Institute for Free Trade

IFT is a private, not-for-profit, non-partisan research organisation making the intellectual & moral case for free trade. (RT≠endorse)

[Institute for Free Trade @IFTtweets]

@DBTInvestment Minister Lord Johnson gives a barnstorming speech in
@UKParliament on the incredible potential benefits of a deeper #UK 🇬🇧- 🇲🇦 #Morocco trading relationship.

Read the report here 👇👇👇
https://t.co/21b1rxDBWb

[Oli Mears @OliMears]

If you’re on £49,999 a year with a student loan, then a £32k a year rent saving is the same as being on a £125k a year pre-tax wage.

[Institute of Economic Affairs @iealondon]

💷 "We ban North Sea oil exploration, but import North Sea oil from Norway."

@mattwridley on the absurdity of the UK's energy policy, we're not cutting emissions, we're just exporting them at higher cost and higher carbon footprint. Read more ⬇️

[Institute of Economic Affairs @iealondon]

📣 Today we launch Economic Affairs.

A new daily platform bringing together Britain's best free-market economists, writers and thinkers.

The case for freedom and prosperity, made every day.

Subscribe now👇

[William Atkinson @WTMAtkinson]

Welcome to Economic Affairs - the new Substack from @iealondon. It was an honour to be asked by @DanielJHannan to edit what I hope will be Britain's leading site for free-market commentary - more vital than ever! We've an exciting array of writers coming up, so give us a read.

[Sam Bowman @s8mb]

This is, perversely, good news for Britain, Australia, Japan, Europe, and other countries being cut off that would once have seen themselves as close allies of the United States.

It shows us what the future may hold if AI is the strategically and economically decisive technology of the 21st century and is controlled by the US and China. It is good news because *it may be happening early enough to give us time to act.*

I think this will be rescinded pretty soon, but it’s a sign of things to come. In a future where frontier models cannot be used outside the US, our industries and economies will fall behind and American businesses may not be able to operate overseas. We won’t be able to defend ourselves militarily with defence systems built on obsolete software. Europe 2031 is a good scenario of what a future like this could mean: https://t.co/AMc5LrFJeS

Some of the things we need to do are ‘no regrets’ measures we should do anyway. But some are genuinely costly and risky.

We need cheap electricity – powered by gas, coal (this is costly, coal is very bad), deregulated nuclear fission – whatever can provide *cheap, reliable, 24/7* power. This almost certainly excludes wind power, which is enormously expensive and unreliable. We need projects to be able to connect to the grid in days rather than years by paying for fast-track connections.

We need to make it incredibly easy to build data centres, with the property taxes retained locally and hypothecated for local tax cuts so there is some direct benefit for locals. This doesn’t need to be nationwide.

We need to create new regulatory regimes for innovative businesses that give them the right to hire and fire staff with ease. The difficulty and cost of firing staff is one of the main reasons Europe has fallen behind so badly. We need to create a parallel employment regime that companies and workers can opt in to: https://t.co/YaNOXK1Po2

Even though I think it will probably fail, I think we should probably try to create a good, non-American frontier AI lab. I am quite pessimistic about this – even extremely well-resourced, innovative software companies are struggling to do this. But the stakes are so high that not trying seems foolish.

One thing that might work in our favour is the number of brilliant AI engineers who are not US citizens, who under the current export controls do not have access to Mythos/Fable even if they live and work in the US. What happens to Demis Hassabis, Ilya Sutskever, Andrej Karpathy, and the many other Europeans, Canadians, etc who are working on AI models in Britain and America who are affected by this?

I do not think we should force our own companies to use model, because this would exacerbate their economic weakness – this lab should have to compete on an even playing field. I am deeply sceptical that this can work, but we cannot rule it out. If we do it, it has to be able to pay US salaries, operate without political constraints. https://t.co/Um05rUF4Vq

It is cope to tell yourself that Trump is an aberration or that these export controls are a one-off. To repeat, I think these specific controls will be lifted quickly and it will be easy to move on and forget it happened. But this is a look into a potential future. Every one of us that is not a US citizen is at risk. The standard political divides do not apply here; the question is whether you grasp the enormity of AI as a technology. We have to act!

