Last Friday I had two articles published, one on ConservativeHome on immigration and the other on Stimulus vs. Growth on PoliticsHome. You can read them below. Statistics and spin in immigration I am strongly in favour of evidence-based strategy. Before I became a politician I built a business based around that idea, and it was the approach I also took to how we ran the company. If a manager had an idea that was going to “transform the business”, I’d always ask them to show me the evidence first. The problem with evidence, particularly statistical evidence, is that you can nearly always find a way to make it fit your own argument. Evidence-based policy making is therefore fraught with difficulties and complications. Take immigration. For years the last Labour government... Read more Stimulus vs. Growth, let's have some honesty With GDP figures due next week, you’ll be hard pressed to find a commentator or politician who expects them to be fantastic. We’re unwinding the biggest debt crisis in history and watching the Eurozone limp towards a solution, hardly the most fertile of ground for growth. Of course Labour MPs are quick to blame the Government. We are “cutting too far, too fast” they parrot from the Whips handout.... Read More