#167 - Andrew Lilico - Britain Is Poorer Than The Poorest US State

The Peter McCormack Show

Peter McCormack

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4.7 • 2.8K Ratings

🗓️ 21 April 2026

⏱️ 75 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Britain is now poorer than the poorest American state and economist Andrew Lilico says a full-blown fiscal crisis is coming within ten years. He explains how Britain broke itself, why the political establishment lost its faith and the £180 billion in spending cuts he believes should be the baseline, not the radical option.

Andrew Lilico is Executive Director of Europe Economics and Chairman of the IEA Shadow Monetary Policy Committee. He is one of Britain's most prominent economists and a regular voice on UK fiscal policy.

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TIMESTAMPS:

00:00:00 - Britain Is Poorer Than We Pretend

00:01:17 - The Coming Fiscal Crisis

00:02:48 - The Three Forms Of A UK Fiscal Crisis

00:05:00 - How Britain Betrayed A Generation

00:09:11 - ONE Oligarchy Or Competing Ones

00:13:06 - The 20-year Loss Of Coherence In British Politics

00:15:00 - Why Politicians No Longer Trust Voters

00:17:56 - When The System Broke

00:19:42 - Short-Termism And The Death Of Economic Justice

00:22:34 - WHO Actually Runs Britain

00:25:00 - Bank Of England Independence And Its Hidden Cost

00:30:00 - Do We Need An Anti-establishment Movement?

00:33:00 - Why Reform Is Diluting Its Own Message

00:40:00 - £180 Billion In Spending Cuts

00:43:13 - The Bank Of England Back Under Political Control

00:44:05 - The "Surrealist Game" Of Inflation Targets

00:50:00 - Is It Really The Voters' Fault?

00:54:00 - What The Polls Are Telling US

00:55:30 - Is There An Optimistic Path Out Of This?

01:03:12 - UK GDP Per Capita Used To Be Higher Than The US

01:05:44 - What Britain Can Learn From Argentina

01:10:35 - What Should An Ordinary Person Do?

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CONTACT PETE

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CONNECT WITH ANDREW LILLICO

› Twitter – https://x.com/andrew_lilico

› Website – https://www.telegraph.co.uk/authors/a/ak-ao/andrew-lilico/

Transcript

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0:00.0	I don't think that people necessarily have the sense that they should have how much poorer we've got since 2008.
0:08.0	In the first quarter of 2008, UK GDP per capita was higher than that in the US.
0:12.7	You might well see.
0:13.7	The kind of thing that we saw in the 70s, two or three years of 25, 20, 25% inflation.
0:18.6	We've done all of this stuff to ourselves.
0:20.5	It's not some natural forces beyond
0:23.7	anybody's control. Argentina is an interesting illustration that just because you're a rich
0:28.2	developed country doesn't mean you're entitled to stay a rich developed country. Just because
0:32.6	you're politically stable doesn't mean you're entitled to stay politically stable. These things have happened before, and they could happen to us.
0:41.1	Is there an optimistic path out of this?
0:45.9	Um...
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1:15.1	Andrew, hi, how are you?
1:16.2	Not too bad. Thank you.
1:17.5	You've talked about the economic situation in our country and the boiling frog.
1:22.0	There's a reckoning coming.
1:25.1	How severe do you believe things are?
	...

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