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Michael Simmons

Michael Simmons

The Spectator

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The British middle-class race to go private

Postwar Britain can be defined by a bargain made with its middle class: pay for public services but benefit from them too. Private education has...

latest 6

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

Sod the state: the middle-class race to go private

Postwar Britain can be defined by a bargain made with its middle class: pay for public services but benefit from them too. Private education has...

previous day 10

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

Autumn Budget livestream – trick or treat?

Economics editor Michael Simmons will be joined by deputy political editor James Heale and pollster Scarlett Maguire to discuss Andy Burnham and John...

wednesday 10

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

Economy / Ten things to look out for in the Budget

It’s Budget day. The run-up to Andy Burnham and John Healey’s first fiscal event has been rather less eventful than last year. There’ve been no...

wednesday 10

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

Andy Haldane hits out at the Bank of England

The Bank of England’s former chief economist Andy Haldane has accused the Bank of being too slow to tackle the latest wave of inflation and warned...

22.10.2026 20

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

Vested interest / John Healey has been given a double whammy of bad news

The run of good economic news has come to an end. A double whammy of releases from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) make clear the problems...

21.10.2026 10

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

Is the jobs collapse finally starting to slow?

Has the jobs market bottomed out? Figures just released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that, unexpectedly, the unemployment rate...

20.10.2026 10

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

Britain’s economy is growing – but Labour could soon stop that

Britain’s economy has surprised again. GDP grew 0.1 per cent in August, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). That’s obviously...

15.10.2026 20

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

A quarter of children could be classed as disabled by 16

There is a statistic that should be leading the 10 o’clock news every single night: one in four Britons are disabled. Either it’s true and we have...

14.10.2026 20

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

Money trouble / The IMF has faith in Britain. Should it?

Britain’s economy has come out near top of the class in the latest report from the International Monetary Fund. Overnight from the IMF’s meeting...

13.10.2026 10

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

The wealthy person’s guide to fleeing Britain

Behind the scenes of The Spectator’s wealth tax debate last month there were lots of nervous whispers. “Wealthy people we work with are absolutely...

06.10.2026 20

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

Three ways to get Britain’s economy moving

There was a palpable frustration from the Prime Minister in his Labour conference speech this week. ‘I would love to go quicker’, Andy Burnham...

02.10.2026 30

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

Burnham calls time on the triple lock

Not all heroes wear capes. Some wear black T-shirts. Andy Burnham has done what nearly every British politician knows needs to be done but dares never...

29.09.2026 20

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

John Healey’s fantasyland economics

The first half of John Healey’s first Labour conference speech as Chancellor reminded me of old men in a bowls club reminiscing about the Korean...

28.09.2026 30

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

The wealthy person’s guide to fleeing Britain

Behind the scenes of The Spectator’s wealth tax debate this month there were lots of nervous whispers. ‘Wealthy people we work with are absolutely...

25.09.2026 30

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

Rich pickings / The wealthy person’s guide to fleeing Britain

Behind the scenes of The Spectator’s wealth tax debate this month there were lots of nervous whispers. ‘Wealthy people we work with are absolutely...

24.09.2026 30

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

Can Healey dodge another round of tax rises?

Ever since bond vigilantes around the world decided it was time to offload their holdings in sovereign debt, Westminster has assumed that tax rises...

24.09.2026 30

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

The wealthy person’s guide to fleeing Britain

Behind the scenes of The Spectator’s wealth tax debate this month there were lots of nervous whispers. ‘Wealthy people we work with are absolutely...

24.09.2026 40

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

The Bank holding interest rates will be of little relief for John Healey

The Bank of England has just voted six-three to hold interest rates at 3.75 per cent, a decision that makes Britain’s central bank an outlier...

17.09.2026 30

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

Another cost of living crisis is coming

Britain is heading head first towards another cost of living crisis. Figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show inflation rose...

16.09.2026 30

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

Britian’s public sector wage spiral

Britain is in a wage spiral – though not a traditional one. Instead, job and wage growth is surging in the public sector while the private sector...

15.09.2026 30

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

Britain is growing. Will Healey mess it up?

There are lots of reasons to seriously worry about the economy at the moment. The price of oil is surging, bonds are slumping (meaning yields are up...

11.09.2026 30

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

Labour must go further and faster in the North Sea

John Healey stood in front of two giant robotic arms this week and promised to ‘make Great Britain Growth Britain again’. The Chancellor also...

10.09.2026 40

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

Moron premium / The real reason bond markets are spooked

When Andrew Griffith was appointed shadow chancellor on Monday, Labour MPs made much merriment of his involvement in the Liz Truss mini-Budget. Just a...

02.09.2026 50

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

The SNP’s food price cap bill is stupid and cynical

If the first job of a government is national security the second probably ought to be food security. Odd, then, that the SNP seems to be pursuing a...

