world.

Press Release: Greg Dyke's plans will do sweet FA for English football

Commenting on Greg Dyke's new FA commission plan, the Adam Smith Institute's Head of Policy, Ben Southwood, said: "Greg Dyke is flying blind in trying to crack down on non-EU players in the Premier League.

"There is virtually no existing evidence to support Dyke's apparent view that more foreigners playing in the EPL hurts the quality of the national side.

"In fact, according to an ongoing study I am conducting, there is practically no relationship whatsoever between the number of foreign players in the league and the English national team's performance.

"We cannot be sure what the final results will be, but the preliminary results show pretty much no relationship between the number of Premier League minutes—or the proportion—played by English players, and England's FIFA Rank, which is an accurate measure of quality.

"There is also no relationship when the comparison is with success in major championships, nor when we wait five or even ten years for the effects to permeate through.

"It may well be that less experience means a worse team, but if so it seems like it's being cancelled out by another effect: many footballers say that foreign players have raised the overall standard and this may be what's going on.

"What we do know is that there is a very strong link between more foreign players and English club success in Europe, not to mention the popularity of the league abroad. Dyke's policy will make English clubs worse without any likely benefits to the English national team now or down the line."

Note: Ben Southwood is currently conducting statistical research into the link between foreign players and English national success. 

For further comment, contact Ben Southwood at ben@adamsmith.org / 07557 448 956

To arrange an interview, contact Kate Andrews, Communications Manager, at kate@adamsmith.org / 07584 778 207.

The Adam Smith Institute is an independent libertarian think tank based in London. It advocates liberal public policies to create a richer, freer world.