ASI Senior Fellow Tim Worstall discusses reparations to Jamaica on BBC World Service

Senior Fellow at the Adam Smith Institute, Tim Worstall, was interviewed by BBC World Service on whether or not Britain should pay Jamaica reparations for past slavery. He argued there was no legal or economic justification for it. Listen to the full discussion here. (Tim starts 03:16)

Press Release: TfL’s Uber crackdown would take ordinary Londoners out of the driving seat

For Immediate Release | For further comments or to arrange an interview, contact Head of Communications Kate Andrews: kate@adamsmith.org | 07476 915072. Commenting on leaked documents which reveal Transport for London's proposed regulations on private hire taxis, Head of Digital Policy at the Adam Smith Institute, Charlotte Bowyer, said:

Transport for London’s leaked consultation document is not only a thinly-veiled attack on Uber, but an attack on all forms of competition and potential new services in the private hire transportation space. Many of the proposals would be truly damaging to passengers and take ordinary Londoners out of the driving seat.

It is hard to see how a mandatory (five minute) wait time between booking a vehicle and it arriving can provide any value or security to consumers, and only furnishes the ‘flag down’ black cab trade with an artificial competitive advantage. And whilst it may be useful for passengers to be able book rides a week in advance, there is absolutely no reason why all private hire firms must be treated as ‘one size fits all’ and forced to offer such a service.

Furthermore, proposed restrictions on the number of operators a driver may work for only serves to hurt hard-working and entrepreneurial drivers, who often combine shifts at traditional minicab companies with flexible and adhoc hours with Uber. Ultimately this will hurt passengers by reducing the supply of drivers.

Notes to Editors:

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

Kate Andrews for BBC 5 Live on whether to trust the Labour party with the economy

Kate Andrews, Head of Communications at the Adam Smith Institute, took part in a debate for BBC 5 Live this morning on whether or not the new Labour leadership should be given a chance with the UK economy. In this heated debate she argues against trusting them, and discusses issues such as housing, tax evasion and austerity measures. Listen to the full interview here.  (starts 07:00)

Sam Bowman's comments on fossil fuels feature in City AM

Deputy Director at the Adam Smith Institute, Sam Bowman, has featured in City AM for his opinion on fossil fuel divestment.

“Divestment is deeply misguided. At best, it has no effect on share prices. At worst, it transfers wealth to less scrupulous investors who benefit by paying less for oil stocks,” Sam Bowman, deputy director at free market think tank the Adam Smith Institute, told City A.M.

 Read the full article here.

ASI report "The Green Noose" features in The Times

ASI report The Green Noose: An analysis of Green Belts and proposals for reform has featured in in The Times:

The problem of house price inflation could be transformed tomorrow if a small proportion of the land that surrounds our major cities was released for housebuilding. The Adam Smith Institute estimates that reclassifying just 1.5 per cent of the nation’s green belt would be enough to build 1.4 million new homes.

Read the full article here.

The ASI report, The Green Noose: An analysis of Green Belts and proposals for reform, looks at the Green Belt’s impact on England’s housing shortage. After a comprehensive review of the causes of the housing crisis, it concludes that the planning structure is out of date and in need of radical reform.

New ASI paper "Utility Gains" features in the Daily Mail and the Express

The latest ASI paper  “Utility Gains: Assessing the Record of Britain’s Privatized Utilities”, was featured in both the Daily Mail and the Express this morning, in articles covering the expansion of BT and Corbyn's plans to nationalise the railways, respectively.

From the Express:

Increased threats of strikes, less reliable services and monstrous inefficiencies are just some of the crippling implications to a Government-run railway, according to top economist Dr Eamonn Butler.

In a report for for independent thinktank The Adam Smith Institute, Dr Butler says the new Labour leader's plans to bring back British Rail are 'dismal' and would cause the network to stagnate.

Read the article here.

And from the Daily Mail:

Privatisation may not have been perfect but it is infinitely better than the heavy handed state control advocated by Jeremy Corbyn and his acolytes.

Nevertheless, the findings of a study by the laissez-faire Adam Smith Institute should be a must-read, not just for the Shadow Cabinet, but also some of the privatised utilities which still behave like monopolists.

As a private company BT has been far more adventurous and innovative that it could ever have been in the public sector. But it still acts as if it has the God-given right to be Britain’s dominant telecoms company.

Read the full article here.

A new Adam Smith Institute paper, “Utility Gains: Assessing the Record of Britain’s Privatized Utilities” assesses the various utility sales of telecoms, gas, water and electricity companies during the 1980’s and 1990’s and looks at how government, shareholders and customers fared since the privatisation process.

