In this Institute of Economic Affairs podcast, Maeve Halligan is joined by Lord Hannan of Kingsclere, Director General of the IEA, and Robert Armstrong, Director of the Institute for Free Trade.

This week, the discussion opens with the US midterms, where the Democrats made historic gains, from newly redrawn seats in Texas to a Senate seat in Kansas. Was the result really about the war in Iran, as some in the administration have claimed, or, with 39 per cent of voters naming the economy as their top issue and 66 per cent saying tariffs have hurt the national economy, a rejection of protectionism and its costs? The conversation examines how a tariff policy meant to reshore industry, close the trade deficit and raise revenue has delivered none of these, and how rising input costs filtered from businesses to voters across the Midwest and the Deep South. They also ask whether Trump’s following was ever a true cult of personality, whether those who went along with his trade policy should face an electoral price, and whether the Republican Party can return to limited government or the Democrats will draw the wrong lessons from their win.

The discussion then turns to the UK–EU summit on 20 November, where a draft deal to scrap post-Brexit checks on food exports would require Britain to follow EU sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) rules. Is the Government trading sovereignty for a smoother border, or taking on regulatory costs across the whole economy that far outweigh the savings at the border? The panel weighs up the youth experience scheme, the return to Erasmus and the question of who pays tuition fees for EU students, and asks why Britain appears to be accepting the EU’s demands without setting out its own.

The discussion closes with Michel Barnier’s warnings against “cherry picking”, whether rejoining the EU is a realistic prospect, and whether keeping the question open is more about uniting left-of-centre voters than any concrete plan to go back in. The panel argues that the real risk is not rejoining but the damage done along the way, and the danger of reopening the culture war that followed the 2016 referendum.

The Institute of Economic Affairs is a registered educational charity. It does not endorse or give support for any political party in the UK or elsewhere. Our mission is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems.

The views represented here are those of the speakers alone, not those of the Institute, its Managing Trustees, Academic Advisory Council members or senior staff.

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