IEA - the Ukip of the think tank world

Dr Richard Wellings, Deputy Editorial Director at the IEA (Institute of Economic Affairs) appears on Sputnik Radio talking about the rise of protectionism. I hate to say it, but Wellings is out of his depth. He is good on some things in terms of domestic economics, but this is not his field and not one to dabble in without a good grounding in the basics.

The IEA is fast becoming the Ukip of the think tank world when it comes to regulation and EU matters. We have some pretty decent regulatory codes and they exist for some seriously good reasons. Wellings's example of a Indian car costing more because of eco-compliance is because their produce has to be tested to European standards. We do this because Indian "standards" are weak, and the testing is largely fraudulent.

Complaining about "ecological regulations" is also stupid. There is nothing at all wrong in principle with wanting to bring down vehicle emissions and the toxins therein. India doesn't give a tinkers damn - but that's why they are polluting themselves into oblivion. Also the very last thing we would want is a recognition of Indian crash tests.

The Tory SW1 types have no idea what they are talking about when it comes to regulation. They are not mentally equipped for it. They think regulation is the reason we should leave the EU. Regulation in itself is no bad thing. The reason we want to be out of the EU is so that we have a veto at the top tables specifically to stop non state actors forming mutual recognition agreements of their own so that we can keep these "protectionist" barriers in place. We do not want Indian cars on our roads, nor Chinese ones either.

The IEA is locked into that 1990's narrative that "EU regulation is bad". As we keep demonstrating, it is not EU regulation - it is global and we need most of it. These people are dinosaurs and way behind the curve. They don't understand what is happening.

Sadly, the IEA bunch are the people informing the Leave campaign - and ultimately it is their arrogance, stupidity and hubris that will keep us in the EU. Wanting to leave the EU so we can have filthy unsafe Indian death sheds on our roads is not a winning ticket.