A warm welcome to Andrew and Roberto
Volterra is delighted to announce the arrival of two new economic consultants, Andrew Cuttle and Roberto Vedova. Andrew has previous experience in cost-benefit analysis and developing business cases for large government-funded rail projects. He also has experience as an economist at the UK’s rail regulating body, reviewing operator access charges as part of Network Rail’s […]
How did employment change during the COVID-19 pandemic? Insight from the recent ONS BRES survey
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) released the nation’s most highly anticipated provisional estimates for employment in October, the Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES). With 85,000 businesses surveyed in Great Britain and a response rate of 69.5%, BRES is regarded as the go to source for employment statistics. This latest release provides us with […]
Subsidies to Wales have made devolution a begging bowl rather than a point of pride
Did you raise a toast yesterday to the staff of Gwynedd Council in North Wales? They were enjoying their very own special Bank Holiday to celebrate the day of the patron saint of Wales, St David. Gwynedd council proudly declared in January that it would “grant” this extra holiday. All very well and good, except that […]
It’s time to give Scotland and Wales a dose of financial reality and rethink the Barnett formula
Subsidies continue to flow from the English taxpayer to the devolved nations of the UK. Boris Johnson is reportedly considering a further massive programme of infrastructure spending to convince the Scots of the benefits of being in the Union. The so-called Barnett formula, put together in the 1970s, already ensures that Scotland always gets more […]
Forget ‘reparations’, scrapping subsidies is the way to help get Wales back on its feet
Get ready to put your hands deep into your pockets for the boyos and girlos of the Welsh Valleys. Adam Price, the leader of Plaid Cymru, called last week for the UK to pay “reparations” to Wales for the crime of reducing the country to poverty. For centuries, Wales has (apparently) been stripped of its […]