Blog 2023 Malcolm Blair-Robinson

     QE in various forms is now very much part of the economic conversation, especially in following Brexit and the fall in the value of the £. Dynamic Quantitative Easing (also called Peoples Quantitative Easing) remains under government, not bank, control and targets specific investment projects without borrowing, interest or repayments. It can reboot the economy, boost manufacturing and exports and enable sustained growth of real national wealth shared by all, rather than just asset inflation which is the downside of ordinary QE. It is ideal for financing mega projects like Hinkley Point without the need to involve foreign governments in strategic infrastructure.  If you want to find out more you can enjoy a lucid explanation of the original idea from the link below.

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It is clear from the headline that I have some nasty things to say about this, but first I should lay out my stall.

The most important principles are that we should have abundant and cheap electricity especially for business and industry, there should be ample reserves in generating capacity guaranteeing the lights never go out and all of this should be achieved in the most environmentally friendly way, but with the red line at reliable and affordable power supplies. Thus it is that I hold the power generation should be a nationalized industry and power stations of whatever type should be built and owned by the government as a vital strategic investment. The idea must be to phase out coal and later gas, make best use possible of solar, tide and wind power, as well as hydro electric where feasible, but to have as a key component nuclear generation of the core supply, using modern and tested technology. A new idea worth exploring is using mini reactors of the type used in nuclear submarines to generate power from underground installations in disused coal mines. More of them could be deployed quickly than the big set piece coastal mega sites and greater flexibility would result. However regular nuclear power stations should still be built in timely fashion to a manageable scale.

Having privatized the industry, governments both Tory and New Labour, walked away from their responsibilities to maintain and upgrade our world leading generating assets, during parliament after parliament until a crisis with the lights is almost at hand. Finally the proposal is that rather than our own government owning the new developments of capacity, they should instead be owned by foreign governments, one of which is a dictatorship by a single party, the new power station should be the most expensive thing ever built on this planet, using untested designs which so far have not worked and may never do so, demanding from consumers a surcharge on their bills ensuring extortionate energy costs for thirty five years.

We can only rejoice that the launch of this lunacy has been held back during the final countdown. We must hope that the prime minister, having halted this madness at the eleventh hour, can replace it with something less insane. That should not be difficult.