The Peter McCormack Show #167 - Andrew Lilico - Britain Is Poorer Than The Poorest US State
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Apr 21, 2026 
Andrew Lilico, economist and Executive Director of Europe Economics who chairs the IEA Shadow Monetary Policy Committee, warns Britain faces a looming fiscal crisis and reveals how policy choices left younger generations worse off. He outlines three crisis scenarios, argues for deep baseline spending cuts and political honesty, and compares Britain’s decline to other nations while proposing a path to regain coherence.
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Ten Year Fiscal Crisis Risk
- The UK is on a path to a significant fiscal crisis within about ten years if politics continues as usual.
- Andrew Lilico warns rolling over £1–2 trillion of maturing debt, possible currency crash, or 20–25% inflation if confidence collapses.
Establishment Lost Its Shared Values
- Britain’s establishment lost a shared set of values and coherence, producing short-termist, self-preserving politics.
- Lilico traces this to a breakdown of the old meritocratic oligarchy where technocrats and communicators once shared broad political liberalism.
Cynical Politics Encourages Short Termism
- Politicians now distrust voters' capacity for the common good and therefore avoid making sacrifices for long-term goals.
- That cynicism drives policy designed to win short-term votes (e.g., protecting pensioners), undermining economic justice for younger generations.