Click here to access the full press release.

Ben Southwood for BBC 5 Live discussing renationalisation of the railways

Ben Southwood, Head of Research at the Adam Smith Institute, spoke to BBC Five about the potential drawbacks of renationalising the railways in Britain. He argues that train usage has increased profoundly since privatisation occurred, and that other forms of transport are providing adequate competition for the sector. Listen to the full interview here. (Starts 01:15:00)

The Financial Times features an article on new ASI paper "Utility Gains"

The Financial Times has written a piece on the new ASI paper “Utility Gains: Assessing the Record of Britain’s Privatized Utilities”, explaining how the paper finds that there is no benefit to nationalising utilities.  

Utility privatisation in the UK is “not perfect” and benefits for customers are not obvious, but shareholders and the government have done well financially from it and investment has surged, a leading free market think-tank has concluded. In an attempt to rebut criticism about the benefits of privatisation voiced by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, the Adam Smith Institute has drawn up a paper examining the sale of electricity, gas, water, the railways and telecoms in the 1980s and 1990s.

Read the full article here.

A new Adam Smith Institute paper, “Utility Gains: Assessing the Record of Britain’s Privatized Utilities” assesses the various utility sales of telecoms, gas, water and electricity companies during the 1980’s and 1990’s and looks at how government, shareholders and customers fared since the privatisation process.

Click here to access the full press release.

New ASI paper "Utility Gains" features in City AM

The Adam Smith Institute's latest paper, "Utility Gains: Assessing the Record of Privatised Utilities" was mentioned in a City AM piece, as a critique of Corbyn's plans to renationalise the railways, along with other parts of the utility sector.

The Adam Smith Institute published a new report over the weekend arguing that, based on the outcomes of utility privatisation for the government, shareholders and customers since the 1980s, there is “no case for renationalising the utility sector”.

“It is clear that while utility privatisation is not a perfect solution, it is infinitely better than stultifying public sector ownership,” said Nigel Hawkins, the author of the report and a senior fellow of the Adam Smith Institute.

He added: “It is inconceivable that the massive level of utility investment over the last quarter century could have been undertaken if public ownership had continued.”

Adam Smith Institue director  Eamonn Butler agreed, adding: “Some of us remember what public services were like before privatization – the three-month wait to get a phone line, the curled-up British Rail sandwiches, and the annual power cuts from an electricity board that couldn’t cope. We do not want to go back to the dismal lack of customer service of nationalised services.”

Read the full article here. 

A new Adam Smith Institute paper, “Utility Gains: Assessing the Record of Britain’s Privatized Utilities” assesses the various utility sales of telecoms, gas, water and electricity companies during the 1980’s and 1990’s and looks at how government, shareholders and customers fared since the privatisation process.

Click here to access the full press release.

Exclusive: ASI paper "Utility Gains" features in the Sunday Telegraph

The Sunday Telegraph ran an exclusive piece on new ASI paper: “Utility Gains: Assessing the Record of Britain’s Privatized Utilities”.

Their remarks came as the Adam Smith Institute (ASI) think tank warned Mr Corbyn’s support of nationalisation could imperil Britain’s utilities.

“Investment in utilities is now much higher than before privatisation,” it said in a report, with water companies and National Grid investing a combined £7.4bn a year, compared with the “woefully inadequate” funds they received in government hands.

Nigel Hawkins, the report's author, said: “Privatisation is infinitely better than stultifying public sector ownership. It is inconceivable that the massive level of utility investment over the last quarter century could have been undertaken if public ownership had continued.”

Selling off state owned assets had delivered "notable benefits" for the government, shareholders and customers, which "manifestly outweighed" the costs of privatisation, the report claimed.

Mr Hawkins added: "It is significant that the UK’s privatisation policy was adopted by many other countries, most notably in the EU, where swathes of the telecoms and electricity industries were privatised."

“We do not want to go back to the dismal lack of customer service of nationalised services,” said ASI director Eamonn Butler. “It is true that some utility prices have risen - but prices had to rise to fund the investment in networks that frankly had been allowed to decay and crumble for 40 years.”

Read the article here.

A new Adam Smith Institute paper, “Utility Gains: Assessing the Record of Britain’s Privatized Utilities” assesses the various utility sales of telecoms, gas, water and electricity companies during the 1980’s and 1990’s and looks at how government, shareholders and customers fared since the privatisation process.

Click here to access the full press release.