Press Release: Black cab protests are a desperate move from an outmoded industry

Contact Kate Andrews, Communications Manager, for further comments or to arrange an interview: kate@adamsmith.org / 07584 778 207.

Commenting on the London cab driver strike, Charlotte Bowyer, Head of Digital Policy at the Adam Smith Institute, said:

"Today's black cab driver protests in London against taxi-app Uber are a blatant exercise in rent-seeking. The strike is pointless, because the issues drivers are protesting against have already been referred to the courts for a decision. This is a desperate move by an industry that has been protected from competition for too long.

"Services like Uber are cheaper in part because they use new technology to circumvent bad regulations, reduce prices and increase choice for consumers. Many of these regulations exist to protect drivers from competition, rather than to help consumers.

"Black cab drivers claim they are protesting about regulatory inconsistency, but striking on such trivial matters as whether a smartphone app constitutes a taxi meter only shows that cab drivers' real concerns are that of genuine competition in the face of an innovative new entrant.

"Black cab drivers argue that they are regulated to within an inch of their lives, which may be true – so it's sad that they just want others to face the same treatment, instead of calling for more freedom for themselves.

"It is TfL's responsibility to improve London's travel network, not to protect old industries and vested interests. Consumers, and certainly not business rivals should be the judge of an acceptable, effective and safe service.

"We might expect to see such bolshy behaviour in France, but certainly not in London. Londoners and their elected representatives should say no to black cab bullying and let Uber, and others like it, innovate free from intimidation."

For further comments 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 classically liberal public policies to create a richer, freer world.

Dr Madsen Pirie's comments on Queen's Speech featured in over 60 local newspapers

Dr Madsen Pirie, President of the Adam Smith Institute, was quoted in over sixty local newspapers, applauding the Queen's Speech for its "modesty". Read a few of the articles here, here and here.

Press Release: Queen's Speech modesty is very welcome, says Adam Smith Institute

Contact Kate Andrews, Communications Manager, for further comments or to arrange an interview: kate@adamsmith.org / 07584 778 207. Commenting on the Queen's Speech, President of the Adam Smith Institute, Dr Madsen Pirie, said: 

"Given the pressures on government by lobbies and interest groups, the government has shown good sense by going instead for measures that will target individuals and groups with specific and useful help.  Welcome, too, is the absence of measures to replace individual choices with new regulations. Critics might describe this as a modest Queen's Speech, but in this instance it is a very welcome modesty."

Commenting on the mention of childcare subsidies, Director of the Adam Smith Institute, Dr Eamonn Butler, said:

“There is a case for subsidising childcare, if it makes parents able to take a job, rather than depending on state benefits. A paying job is the best welfare programme for families yet devised. But such support should go to the parents who need it, rather than in subsidies for the childcare industry.

“If we are to make childcare available to all, instead of trapping poorer families on benefit dependency, then we need to address the costs of regulation and taxation, and to employ market principles and competition rather than dash towards indiscriminate subsidy or become swamped in bureaucratic red tape."

For further comments 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 classically liberal public policies to create a richer, freer world.

Dr Eamonn Butler writes for the Financial Times

Director of the Adam Smith Institute, Dr Eamonn Butler, wrote a comment piece for the Financial Times: "The politics of pay pervades the boardroom".

Read the article here.

Tax Freedom Day is featured in the Financial Times

The Adam Smith Institute's Tax Freedom Day calculations are featured in the Financial Times.

Read the article here.

The ASI is featured in The Herald

The Adam Smith Institute was featured in The Herald.

Read the article here.