IFS Zooms In: The Economy Institute for Fiscal Studies

In our first election special, we look at the broad economic picture and analyse announcements about the fiscal rules, the triple lock and tax.
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After years of sluggish growth and flatlining productivity, a rare political consensus has emerged that growing the economy is one of the key priorities of the next government.
With an election on the way, we're bound to hear pledges and policies on how to get the economy growing again.
But how can we actually grow the economy? Can we get productivity growth back on track? And in what sectors can the UK lead?To help answer these questions, we’re joined by Anna Valero, Policy Fellow and Director of the Growth Programme at the Centre for Economic Performance at the LSE.
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Today, we’re setting the stage for a key moment in UK politics — the upcoming spending review, expected this November. The spending review will set some £600 billion of departmental budgets from April 2025 onwards, and will be a crucial moment for the next government to lay out its priorities and plans for public services. 
How should the incoming government go about doing the next spending review? How can the government make sure they deliver on their priorities? And will they be constrained by the much talked about ‘treasury orthodoxy’?
To help us answer these questions, we're joined by two people who have been at the heart of government - David Gauke, a lawyer and former MP who served in the Treasury under David Cameron and Theresa May’s governments and Giles Wilkes, a senior fellow at the Institute for Government and former special adviser to Theresa May and Vince Cable. 
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We often hear about government debt in the headlines. Currently the UK government owes around £2.65 trillion, nearly 100% of UK GDP - the value of all the goods and services produced in the UK in a year.
How has the debt level grown? Should we aspire to reduce the debt? And do we need to worry about high debt to GDP ratios?
Joining us today to answer all these questions and more, is David Miles, Professor of Financial Economics at Imperial College Business School, a member of the OBR Budget Responsibility Committee and former member of the Monetary Policy Committee at the Bank of England.
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In his Spring Budget, the Chancellor announced a 2% cut to National Insurance, amidst other measures on tax and spending.
What will the impact of the measures be? How will it affect living standards? And what choices face the next Parliament?
Joining us today are Helen Miller, Deputy Director at IFS and Ben Zaranko, Senior Research Economist at IFS.
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Since the pandemic, the size the NHS waiting list has been in the headlines almost constantly. At the start of 2023, Rishi Sunak committed to decreasing the size of the waiting list as one of his ‘five priorities’, and since then it has actually gone up. 
So today, we’re going to dive into the NHS waiting list - what is it? How big is it? And is there a credible plan to get it back down?
Joining us to answer those questions are Ben Zaranko and Max Warner, IFS economists who have recently published a report on the NHS waiting list.
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