George Dibb

Thanks David!

🎉Excited to share that today I started a secondment to DESNZ as Principal Policy Advisor for Industrial Strategy.

👩🏼‍🏭Net zero is the economic opportunity of the 21st century so I'm delighted to be joining the team ahead of the publication of the Industrial Strategy White Paper.

New piece by @rachaelhenry.bsky.social & I for the IPPR blog.

The industrial strategy just got harder lets be honest. Tariffs, economic downturn are threatening existing industries at a time govt is trying to reshape or build new ones. They're being pulled in two directions.

Solar power surge threatens to throw Britain’s grid off balance The National Energy System Operator may have to tell some power stations to switch off this summer to maintain flexibility in the system

More painful contortions to maintain it's anti Net Zero stance at The Times as it claims that both Net Zero is responsible for high energy costs **and** that we're going to get so much low cost solar energy this summer it'll break the grid

www.thetimes.com/article/e933...

Rightwing media falsely blame Ed Miliband for UK steel crisis, experts say Net zero and clean energy can actually help save the steel industry, experts point out

I've been a journalist for 25+ years and I'm not sure I've witnessed as much wilful (and v likely coordinated) disinformation from certain corners of the UK media than over past few days. Sun, Mail and Telegraph have been truly awful - and seemingly shameless

www.theguardian.com/business/202...

‘Labour should drop the chainsaw rhetoric and stop trying to impress journalists' - LabourList Morgan Jones argues that Labour does not need to riff on Milei and Musk.

I'm in LabourList, writing about Project Chainsaw, Scottish DOGE, and Labour talking about making Britain great again, all of which does nothing but signal desperation and a clanging lack of ideological self confidence.

labourlist.org/2025/03/labo...

🚨Some major errors & misleading claims from experienced presenter Nick Robinson on BBC Radio 4 Today, when discussing British Steel with Treasury Minister James Murray

I hope these are corrected on tomorrow's programme, and Robinson sticks to the facts in future.

Here's what he got wrong... 🧵

NEW: The government has said it wants to ‘shape the AI revolution’. But our new report finds that much of UK AI innovation is generic and not focussed on solving hard problems. Our detailed AI database shows only one in seven companies focus on solving a specific problem. (1/5)

Keir Starmer must seize on a new direction for net zero policy The prime minister believes the world economy is fundamentally changing. But above all, he should admit the target was a mistake

Remarkable Leader from the Times, which like Badenoch's speech the other day leaves more questions than answers www.thetimes.com/comment/the-...

- How will nuclear reduce electricity prices? Solar's strike price in AR6 was £50.07. Hinkley's last was £128.09. Lots of reasons for nuclear £ not one..

Make America Screw In Little Screws Again

Trump's tariffs are destabilising the global economy, and will impact UK manufacturers, particularly the car industry. A trade deal to avoid tariffs will be helpful, but the government can go further by supporting these industries to build the tech of the future

Fantastic new research from my colleagues @praneshippr.bsky.social & Simone Gasperin on threats to the UK manufacturing sector from Trump's tariffs... But it's not all bad news, by going for green we can save jobs, boost growth and help the climate.

Story on tomorrow's Mirror front page 👇

🚗 | NEW REPORT: Around 25,000 car manufacturing jobs in the UK are at risk if Trump announces new tariffs today. But as one door closes another one opens. There is huge untapped potential in building & selling green planes, trains and automobiles.

Read here: www.ippr.org/articles/pla...

Planes, trains and automobiles: How green transport can drive manufacturing growth in the UK | IPPR Along with investment in infrastructure, the production of green transport equipment – electric trains and cars, for example – here in the UK, is the solut

Green transport manufacturing, including e-bikes, buses and EVs, can play a key role in the UK's industrial strategy

Governance matters: this strategy must fit with creating a better transport system - one that embraces 'multimodal mobility' and reduces car dependency

New @ippr.bsky.social report👇

Planes, trains and automobiles: How green transport can drive manufacturing growth in the UK | IPPR Along with investment in infrastructure, the production of green transport equipment – electric trains and cars, for example – here in the UK, is the solut

The future of the sector is clear and its EVs - the industrial strategy needs to put in place the policies to support the sector to transition and retain (and create) jobs

At @ippr.bsky.social we've set out how gov can support these green transport industries here: www.ippr.org/articles/pla...

Today's US tariffs will be massively disruptive to a range of sectors, in particular the UK's car-makers, putting tens of thousands of jobs at risk in the auto sector alone

The gov has the opportunity to support these firms & workers through its industrial strategy

Planes, trains and automobiles: How green transport can drive manufacturing growth in the UK | IPPR Along with investment in infrastructure, the production of green transport equipment – electric trains and cars, for example – here in the UK, is the solut

I'm sorry that you were disappointed but I hope if you get chance to read the full report you'll see that we're absolutely not careless about good jobs, quite the opposite. We're urging government to put the right industrial strategy in place to protect those good jobs.

www.ippr.org/articles/pla...

Hi Antonia, thanks for your comment and sorry this came across as glib which was not the intention. Lazy phrasing but the "door opening" we mean is for the auto industry to transition to EVs w/ industrial strategy support. Were clear the priority is retaining these (+creating new) jobs in the sector

www.sporkful.com/tag/mission-...

Tapering over the tax: Reforming taxation of income in the UK | IPPR The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) is an independent charity working towards a fairer, greener, and more prosperous society.

There are opportunities to make the whole system easier and fairer by merging the two though which you can read about here

www.ippr.org/articles/tap...

OK o get you - it's slightly more complicated because you pay IT and NI on different things or in tax speak they have different "bases". IT covers all income (including rental income and pensions) whereas you only pay NI on earned income. So it's not just about aligning the rates basically.

A fine choice

I presume you've listened to the podcast about the man on a quest to design the perfect new pasta shape?

How would merging NI and IT raise £10bn?

Regional economies: The role of industrial strategy as a pathway to greener growth | IPPR The government’s ongoing development of an industrial strategy provides an opportune moment to lay the foundations for a stronger and more secure domestic

🚨 NEW: The future is clean & the North holds the key 🔑

Our new report shows regions like the North have the competitive edge needed to rebuild the national economy in a way that is sustainable & fair: That edge is green manufacturing 🏭

www.ippr.org/articles/reg...

You can't cut your way to prosperity and as @jrf-uk.bsky.social have shown the big risk is that the effect of cuts to front line services and public spending will ultimately lead to falling living standards - breaking the mission the gov set itself just 3 months ago

www.jrf.org.uk/cost-of-livi...

A £5bn welfare cut to pay for higher debt interest is a transfer from the most vulnerable in our society to intl lenders

Another choice wld be for those costs to fall on millionaires avoiding UK taxes (CGT exit tax) or firms passing excess profits to shareholders (buyback levy)

Letter: A plea to the chancellor to avoid more spending cuts From Professor Mariana Mazzucato and others

Our view aligns with @mazzucatom.bsky.social @sjwrenlewis.bsky.social @jdportes.bsky.social and others in the FT last week: "Ultimately, substantial additional tax revenue will be required to meet these spending needs"

www.ft.com/content/4b0d...

Cuts today expecting public sector productivity savings in the future is the kind of sticking plaster policies that didn't work before. More borrowing comes at a high price.

Tax reform (within manifesto promises) let the gov choose which parts of society can bear these costs.

Put simply, we are in a different world to when Reeves set out the October budget. The UK's borrowing costs are higher than they were largely due to events outside the UK, and our growth forecasts look choppy. This isn't the government's fault, but it is their task to deal with.