Comments
In the run-up to his elevation to prime minister, it would be safe to say that Andy Burnham did not have a great reputation among investors. Last year he declared he didn’t want to be in ‘hock to the bond markets’. He also had many plans to spend billions nationalising the utility companies and reducing the cost of living. Securing Lord Jim O’Neil, a former adviser to Gordon Brown and once a senior economist at Goldman Sachs, as part of his team was meant to be a great help. And yet today we learned that O’Neil may decide against joining Team Andy after all. Why? Because, among other things, he opposes a wealth tax – and he is completely right to do so.
The new government was planning on hiring a trio of heavyweight economic thinkers, with O’Neil working alongside Andy Haldane, a former chief economist at the Bank of England, and Richard Hughes, who used to run the Office for Budget Responsibility. Now it looks like there will be only two advisers joining Burnham’s top team, and perhaps none at all. Negotiations with O’Neil stalled on the issue of a wealth tax. He doesn’t want any part of it.
Plenty of issues are open to debate in economics, but on wealth taxes the verdict is clear
