Why Both Left and Right Have Failed on Growth | Julia Willemyns

IEA Podcast

In this Institute of Economic Affairs podcast, IEA Executive Director Tom Clougherty interviews Julia Willemyns, co-founder of the Centre for British Progress. The conversation explores the Centre's mission to promote pro-growth policies from a progressive perspective, examining how the centre-left can embrace economic growth and supply-side liberalisation. Willemyns discusses the organisation's evolution from UK Day One, their focus on addressing barriers to progress in Britain, and their belief that economic growth is essential for human progress and social mobility.

The discussion covers key policy areas including planning reform, energy policy, and market dynamism. Willemyns advocates for "system resets" and regulatory simplification, drawing on examples from countries like Denmark's flexicurity model and innovative approaches to housing development in Houston and Israel. She argues for nuclear energy as crucial for Britain's energy independence and abundance, while critiquing both traditional left-wing approaches of regulation and redistribution, and the right's failure to deliver meaningful reform despite pro-growth rhetoric.

The interview concludes with Willemyns' optimism about Britain's human capital and talent, while addressing the challenge of retaining high-skilled individuals. She emphasises the need for institutional reform that empowers rather than hollows out the state, advocating for policies that create opportunities for entrepreneurship and innovation. The conversation highlights the Centre for British Progress's approach of loving institutions enough to want them to work effectively, distinguishing their reform agenda from populist "slash and burn" approaches.

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