Nigel Lawson Quotes & Sayings

As the resignation letter which I wrote to the Prime Minister clearly implies, it was not the outcome I sought, but it is one that I accept without rancour, despite what might be described as the hard landing involved. — Nigel Lawson

Hopelessly uneconomic on any substantial scale, since it requires a conventional power back-up for when the wind stops blowing, forests of wind turbines are rightly regarded in most countries as an environmental monstrosity. — Nigel Lawson

If you punish the banks, all you are doing is reducing the banks' capital, which you want to increase, and punishing shareholders, who have done nothing wrong. — Nigel Lawson

I am not surprised Cameron says he supports what Gillard is doing in Australia because we have, in the U.K., a totally misconceived climate change plan as well. — Nigel Lawson

There is always, of course, a limit in a democracy as to what is politically possible, so you have to respect that limit. But in my experience, governments tend to be too timid. — Nigel Lawson

I'm sure Mark Carney is a very clever young man, but I think that the government would be mad to move from inflation targeting to money GDP targeting. — Nigel Lawson

Prime Minister Cameron says he wants to be the greenest government ever, but the definition of green is immature ... I don't deny for a moment that CO2 is a greenhouse gas, but there are so many other factors that affect climate. It is more complicated than the computer models that we are using. What the truth is, nobody knows. — Nigel Lawson

In terms of the arguments, I think the pro-Leave campaign is winning them all. — Nigel Lawson

The pro-E.U. campaign is all too likely to be based on a fear of the unknown because in most people's lifetime, we have never been out of the E.U. — Nigel Lawson

You don't need to be within the single market to trade; it's not an issue. — Nigel Lawson

The successful sale of British Telecom ... reveals a vast and untapped yearning among ordinary people for a direct stake in the ownership of British enterprise. Investment in shares has begun to take its place, with ownership of a home and either a bank or building society deposit, as a way for ordinary people to participate in enterprise and wealth creation. We are seeing the birth of people's capitalism. — Nigel Lawson

You do not need to be within the single market to be able to export to the European Union, as we see from the wide range of goods on our shelves every day. — Nigel Lawson

There has always been, and there always will be, an economic cycle. — Nigel Lawson

Not only is the Kyoto approach to global warming wrong-headed, the climate change establishment's suppression of dissent and criticism is little short of a scandal. The IPCC should be shut down. — Nigel Lawson

During the 1960s, and again in the 1970s, growth in manufacturing productivity in the United Kingdom was the lowest of all the seven major industrial countries in the world. During the 1980s, our annual rate of growth of output per head in manufacturing has been the highest of all the seven major industrial countries. — Nigel Lawson

We should be forced to give so many exemptions and concessions (inevitably to the benefit of high spending authorities in Inner London) that the flat-rate poll tax would rapidly become a surrogate income tax. — Nigel Lawson

I don't think the government needs to be frightened of the banks in the slightest. — Nigel Lawson

If I really believed in Friedman's economic theory, then I'd be quite satisfied to spend the rest of my life with a garden hose shoved down my throat, being filled with custard by representatives of the people of China. — Nigel Lawson

Those who claim that to leave the E.U. would damage the City are the very same as those who in the past confidently predicted, with a classic failure of understanding, that the City would be gravely damaged if the U.K. failed to adopt the euro as its currency. — Nigel Lawson

No one, however long they have held the post, lightly gives up the great office of Chancellor of the Exchequer. Certainly I did not. — Nigel Lawson

If our system of cabinet government is to work effectively, the prime minister of the day must appoint ministers he or she trusts and then leave them to carry out that policy. — Nigel Lawson

It would be wholly wrong constitutionally for the unelected House of Lords to do anything, to kill anything of a financial nature that has been through the House of Commons not once but twice. — Nigel Lawson

The heart of the matter is that the very nature of the European Union, and of this country's relationship with it, has fundamentally changed after the coming into being of the European monetary union and the creation of the eurozone, of which - quite rightly - we are not a part. — Nigel Lawson

When differences of view emerge, as they are bound to do from time to time, they should be resolved privately and whenever appropriately, collectively. — Nigel Lawson

I think that the ordinary bloke has an instinctive sense that it wouldn't be too bad if the weather warmed up. — Nigel Lawson

We already have a sabbatical system. It's called opposition, and I've had enough of it. — Nigel Lawson

