Broadgate victory is great first step
IT is merely a small, symbolic victory in a much bigger battle against red tape but it is great news that Jeremy Hunt will today announce that he won’t be listing Broadgate Estate, as we reveal on our front page. English Heritage’s indefensible bid to protect this unexceptional complex around Liverpool Street station, built in the mid-1980s, has rightly been slapped down by the culture secretary. A much-needed plan to redevelop the estate and to build a new home for UBS, the bank, will now go ahead.
Morning Wire is delighted to have played a major role in demonstrating the absurdly anti-growth and anti-competitive implications of listing such a development – and to marshal the growing opposition to the decision. Among those who signed up to our campaign to dismiss English Heritage’s over-reach were Boris Johnson, Lord Wolfson (the CEO of Next) and a raft of others.
What was so infuriating about the attempt to halt the redevelopment was that it took no account of the need for growth, jobs and regeneration. London’s finance hub has thrived by reinventing itself, as exemplified by the transformation of the Square Mile and the emergence of Canary Wharf; if a 26-year old office block can’t be knocked down anymore, then what next? Would everything be deemed worthy of preservation, regardless of cost? Down that road lies stasis, stagnation and the transformation of a dynamic economy into a fossilised, irrelevant snapshot of a bygone age. It must become easier to change and adapt to modern needs in a world where talent and capital are so footloose – not harder.
Big firms feel that London is a far less attractive place to do business as a result of the 52p tax rate (including national insurance), a raft of other tax hikes and numerous new labour market rules. So it is refreshing that they will at last be sent a strong signal that the coalition is trying to reopen the UK for business.
Given the good news on Broadgate, let us hope that George Osborne uses his Mansion House speech tonight to introduce other reforms. He will announce that he backs the ring-fencing of the retail part of large universal banks, a move which will reduce uncertainty for City firms. But he will face a crowd that is growing increasingly worried that the government is losing its reformist credentials in many areas. Tax is a real issue, with serious anger about the raid on North Sea oil and gas firms. It is also increasingly obvious that the UK has one of the highest direct tax burdens of any major economy, as confirmed again by accountants UHY. The research works out the take home pay for workers, taking into account personal taxes and social security contributions, and reveals the UK charges the 7th highest taxes. The calculations are based on a single, unmarried taxpayer with no kids; the UK would score even worse for families, as these enjoy tax breaks in other countries. Only Mexico, Estonia, Italy, France, India and Germany take more than the UK from an employee earning $25,000 a year. For a person earning $200,000, only France, Israel, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and Italy take more in tax. None of this is going to change in a hurry, unfortunately, but Osborne needs to try and compensate for it by unveiling more pro-growth, supply-side policies. Broadgate is an excellent move – now we need more from where that came from.
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