Alex Andreou and Naomi Smith talk through the week's news, with a focus on Trump and Musk's assault on federal government - and how it might just turn against them.
A detailed report by Frontier Economics AND a megapoll by YouGov, commissioned by Best for Britain, outline stunning growth opportunities - if Starmer goes for the right UK-EU reset. The public is fully behind the idea.
Plus, as Reform UK continues to gaslight the country about Brexit and ride high in the polls, there may be a giant chink in their armour.
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“What we’re seeing is an overall strategy of moving so fast and doing so much that the judicial system, the Democratic Party, any media still inclined to scrutinise the Presidency, they simply don’t have time to react to all of it.”
“USAID has a tiny budget. $40bn in the context of a $7 Trillion annual federal budget is nothing. It gets Trump and Musk nowhere near the trillions they said they would save. It is performative, chosen precisely because of the ripple effect in so many sensitive areas.”
“If the UK pursues deep alignment on goods with the EU, you're looking at between 1-1.5% GDP growth. So clawing back about a third of what the OBR says we've lost as a result of Brexit. If you do deep alignment on goods and services, it's between 1.7 to 2.2%. Clawing back more than half of what we will have lost. The cost of inaction is that we continue to atrophy and we recover none of that loss growth.”
“When you do UK-EU deep alignment, on goods in particular, you get the greatest spread of growth outside of London. It disproportionately impacts non-South-East. West Midlands and the North get the biggest boost. Why? Well, that's where what industry we do still have tends to be located and they have been the most negatively impacted [by Brexit].”
“All this ‘shock and awe’ from Trump and Musk can feel overwhelming. But forced to defend all of this will stretch them thin. We have to be considered and strategic. Once the challenges start coming, it is them who will have to prioritise what to defend and what to junk. So take a breath and hold the line.”
CALLS TO ACTION AND LINKS:
You can see the full BfB/Frontier report on UK-EU growth here.
David Frum's article for the Atlantic is here.
Our bookshop featuring many of the books we have featured can be found at uk.bookshop.org/shop/quietriot
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With Naomi Smith, Alex Andreou and Kenny Campbell – in cahoots with Sandstone Global.
Email us at quietriotpod@gmail.com. Or visit our website www.quietriotpod.com.
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