Liam Halligan

Weekly "Economic Agenda" columnist @Telegraph; Planet Normal Co-Pilot; Founder of "When The Facts Change" & @HooligansbandUK

[Liam Halligan @LiamHalligan]

Some personal/professional news:

I'm launching "When the Facts Change - economics and politics in a fast-changing world".

Click on the link in my X biography to read my first post.

I'll obviously continue to write my weekly "Economics Agenda" column for the Telegraph, and co-present the "Planet Normal" podcast each week with the brilliant @AllisonPearson

I've been encouraged by lots of people, not least on X, to do more writing and broadcasting. So here goes ....

"When the Facts Change" will initially be limited to written posts.

But, as I find my feet, I'll add audio and video content too.

So please check out my launch post via the link in my X biog and feel free to share this news.

🧵 1/2

[Julian Jessop @julianHjessop]

One long and lazy series of #badbrexittakes from the Guardian, in chart form... 🙄

❌ No recognition that sterling was overvalued before the referendum - and already falling.

❌ No acknowledgement of the many flaws in the NBER's Brexit report - simply treated as gospel.

❌ Only a grudging nod to the fact that the UK's performance on global trade has been better than expected - which demolishes the OBR's assumptions.

❌No mention that UK business investment is recovering as the initial uncertainty has eased.

❌ Nothing on how support for rejoining the EU crumbles once voters are presented with the costs and conditions

And isn't it odd for the Guardian - presumably a supporter of free movement of people - to include a chart showing net immigration has surged as evidence of "how Brexit has made Britain poorer"? 🤔

https://t.co/jb4JlWEdsj

[Liam Halligan @LiamHalligan]

My latest one-hour “Ask Me Anything” on When The Facts Change is about to start - Thursday 11th June at 6pm.

This is open to “everyone” – you don’t need to be a paid or unpaid subscriber – although future AMAs will be subscriber only.

Please submit your questions under this X post, or in the comments during the live AMA broadcast - which you can access via the link below.

And like and share this post to support independent media that really matters

When The Facts Change - Economics and Politics in a fast-moving world, with Liam Halligan

https://t.co/CZPmLXGrpw

[Liam Halligan @LiamHalligan]

I’ll be doing a one-hour “Ask Me Anything” on When The Facts Change in an hour's time - Thursday 11th June at 6pm.

This will be open to “everyone” – you don’t need to be a paid or unpaid subscriber – although future AMAs will be subscriber only.

Please submit your questions under this X post, or in the comments during the live AMA broadcast - which you can access via the link below.

And like and share this post to support independent media that really matters

When The Facts Change - Economics and Politics in a fast-moving world, with Liam Halligan

https://t.co/CZPmLXGrpw

[Liam Halligan @LiamHalligan]

I’ll be doing a one-hour “Ask Me Anything” on When The Facts Change TODAY - Thursday 11th June at 6pm.

This will be open to “everyone” – you don’t need to be a paid or unpaid subscriber – although future AMAs will be subscriber only.

Please submit your questions under this X post, or in the comments during the live AMA broadcast - which you can access via the link below.

And like and share this post to support independent media that really matters

When The Facts Change - Economics and Politics in a fast-moving world, with Liam Halligan

https://t.co/CZPmLXGrpw

[Liam Halligan @LiamHalligan]

I’ll be doing a one-hour “Ask Me Anything” on When The Facts Change TODAY - Thursday 11th June at 6pm.

This will be open to “everyone” – you don’t need to be a paid or unpaid subscriber – although future AMAs will be subscriber only.

Please submit your questions under this X post, or in the comments during the live AMA broadcast - which you can access via the link below.

And like and share this post to support independent media that really matters

When The Facts Change - Economics and Politics in a fast-moving world, with Liam Halligan

https://t.co/CZPmLXGrpw

[Cormac Lucey @CormacLucey]

That brutal Belfast stabbing makes it to the top of the web editions of @thetimes and @Telegraph but neither @IrishTimes nor @Independent_ie lead with it. We live in a land of carefully curated news where political values matter more than news values. @RuadhanIT @cormacbourke

[Liam Halligan @LiamHalligan]

@userx978 @tomhfh And why not?

