EMQs Easter special: Does anyone want to pay more taxes?

Political Currency

Persephonica

Business, Economy, George Osborne, Westminster, Politics, News, Money, Ed Balls

4 • 855 Ratings

🗓️ 17 April 2025

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this Easter special, Ed Balls and George Osborne meet a truly mythical creature: someone who wants to pay more tax, not less. And according to George, there’s actually a way to do it.

They also discuss a big political what-if: what happens if a Prime Minister loses their seat? They've talked before about how someone can become PM without being an MP - think Mark Carney in Canada - but this week they flip the question: could one keep the top job if your constituents vote you out?

Also in the mix: is a government running out of money about to come for your pension? Would scrapping the tax-free lump sum be a smart or desperate move? And is it time to give our big cities more power - and more room to grow?

And a note, don’t miss our upcoming Inside the Room: The Election That Never Was - which is out tomorrow for subscribers and Monday for everyone else.

Become a member of POLITICAL CURRENCY GOLD 🏅 to support the podcast, enjoy ad-free listening to all our episodes and receive early access to EMQs. Or, join Political Currency’s KITCHEN CABINET to enjoy early and ad-free listening, access to live EMQs recordings, and exclusive Political Currency merch.

Subscribe now: patreon.com/politicalcurrency or on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/politicalcurrency. Please note Kitchen Cabinet subscriptions are only available through Patreon.

Technical Producer: Danny Pape

Producers: Miriam Hall and Silvia Maresca

Executive Producers: Dino Sofos and Ellie Clifford

Political Currency is a Persephonica Production and is part of the Acast Creator Network.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Oh, hi Greg James.
0:01.6	Hi, Alice Levine.
0:02.9	People might know you from The Rounders Podcasts you do.
0:05.7	It's cricket and people will know you, I guess, from, oh, my dad's in a scandal, whatever.
0:10.5	Rude.
0:11.0	Anyway, whatever podcasts you listen to, you are going to love this.
0:15.0	We're here to tell you about the UK's biggest podcast festival, Crossed Wires.
0:19.5	Great radio voice.
0:20.2	It's three days of your favourite podcast shows, all in iconic venues across Sheffield from the 4th to the 6th of July.
0:27.4	Let me give you some of the line up.
0:28.5	Go on.
0:29.0	So Grimmie and Angela Hartnett are going to be doing Dish Live.
0:32.4	Amazing.
0:32.9	We're also going to have, we need to talk with Paul C. Brunson.
0:35.4	No such thing as a fish are going to be there.
0:42.4	Tailenders. Thank you. And so is Richard Herring, plus many, many more.
0:47.6	Crossed Wires is a weekend of live podcast shows, but also free performances, after parties.
0:49.9	We're generally just going to have a really lovely time.
0:51.9	I actually think that line-up's maybe too good.
0:53.1	Yeah, who could we lose?
0:55.0	Don't answer that.
0:56.7	Tickets are on sale now.
	...

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