A great speech given by Lord Hannan and hosted by the Taxpayer's Union in Wellington last week.
Daniel John Hannan, Baron Hannan of Kingsclere is a British writer, journalist and currently a Conservative sitting member of the House of Lords. He is the founding president of the Initiative for Free Trade.
"Young Eric", by the way, had been citing Core Crown expenditures. Total Crown expenditures are more suitable for international comparisons, and were 41.1% of GDP in 2023. So we’re not quite as virtuous as Lord Hannan suggested!