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Published on April 13, 2025

PEF spring conference UK Economic policy in the age of Trump SOAS 15.5.25

Patrick Allen

Progressive Economics in the Age of Trump
Thursday 15th May 2025 SOAS
9.30 am – 6pm

Brunei Gallery SOAS,

Thornhaugh St
Russell Square
London WC1H 0XG

PEF brings you Progressive Economics 2025, UK economic policy in the age of Trump, for politicians, policymakers, academics, journalists and activists and all who care about the economy to debate UK economic policy and the massive challenges of today. This follows the success of our conferences in 2022 and 2023.

The UK economy is in deep trouble made worse by multiple and avoidable policy mistakes over the last 45 years exacerbated by external shocks . Now the changes to international relations and trade by the Trump government threaten the entire system of global trade.

The government is struggling to overcome the legacy of the coalition and conservative governments and the results of austerity , Covid and Brexit. The economy suffers from low investment and poor growth . Self imposed fiscal rules and election promises limit room for change .This conference will analyse the reasons for our current predicament and suggest policy solutions.

Sign up to a fascinating day of debate with eminent speakers who include : Patrick Allen, Frances Coppola, Yannis Dafermos, Danny Dorling, Chris Gray, Angus Hanton, Will Hutton, Sue Konzelman, Richard Kozul-Wright, Stewart Lansley, John McDonnell MP , Alessandra Mezzadri, Jo Michell, Ozlem Onaran, Ann Pettifor, Kate Picket, Zach Polanski, Jonathan Portes, Jeevun Sandher MP, Robert Skidelsky, Ron Smith, Guy Standing, Heather Stewart, Geoff Tily, Ben Tippet, Yannis Varoufakis (by video), Duncan Weldon, Nadia Whittome MP

Economists and human rights experts call on Starmer to drop “destructive” economic policy

Patrick Allen August 30, 2023

In an open letter coordinated by the think-tank Compassion in Politics, academics including PEF Council members Ha-Joon Chang and Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson – authors of the widely read The Spirit Level – warn Starmer that his current approach mimics the “economic orthodoxy that has made this country poorer, less cohesive and more unequal than fifteen years ago.”

PROGRESSIVE ECONOMICS 2023

Patrick Allen April 6, 2023

Following the great success of our conference last year , the Progressive Economy Forum and the University of Greenwich Research Institute of Political Economy, Governance, Finance and Accountability bring you Progressive Economics 2023 –a conference of debate and education at a vital moment in the UK to debate the policies to tackle the alarming economic challenges of austerity, inequalities, Brexit, Covid-19, cost-of-living crisis, global supply problems, the war in Ukraine, care crisis and environmental collapse.What are the solutions and how to persuade the policy makers to implement them?

The Cost of Living Crisis – a paper by Ozlem Onaran

Özlem Onaran April 4, 2023

This paper by PEF Council member Ozlem Onaran analyses the political economy of the cost of living crisis in the context of the UK. It presents the long-term trends in the wage share, wealth inequality, labour’s bargaining power, and the real wages in the UK.

Falling house prices may seem like a good thing – but it’s renters who are paying the price

Josh Ryan-Collins March 3, 2023

Josh Ryan-Collins writes in the Guardian “UK house prices are falling. In the year to February, prices fell by 1.1% to reach their lowest level for over a decade. The drivers are clear: inflation and rising interest rates are combining to put off mortgage borrowers…