[Christopher Snowdon @cjsnowdon]

Bookmark this

[Rapid Response 47 @RapidResponse47]

.@POTUS: "Honoring the British King might seem an ironic beginning to our celebration of 250 years of American independence — but in fact, no tribute could be more appropriate. Long before Americans had a nation or Constitution, we first had a culture, a character, and a creed. Before we ever proclaimed our independence, Americans carried within us the rarest of gifts: moral courage, and it came from a small but mighty kingdom from across the sea."

[Kemi Badenoch @KemiBadenoch]

What a great fit. He’ll be superb and fight the cause of free trade and free markets valiantly.

The IEA’s gain is our loss! 🥲

Good luck @DanielJHannan

[CapX @CapX]

It is time to rectify our own self-harming legacy of gesture-politics, pushing Net Zero and protected characteristics, plus more recent legislative misadventures in education, employment, housing and public law.

This also means we should move on from the platitudes of levying taxes on, or withdrawing benefits from, those not on our team, instead turning public healthcare from a liability into an asset; reversing the bloat in the national balance sheet accumulated over the last century; reforming state pensions; and instituting land-use reform.

The @ASI has joined with the @IFTtweets and @HJS_Org in an unprecedented collaboration to address these problems, by jointly publishing ‘Sovereignty without Illusion’.

✍️Miles Saltiel

https://t.co/yibyvF6woO

[Fred de Fossard @defossardf]

The message from the Government to all British businesses in the business of producing, transporting or selling food is clear: direct your concerns to Brussels.

Who does a British farmer speak to about pesticides and feed regulation now? What recourse does he have?

[POLITICO @politico]

Canada’s Conservative leader floats new Commonwealth alliance to boost leverage with Washington https://t.co/JoNN9zLGCs

[Matt Kilcoyne @MRJKilcoyne]

It actually doesn't though. Trajectory wise it doesn't. Why does no one think in trajectories and dynamic flow?

Think it through. In fact let's do this.

[CANZUK International @CANZUK]

Australia and the United Kingdom have relaunched the Australia-UK Defence Industry Dialogue, committing to facilitate the movement of skilled persons between the two countries for defence purposes. 🇦🇺🇬🇧

https://t.co/iYU8DbPuAE #CANZUK

[Maxwell Marlow 🇺🇦 @maxwell_marlow]

New ONS public sector productivity statistics have been released.

In 2024, there was 0.0% productivity growth in the public sector.

In return, civil servants were offered up to 6% additional pay. Make it make sense.

[Institute of Economic Affairs @iealondon]

⚡ "Whitehall and Westminster has held us back even further.”

@ReemAmirIbrahim on Britain's real problem at a @IFTtweets event with @DanielJHannan.

[Institute for Free Trade @IFTtweets]

We are now past the fifth anniversary of the implementation of Brexit. MPs, Lords, and policymakers will be meeting the IFT and the @BrugesGroup next week in Parliament to discuss the UK's role and relations in an increasingly authoritarian world.

[CANZUK International @CANZUK]

Without a doubt, the time has now come for Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom to rise and stand together on the global stage.

Our shared values, history, and unbreakable spirit demand a true CANZUK alliance - now more than ever. The world has changed considerably in recent times, and our nations continually face hostile rhetoric and actions from the United States, China, Russia and Iran. While sovereign and independent, we cannot continue to act in isolation if we are to protect the values and freedoms our nations were founded on.

Together, we are an unstoppable force: innovative, resilient, and ready to shape a brighter future for the world. If we don't seize this moment now, we risk losing our chance to show our collective strength.

It's now or never for CANZUK to be a vision of hope, prosperity and opportunity for our citizens and the world. 🇨🇦🇦🇺🇳🇿🇬🇧

[Institute for Free Trade @IFTtweets]

RT @DanielJHannan: 🇮🇴UPDATE ON LABOUR’S CHAGOS SURRENDER
We just concluded Report Stage in the House of Lords.
We came within 10 votes of p…

[Institute for Free Trade @IFTtweets]

Trump suspends £31bn tech trade deal with Britain. UK Government must clarify its priorities and put a US trade deal first - or else Britain will once again fall short and miss the opportunity to grow alongside the strongest economy in the world.
https://t.co/ijOW8LnSIl

[Robert Midgley @RobertMidgley07]

🚨 The UN's Human Rights Committee has called upon the UK and Mauritius to halt ratification of the Chagos Islands deal

They warn Chagossian consultations have not been 'meaningful' and the deal violates the right to self-determination