NEF in the news, August 2018

The Bank of England’s interest rate rise will cripple those who can least afford it
While wealthy Brits will barely notice the rate rise, it’s bad news for the millions who take on debt to get by, writes NEF Economist Frank Van Lerven in The New Statesman.

Selling off rail arches will be a body blow to small business
The Evening Standard covered our campaign with Guardians of the Arches to prevent Network Rail’s massive sell-off. Guardians of the Arches, who we are working with, released a list of 13 proposals for the future of the railway arches in which they work. We have conducted research showing that railway arch businesses contribute £725m to the UK economy. This was covered in The Times (including an op-ed from Rachel Sylvester), The Evening Standard, The Independent, City AM, and The Big Issue. Our Director of Communications, Will Brett, wrote for the Guardian about the risks to small business of the arches sell-off.

The left needs to come up with a replacement for Universal Credit
Pointing out the flaws in the government’s flagship policy is not enough, write NEF’s Alfie Sterling and Sarah Bedford in The New Statesman.

Are seaside towns like Morecambe getting left behind?
Channel 5 News used our research on insolvencies and startups in coastal communities in their coverage of declining seaside towns. Watch

“They’ve massively over-egged the rhetoric“
Joe Beswick spoke to Channel 4 News about the release of the new social housing green paper. Watch

High street job losses mean £1.5 billion in lost GDP this year
Our research calculating the cost of high street job losses to the British economy was covered in The Guardian and The Mirror. 

Let councils buy up land more cheaply
NEF has signed a letter, covered in The Times, along with 13 other groups, calling for local authorities to be given the power to buy agricultural land at a far market rate. 

What happens when AI takes all our jobs? 
Duncan McCann spoke to TechWorld about the possibility of a citizens wealth fund to spread ownership of the gains of the AI revolution.