How Birmingham City Council went ‘bankrupt’ being unnecessarily forced to pay hundreds of £millions into its pension fund to pay off a deficit which never existed. It was always in surplus. Labour didn’t listen. They’re not listening now. thisismoney.co.uk/money/mark…

“The UK cannot afford to be left out of Made in Europe, and its EV mandate needs a reality check.” @dgbailey’s blog today on BlogsFromTheBlackstuff blogsfromtheblackstuff.com/b…

My comments included in national coverage of Glasgow Council Pension Fund's just-declared, record £12Bn *funding* surplus. It's amassed almost 60% more than it will need to pay out for pensions. The Canary in the mine: UK-wide surplus is £200B of taxpayers' money if repeated across LGPS, as @dgbailey & I warned 18ms ago. thisismoney.co.uk/money/mark…

National Coverage of Local Government Pension Scheme this morning, with my comments on Glasgow's just-declared record £12Bn *funding* surplus. 156% funded, even over-prudently assuming 5% future investment returns. Excellent, detailed coverage from @PatrickTooher. thisismoney.co.uk/money/mark… Ridiculous, nonsensical non-denial denial from HM Treasury. What on Earth are they trying to hide from their own chancellor and PM? The fact that they should have spotted the taxpayer-owned likely now £200 billion LGPS surplus before now? Glasgow is the canary in the mine, telling us how big this scandal is going to get. The whole UK scheme had £517B in assets last March. If Glasgow's 158% funding was matched across the scheme, its total pensions bill would be £327B, and so a surplus of £190B of taxpayers' money. That was last March, it's obviously likely now to be over £200B. and Glasgow's share of that likely £20 billion. The biggest yearly loss Glasgow PF has suffered in the last two crashes in 2009 and 2003 was -20%, followed by immediate recovery the following year. The surplus isn't going away, HMT. In Glasgow or across the UK. The piece also points out what we've been saying for some time: the average annual payout from these pensions is little more than £5,000 a year: gold-plated, they aren't.

The Cat is Back: Reflections on the new Jaguar Type 01 @dgbailey's blog today. His verdict on the Jag Type 1 EV, and, more importantly, what it represents for the auto business and JLR. blogsfromtheblackstuff.com/b…

Relax the ZEV Mandate. And Fix the EV Transition Properly. @dgbailey's blog today: blogsfromtheblackstuff.com/b… "@RichParkerLab @MayorWestMids is right. "..EVs accounted for only 26.2% of registrations across the first nine months of 2026, compared with a 33% mandate target. That gap tells us something pretty important. "The ZEV mandate should therefore be relaxed, to 50% by 2030, with a more gradual glide path to 2035."

Britain’s automotive supply chain doesn’t need to die. It needs a new mission. @dgbailey's new blog: blogsfromtheblackstuff.com/b… "Capabilities embedded in the automotive supply chain have not suddenly become worthless. They are capabilities in advanced manufacturing, precision engineering, electronics, software, materials, batteries, autonomous systems and complex supply-chain management" "This is what we mean by reverse conversion: the deliberate mobilisation and reorientation of established civilian industrial capabilities towards defence and dual-use production." "Defence itself is changing. Modern military capability increasingly depends upon technologies and production systems that have strong civilian applications: electronics, communications, autonomous systems, drones, advanced materials, batteries, power electronics, software and sophisticated manufacturing."