01.09.2026 40

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

Are tax rises coming?

Welcome to kite-flying season. With exactly two months to go until Andy Burnham and John Healey’s first Budget, we’re beginning to get a shape of...

28.08.2026 40

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

Jenny Gilruth was my teacher – the bullying claims don’t surprise me

When I heard that a civil service insider had made bullying allegations against Scotland’s deputy first minister, Jenny Gilruth, I was not...

27.08.2026 30

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

Britain’s books are getting harder than ever to balance

There’s good and bad news in the public finance figures, released by the Office for National Statistics this morning. July saw something of a...

21.08.2026 30

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

Inflation hits Burnham’s cost of living pledge

This week, Andy Burnham, in an article about how much he loves buses, declared that he will lead a ‘cost of living government’. Yet costs are...

19.08.2026 40

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

Burnham’s jobs apocalypse

Is the Burnham bounce about to fizzle out? This morning has seen the first shaky set of economic figures since his ascension to Mayor of Great...

18.08.2026 30

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

The wildfires phone notification was hysterical

It’s reassuring to know the government has the ability to live-tweet the slow decline of Britain. We won’t go out with a whimper: we’ll crash...

14.08.2026 40

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

Britain’s economy is growing – but not enough

Prime Minister Andy Burnham and his Chancellor John Healey are not having a bad start. Sure, there’s trouble ahead: the Budget is going to be...

13.08.2026 30

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

Lost in the supermarket / Healey shouldn’t repeat the ‘price gouging’ dog whistle

Our supermarkets are showing remarkable restraint. The previous Chancellor and now the new one can’t resist slandering them. In...

02.08.2026 40

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

Healey shouldn’t repeat the ‘price gouging’ dog whistle

Our supermarkets are showing remarkable restraint. The previous Chancellor and now the new one can’t resist slandering them. In...

02.08.2026 40

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

Are the rich still fleeing Britain?

One of the first magazine cover pieces I wrote as economics editor was: ‘Go – Why the Rich Are Fleeing Britain’. It claimed that changes to the...

31.07.2026 40

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

The Bank of England’s rate hold is good news for John Healey

Energy prices have been on the rise again in recent weeks and fears of another inflationary shock are, again, on economists’ lips. For now, though,...

30.07.2026 40

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

Economics / Healey must fix the ONS

If John Healey wants to succeed as Chancellor, he needs to get a grip on the Office for National Statistics (ONS).  I’ve written about the troubles...

25.07.2026 40

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

Lucky dip / The madness of crowds is keeping markets afloat

‘I’m done with Trump,’ fumed a normally MAGA-supportive retail trader as he watched an investment that was particularly Hormuz-sensitive...

24.07.2026 40

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

Healey must fix the ONS

If John Healey wants to succeed as Chancellor, he needs to get a grip on the Office for National Statistics (ONS).  I’ve written about the troubles...

24.07.2026 30

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

How long can this inflation story last for Burnham?

Figures released this morning by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show inflation fell to 2.6 per cent in June – down from the 2.8 per cent...

22.07.2026 30

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

John Healey’s nightmare first day as Chancellor

John Healey has been hit with a triple whammy on his first full day as Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has just...

21.07.2026 40

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

Andy Burnham would be mad to introduce rent controls

Andy Burnham’s government could be entertaining to watch but disastrous for the country. Reports suggest that one of the options Burnham could...

20.07.2026 40

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

Shut up about your disability

Britain is crippled. More of us than ever before are disabled. One in four, at the last count. But it is a statistic so obviously at odds with reality...

17.07.2026 40

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

Shut up about your disability

Britain is crippled. More of us than ever before are disabled. One in four, at the last count. But it is a statistic so obviously at odds with reality...

16.07.2026 60

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

Waving goodbye to Rachel Reeves

Rachel Reeves last night made what is surely her final Mansion House speech to the business bigwigs, obscure liverymen and bankers of the City of...

15.07.2026 40

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

‘It’s going to make Liz Truss look like a savant’: Are you ready for Burnham’s first Budget?

If I were Andy Burnham, I’d be terrified about the inheritance Keir Starmer has left. Yet instead of stepping gingerly towards Downing Street,...

26.06.2026 40

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

Reality check / ‘It’s going to make Liz Truss look like a savant’: Are you ready for Burnham’s first Budget?

If I were Andy Burnham, I’d be terrified about the inheritance Keir Starmer has left. Yet instead of stepping gingerly towards Downing Street,...

25.06.2026 60

The Spectator

Michael Simmons

Reality check / ‘It’s going to make Liz Truss look like a savant’: Are you ready for Burnham’s first Budget?

If I were Andy Burnham, I’d be terrified about the inheritance Keir Starmer has left. Yet instead of stepping gingerly towards Downing Street,...

25.06.2026 40

The Spectator

Michael Simmons