Bob Lyddon, Author at IREF Europe https://en.irefeurope.org/auteur/bob-lyddon/ Independent research and policy analysis on fiscal, monetary, and regulatory issues in Europe Sat, 18 Apr 2026 13:54:20 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://en.irefeurope.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2026/04/IREF-LinkedIn-Profile-DarkBlue-scaled.png Bob Lyddon, Author at IREF Europe https://en.irefeurope.org/auteur/bob-lyddon/ 32 32 UK government’s plans to track and de-risk its own ‘shadow debt’ show the costs of the Net Zero transition will be imposed directly onto businesses and consumers https://en.irefeurope.org/publications/online-articles/article/uk-governments-plans-to-track-and-de-risk-its-own-shadow-debt-show-the-costs-of-the-net-zero-transition-will-be-imposed-directly-onto-businesses-and-consumers/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=uk-governments-plans-to-track-and-de-risk-its-own-shadow-debt-show-the-costs-of-the-net-zero-transition-will-be-imposed-directly-onto-businesses-and-consumers https://en.irefeurope.org/publications/online-articles/article/uk-governments-plans-to-track-and-de-risk-its-own-shadow-debt-show-the-costs-of-the-net-zero-transition-will-be-imposed-directly-onto-businesses-and-consumers/#respond Tue, 17 Feb 2026 06:31:11 +0000 https://en.irefeurope.org/?p=36230 Introduction The UK Budget papers of November 2025 acknowledge the funding models through which the government plans to increase the liabilities of UK taxpayers, beyond the government borrowing the money…

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]]> https://en.irefeurope.org/publications/online-articles/article/uk-governments-plans-to-track-and-de-risk-its-own-shadow-debt-show-the-costs-of-the-net-zero-transition-will-be-imposed-directly-onto-businesses-and-consumers/feed/ 0 The UK’s and EU’s Net Zero policies threaten to destroy their economies in the face of Trump’s oil-led US revival at US$50-per-barrel https://en.irefeurope.org/publications/online-articles/article/the-uks-and-eus-net-zero-policies-threaten-to-destroy-their-economies-in-the-face-of-trumps-oil-led-us-revival-at-us50-per-barrel/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-uks-and-eus-net-zero-policies-threaten-to-destroy-their-economies-in-the-face-of-trumps-oil-led-us-revival-at-us50-per-barrel https://en.irefeurope.org/publications/online-articles/article/the-uks-and-eus-net-zero-policies-threaten-to-destroy-their-economies-in-the-face-of-trumps-oil-led-us-revival-at-us50-per-barrel/#respond Tue, 10 Feb 2026 04:46:48 +0000 https://en.irefeurope.org/?p=36215 Introduction The US is on the move and the geopolitical scenario has moved quickly away from the certainties of the last ten to fifteen years. Oil could come down to…

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]]> https://en.irefeurope.org/publications/online-articles/article/the-uks-and-eus-net-zero-policies-threaten-to-destroy-their-economies-in-the-face-of-trumps-oil-led-us-revival-at-us50-per-barrel/feed/ 0 The UK’s November 2025 Budget and ‘Securonomics’ https://en.irefeurope.org/publications/online-articles/article/the-uks-november-2025-budget-and-securonomics/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-uks-november-2025-budget-and-securonomics https://en.irefeurope.org/publications/online-articles/article/the-uks-november-2025-budget-and-securonomics/#respond Wed, 28 Jan 2026 04:42:49 +0000 https://en.irefeurope.org/?p=36208 Introduction The UK government’s November 2025 Budget supplied ample corroboration of our report published by IREF in October 2025 (‘the report’), showing that the governing Labour Party plans to greatly…

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]]> https://en.irefeurope.org/publications/online-articles/article/the-uks-november-2025-budget-and-securonomics/feed/ 0 The United Kingdom as a sandbox for state-directed investment https://en.irefeurope.org/publications/online-articles/article/the-united-kingdom-as-a-sandbox-for-state-directed-investment-2/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-united-kingdom-as-a-sandbox-for-state-directed-investment-2 https://en.irefeurope.org/publications/online-articles/article/the-united-kingdom-as-a-sandbox-for-state-directed-investment-2/#respond Wed, 26 Nov 2025 05:04:10 +0000 https://en.irefeurope.org/?p=36128 Introduction The new UK government elected in July 2024 has promised a ‘decade of national renewal’, realised through its Industrial Strategy, its Infrastructure Strategy, and the transition to Clean Power.…