I remember when we ignored Europe and we were totally committed to the Commonwealth and the former Empire, and thought imperial preference was the only thing which enabled us to survive, that was a mistake, and it's a similar mistake to feel Britain can't be a hugely successfully country - economically and in any other way - outside the E.U. — Nigel Lawson

This clutching hold of the E.U. is a sign of a lack of national self-confidence - which is not healthy. — Nigel Lawson

I have long argued that in the modern world, corporation tax has had its day as a major source of tax revenue. — Nigel Lawson

Raising the personal allowance is massively expensive. For the same amount of money, you could look at reducing the rate of tax. — Nigel Lawson

I am not anti-European. — Nigel Lawson

I am delighted to accept the chairmanship of Vote Leave, to help ensure that the organisation is fully prepared for the start of the referendum campaign. — Nigel Lawson

The successful conduct of economic policy is possible only if there is - and is seen to be - full agreement between the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. — Nigel Lawson

The NHS is the closest thing the English have to a religion. — Nigel Lawson

I have to say to the Government that you are not even getting nowhere fast - you are getting nowhere slowly. — Nigel Lawson

It is quite clear that history will record that Margaret Thatcher was the greatest Prime Minister this country has had since Churchill. — Nigel Lawson

The right kind of immigrants can benefit the British economy enormously, but no country can accept indiscriminate, unlimited immigration. — Nigel Lawson

The Treasury has enough trouble with forecasts even when they are trying to get them right. — Nigel Lawson

I was frequently embarrassed by the way Margaret conducted herself within the European Community. Her tactics were counter-productive and damaging to the UK's interests. On most issues her approach was foolish. Her style and tone of voice came to irk the others so much that they instinctively sank their differences and joined forces against her. — Nigel Lawson

A flat-rate poll tax would be politically unsustainable; even with a rebate scheme, the package would have an unacceptable impact on certain types of household. — Nigel Lawson

The fears of recession in the aftermath of Black Monday have turned to fears of the economy racing ahead too fast, with inflation edging up and a substantial current account deficit ... people understandably feel more confident about their future than they've done for decades, but as a result they have been borrowing more and saving less ... coming on top of a massive income investment boom, it's all been just a bit too much of a good thing. — Nigel Lawson

I am in favour of a fully transferable allowance. — Nigel Lawson

She felt Britain should not be so dependent on coal. She was in favour of building up nuclear energy to break the dependence on coal, and the main opposition to nuclear came from the environment movement. Mrs. Thatcher thought she could trap them with the carbon emissions argument. — Nigel Lawson

God forbid that the United Kingdom should take a lead and introduce a sensible tax system of its own which would probably comprise a very low level of corporation tax - tax on corporate profits - and perhaps a low level of corporate sales tax, because sales are where they are, and sales in this country are sales here, which we can tax here. — Nigel Lawson

The 'in' campaign will attempt to scare people into believing that if the U.K. were to leave, investment and jobs would move abroad. They are as wrong about that now as they were when they warned that this would happen if we did not sign up to the Euro. — Nigel Lawson

To govern is to choose. To appear to be unable to choose is to appear to be unable to govern. — Nigel Lawson

However useful computer models may be, the one thing they cannot be is evidence. Computer climate models are simply conjectures. — Nigel Lawson

The spread of personal ownership is in harmony with the deepest instincts of the British people. Few changes have done more to create one nation. — Nigel Lawson

You have got to clear up that corporation tax in the modern way has had its day as a major source of revenue, and we have got to find a new system. — Nigel Lawson

Too much of British business and industry feels similarly secure in the warm embrace of the European single market and is failing to recognise that today's great export opportunities lie in the developing world, particularly in Asia. — Nigel Lawson

One of the things that concerned me was the way the system operated: the wife who went out to work got a full personal allowance, but the wife who was working at home got nothing. This was particularly hard on wives who gave up work for a time to bring up children. — Nigel Lawson

I strongly suspect that there would be a positive economic advantage to the U.K. in leaving the single market. — Nigel Lawson

In Europe, where climate change absolutism is at its strongest, the quasi-religion of greenery in general and the climate change issue in particular have filled the vacuum of organised religion, with reasoned questioning of its mantras regarded as a form of blasphemy. — Nigel Lawson

Most of the countries in the world are outside the E.U., and they are doing very nicely, thank you. — Nigel Lawson

Gradual and moderate warming brings benefits as well as incurring costs. These benefits and costs will not, of course, be felt uniformly throughout the world; the colder regions of the world will be more affected by the benefits, and the hotter regions by the costs. — Nigel Lawson