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Jonathan Portes

@jdportes

Jonathan Portes is a senior fellow at academic think tank The UK in a Changing Europe and professor of economics and public policy at King’s College London. He was director of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research and former chief economist at the Cabinet Office. His particular areas of interest include fiscal policy, labour markets and immigration.

<p>Means-testing the winter fuel payment has its merits </p>
Voices

There are good reasons why the winter fuel payment must be scrapped

<p>Any credible strategy by the government needs not just to condemn the rioters but also directly address the ‘root causes’ </p>
Voices

Enough of ‘stop the boats’ – this is how to deal with immigration

<p>Immigration figures show the highest levels of net migration since records began</p>
Voices

Why are politicians unwilling to face the truth about migration?

Voices

Are we now being proved wrong about Brexit?

<p>There are potentially large groups of workers who would suffer very substantial income losses from self-isolation</p>
Business Comment

The government’s refusal to increase sick pay is a false economy

UK is one of Ireland's closest trading partners and a recent report concluded that a Brexit would have a detrimental impact on its economy
Voices

A no-deal Brexit is twice as damaging as the virus on our economy

Related video: Frans Timmermans, the European Commission’s vice president, has said the UK's Brexit team are 'running around like idiots'
Voices

How a no-deal Brexit will affect the economy — now and in the future

The OECD's Brexit forecasts echo warnings from the Bank of England
Business Comment

How will next week’s Brexit votes affect the UK economy and jobs?

Sajid Javid is an adherent of the libertarian Ayn Rand but his immigration policy requires the imposition of large new regulatory obligations on individuals and employers
Business Comment

The immigration white paper is economically and socially retrograde

The direct impact of immigration is a small reduction in wages for the low-paid – but this is outweighed many times over, both for the low-paid and the rest of us, by the boost to living standards from higher productivity
Business Comment

Immigration has made the UK more productive and prosperous

The direct impact of immigration is a small reduction in wages for the low-paid – but this is outweighed many times over, both for the low-paid and the rest of us, by the boost to living standards from higher productivity
Business Analysis & Features

Immigration has made the UK more productive and prosperous

The rebuilding after the Kobe earthquake in 1995 paradoxically added to Japan’s GDP
Voices

Would a no-deal Brexit plunge us into recession?

The real issue is not the inclusion of students in the government's 'tens of thousands' net migration target, but the target itself
Business Comment

Foreign students are an unalloyed benefit to the UK

Business Comment

Foreign students are an unalloyed benefit to the UK

The real issue is not the inclusion of students in the government's 'tens of thousands' net migration target, but the target itself
Brexit along the lines of the Chequers document could cost 3 per cent of GDP
Business Comment

Don't be fooled into thinking a 'Chequers Brexit' would be pain free

The Windrush scandal is just the tip of the iceberg of Government failings on immigration
Business Comment

Sajid Javid needs to press reset on immigration policy - here's how

Business Comment

What the blue passport row tells us about our economy after Brexit

The last general election hardly suggests that simply calling for lower immigration is a recipe for electoral success
Business Comment

Most people have a more balanced view of immigration than you think

The last general election hardly suggests that simply calling for lower immigration is a recipe for electoral success
Business Comment

Most people have a more balanced view of immigration than you think

Migration was a central issue during the Brexit referendum and remains one today as we approach the reality of leaving the EU
Voices

This is how the fall in immigration should change our Brexit strategy

As some ethnic minority groups are disproportionately represented amongst benefit recipients, it is hardly surprising they fare badly
Business Comment

Our research shows cuts are hitting ethnic minorities and the disabled

EU citizens in Victoria Tower Gardens in Westminster, London where they were lobbying MPs to guarantee post-Brexit rights on 13 September
Business Comment

Theresa May may have made an important pledge on EU migrants' rights

Daniel Hannan must know that trade talks with India are going nowhere fast due to Theresa May's resistance to immigration liberalisation
Business Comment

Brexit and the balance of bulls***

Any one who argues that fewer migrant workers will increase wages simply because of ‘supply and demand’ is ignoring basic economics
Business Comment

Clamping down on immigration will not help the low-paid

Theresa May has made a vague offer to allow EU citizens to remain in the UK after Brexit
Voices

These are the questions we need to ask May about EU citizens

Captured by the data: Eastern Europeans who came to Britain legally pick cherries at a farm in Kent
Business Comment

If you want to know what’s going on in the real world look at the data

A new study spells out how a fall in immigration will damage economic growth
Business News

How a sharp fall in migration could damage the economy

Theresa May has made a vague offer to allow EU citizens to remain in the UK after Brexit
Voices

These are the questions we need to ask May about EU citizens

Captured by the data: Eastern Europeans who came to Britain legally pick cherries at a farm in Kent
Business Comment

If you want to know what’s going on in the real world look at the data

A new study spells out how a fall in immigration will damage economic growth
Business News

How a sharp fall in migration could damage the economy

Business News

Six myths about immigration in the era of Brexit debunked

Business News

Six myths about immigration in the era of Brexit debunked

Syrian refugee children play with bicycles near their families' residence at Al Zaatari refugee camp in the Jordanian city of Mafraq, near the border with Syria
Voices

We will all suffer if UK puts up the shutters to refugees

Places like Clacton have been left behind by economic growth
Business Comment

Would Ukip’s policies on immigration, tax and education work?

The Social Contract: Fair Enough?
Comment

If the social contract is to remain fair, the well-off elderly will

Lib Dems now face an uphill struggle to win key target seat
Comment

For all the claims made about wealth taxes, it's not correct to say

Lib Dems now face an uphill struggle to win key target seat
Comment

For all the claims made about wealth taxes, it's not correct to say

Commentators

Jonathan Portes: The pressure group playing fast and loose with

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