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]]> https://en.irefeurope.org/publications/online-articles/article/the-united-kingdom-as-a-sandbox-for-state-directed-investment-2/feed/ 0 The United Kingdom as a sandbox for state-directed investment – with a major increase in ‘shadow debt’, and in the ‘shadow taxation’ required to service that debt https://en.irefeurope.org/publications/online-articles/article/the-united-kingdom-as-a-sandbox-for-state-directed-investment-with-a-major-increase-in-shadow-debt-and-in-the-shadow-taxation-required-to-service-that-de/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-united-kingdom-as-a-sandbox-for-state-directed-investment-with-a-major-increase-in-shadow-debt-and-in-the-shadow-taxation-required-to-service-that-de https://en.irefeurope.org/publications/online-articles/article/the-united-kingdom-as-a-sandbox-for-state-directed-investment-with-a-major-increase-in-shadow-debt-and-in-the-shadow-taxation-required-to-service-that-de/#respond Thu, 23 Oct 2025 19:31:11 +0000 https://en.irefeurope.org/?p=36077 We are delighted to publish this new report by our regular contributor, Bob Lyddon. It is about the plans of the UK government to launch a decade-long programme of ‘investment’…

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]]> https://en.irefeurope.org/publications/online-articles/article/the-united-kingdom-as-a-sandbox-for-state-directed-investment-with-a-major-increase-in-shadow-debt-and-in-the-shadow-taxation-required-to-service-that-de/feed/ 0 The United Kingdom as a sandbox for state-directed investment https://en.irefeurope.org/publications/working-paper-series/article/the-united-kingdom-as-a-sandbox-for-state-directed-investment/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-united-kingdom-as-a-sandbox-for-state-directed-investment https://en.irefeurope.org/publications/working-paper-series/article/the-united-kingdom-as-a-sandbox-for-state-directed-investment/#respond Thu, 23 Oct 2025 19:14:26 +0000 https://en.irefeurope.org/?p=36074 WP 2025-10. Executive Summary Many countries’ Founding Fathers and large portions of academia believed that constitutions, common-sense economics, and people’s vigilance would be enough to restrain taxation and public debt.…

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]]> https://en.irefeurope.org/publications/working-paper-series/article/the-united-kingdom-as-a-sandbox-for-state-directed-investment/feed/ 0 Taxpayers to be burdened with further obligations under a new way of creating public debt https://en.irefeurope.org/publications/online-articles/article/taxpayers-to-be-burdened-with-further-obligations-under-a-new-way-of-creating-public-debt/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=taxpayers-to-be-burdened-with-further-obligations-under-a-new-way-of-creating-public-debt https://en.irefeurope.org/publications/online-articles/article/taxpayers-to-be-burdened-with-further-obligations-under-a-new-way-of-creating-public-debt/#respond Wed, 01 Oct 2025 05:24:14 +0000 https://en.irefeurope.org/?p=36029 Introduction Governments and other public sector entities have borrowed up to the limit of their debt capacity, and, in the EU, its supranational entities have run up debts themselves. Public…

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]]> https://en.irefeurope.org/publications/online-articles/article/taxpayers-to-be-burdened-with-further-obligations-under-a-new-way-of-creating-public-debt/feed/ 0 EU shadow debts start to become all too real https://en.irefeurope.org/publications/online-articles/article/eu-shadow-debts-start-to-become-all-too-real/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=eu-shadow-debts-start-to-become-all-too-real https://en.irefeurope.org/publications/online-articles/article/eu-shadow-debts-start-to-become-all-too-real/#respond Wed, 10 Sep 2025 05:21:04 +0000 https://en.irefeurope.org/?p=36001 Introduction The European Commission recently kicked off the negotiation of the EU budget for the next budgetary period, called a Multiannual Financial Framework or ‘MFF’. The period is always seven…

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]]> https://en.irefeurope.org/publications/online-articles/article/eu-shadow-debts-start-to-become-all-too-real/feed/ 0 UK plans to melt the protections against the taxpayer bailing out banks again https://en.irefeurope.org/publications/online-articles/article/uk-plans-to-melt-the-protections-against-the-taxpayer-bailing-out-banks-again/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=uk-plans-to-melt-the-protections-against-the-taxpayer-bailing-out-banks-again https://en.irefeurope.org/publications/online-articles/article/uk-plans-to-melt-the-protections-against-the-taxpayer-bailing-out-banks-again/#respond Wed, 30 Jul 2025 03:24:04 +0000 https://en.irefeurope.org/?p=35985 Introduction On 15th July, the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, delivered a keynote annual address to the City of London (known as the Mansion House speech) in which…

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]]> https://en.irefeurope.org/publications/online-articles/article/uk-plans-to-melt-the-protections-against-the-taxpayer-bailing-out-banks-again/feed/ 0 What is the German stance towards uncertainty around debt, the economy, and defence? https://en.irefeurope.org/publications/online-articles/article/what-is-the-german-stance-towards-uncertainty-around-debt-the-economy-and-defence/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=what-is-the-german-stance-towards-uncertainty-around-debt-the-economy-and-defence https://en.irefeurope.org/publications/online-articles/article/what-is-the-german-stance-towards-uncertainty-around-debt-the-economy-and-defence/#respond Wed, 18 Jun 2025 03:49:43 +0000 https://en.irefeurope.org/?p=35922 Introduction In previous newsletters we looked at the Brexit Re-set, US tariffs, and unconvincing responses to high government debt. Now we examine the response to all of this in the…

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