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Miscellaneous

Podcast: General election mid-week update #3

In this episode, FAI Director Mairi Spowage and Deputy Director João Sousa join economist Hannah Randolph to discuss the feasibility of various parties’ funding plans for their commitments, as well as how believable commitments on additional staff in areas like HMRC, education, and the NHS may be within the next parliament.

Participants:

  • Dr Hannah Randolph, Associate Economist, Fraser of Allander Institute, University of Strathclyde
  • Professor Mairi Spowage, Director, Fraser of Allander Institute, University of Strathclyde
  • Dr João Sousa, Deputy Director, Fraser of Allander Institute, University of Strathclyde

Timestamps:

(0:20) Are the parties’ costings and funding plans for their commitments believable?

(09:50) Additional staff and workforce commitments – HMRC, education, and the NHS

(15:40) What’s next in the FAI General Election coverage

Correction: When we recorded the podcast, we expected the Scottish Labour manifesto next Monday, but it’s actually out today. Stay tuned for more manifesto analysis later this week!

Webinar recording

In case you missed it, click here to watch our webinar from last week where Professor Sir John Curtice answered your General Election questions.

Authors

Hannah is a Fellow at the Fraser of Allander Institute. She specialises in applied social policy analysis with a focus on social security, poverty and inequality, labour supply, and immigration.

Picture of Mairi Spowage, director of the Fraser of Allander Institute

Mairi is the Director of the Fraser of Allander Institute. Previously, she was the Deputy Chief Executive of the Scottish Fiscal Commission and the Head of National Accounts at the Scottish Government and has over a decade of experience working in different areas of statistics and analysis.

João is Deputy Director and Senior Knowledge Exchange Fellow at the Fraser of Allander Institute. Previously, he was a Senior Fiscal Analyst at the Office for Budget Responsibility, where he led on analysis of long-term sustainability of the UK's public finances and on the effect of economic developments and fiscal policy on the UK's medium-term outlook.