[Liam Halligan @LiamHalligan]

@BigMing15 There are many ways to calculate public sector pension liabilities, but I think these numbers are pretty credible

[Liam Halligan @LiamHalligan]

I’ll be doing a one-hour “Ask Me Anything” on When The Facts Change tomorrow - Thursday 11th June at 6pm.

This will be open to “everyone” – you don’t need to be a paid or unpaid subscriber – although future AMAs will be subscriber only.

Please submit your questions under this X post, or in the comments during the live AMA broadcast - which you can access via the link below.

And like and share this post to support independent media that really matters

When The Facts Change - Economics and Politics in a fast-moving world, with Liam Halligan

https://t.co/CZPmLXGrpw

[Liam Halligan @LiamHalligan]

I’ll be doing a one-hour “Ask Me Anything” on When The Facts Change tomorrow – Thursday 11th June at 6pm.

This will be open to “everyone” – you don’t need to be a paid or unpaid subscriber – although future AMAs will be subscriber only.

Please submit your questions under this X post, or in the comments during the live AMA broadcast - which you can access via the link below.

And like and share this post to support independent media that really matters

When The Facts Change - Economics and Politics in a fast-moving world, with Liam Halligan

https://t.co/CZPmLXGrpw

[Liam Halligan @LiamHalligan]

I’ll be doing a one-hour “Ask Me Anything” on When The Facts Change on Thursday 11th June at 6pm.

This will be open to “everyone” – you don’t need to be a paid or unpaid subscriber – although future AMAs will be subscriber only.

Please submit your questions under this X post, or in the comments during the live AMA broadcast - which you can access via the link below.

And like and share this post to support independent media that really matters

When The Facts Change - Economics and Politics in a fast-moving world, with Liam Halligan

https://t.co/CZPmLXGZf4

[Liam Halligan @LiamHalligan]

What would I do if I were Chancellor?

I was asked this question while debating @realVickyPryce on @Iromg radio show this morning – Mike is on holiday so @russellquirk was standing-in.

I've turned our chat into a When The Facts Change post - where you can read, watch and listen via the link below

Please like and share to support independent journalism that matters.

When The Facts Change: Economics and Politics in a fast-moving world, with Liam Halligan

https://t.co/TJ3RqCTliV

[Liam Halligan @LiamHalligan]

For more sharp analysis, please subscribe to When The Facts Change: Economics and Politics in a fast-moving world with Liam Halligan

I’ll be doing a one-hour “Ask Me Anything” on When The Facts Change substack at 6pm on Thursday 11th June.

This will be open to “everyone” – you don’t even need to be a paid or unpaid subscriber – although that will change in future AMAs.

Please submit your questions under this X post, or in the comments during the live AMA broadcast - which you can access via the link below.

And like and share this thread to support independent media that really matters

When The Facts Change - Economics and Politics in a fast-moving world, with Liam Halligan

🧵8/8

https://t.co/CZPmLXGrpw

[Liam Halligan @LiamHalligan]

Britain will over the coming months endure the biggest rise in unemployment of any major advanced economy.

That was the conclusion of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) last week, when it warned that UK joblessness will soar from 4.8pc last year to 5.5pc by the end of 2026.

When Labour took office in July 2024, unemployment was just 4.1pc. But the number of payrolled employees has since fallen in fourteen of the twenty-one subsequent months to April – with around 1.81 million now unemployed.

It is unusual, when the population is rising, for the number of payrolled jobs across the economy to fall.

But that pattern has been broken under Labour.

🧵1/8

[Liam Halligan @LiamHalligan]

But with British youth unemployment now rising faster than anywhere else in the G7 – and set to hit 17.8pc next year according to the OECD – something else is going on.

Over the last few years, an astonishing divergence has emerged between the employment of young UK-nationals and immigrants in the same age group from outside the European Union.

The number of non-EU workers aged under 25 on UK payrolls soared from 82,000 in January 2020 to 370,000 in December 2025, according to analysis of HMRC data by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ). That’s an astonishing 355pc rise

Over the same period, UK-national under-25s on payrolls increased by just 11,000, a mere 0.3pc increase, as the number of under-25 “Neets” surged almost 200,000.

During the year to December 2025, as the labour market has tightened, 33,200 more non-EU under-25s were added to UK payrolls, while a net 32,200 UK-nationals of the same age fell off.

That strikes me as a national scandal.

Here's a link to the CSJ research

🧵7/8

https://t.co/cRwGeyWL0c