The 99% Organisation
Timing
Monday 28th September: 15:00 - 16:00
Chair
Mark E Thomas, Founder, The 99% Organisation
Speakers
Clive Lewis, MP, Norwich South
Esther Giles, Treasurer, The Socialist Health Association & War on Want
Vince Gomez, Former Bond Trader, The 99% Organisation
Topic
A Blueprint for Economic Renewal
Labour has struggled to deliver renewal both because of institutional obstacles and because of a lack of clarity of focus. Our argument is that delivery of national renewal is still possible but requires attitudes and capabilities not recently present in government or in our key institutions. There is a major task of reinvention needed if we are to see delivery:
- There is very little chance of delivering national renewal without an uncompromising focus on delivering against voters’ key issues – particularly the cost-of-living crisis
- The government will be unable to deliver national renewal unless it accepts that it has both the responsibility and the power to do so and unless it has the courage to use that power to produce a Budget which addresses the root causes of our long-run economic decline.
- Finally, the rigour and focus needed are present neither in government itself nor in our key economic institutions: the Bank of England, the Treasury and the OBR. A rewiring of these institutions is essential to prevent progressive measures from triggering a recurrence of damaging inflation and a Liz Truss-like problem in the gilts market. We set out a Blueprint for delivery of national renewal.
About The 99% Organisation
The 99% Organisation is an inclusive volunteer movement of people who want to end mass impoverishment using peaceful means. We raise awareness among the public and policy-makers through high-quality analysis of Britain's key problems.
The 99% Organisation calls for Five Key Actions:
- Governments must govern for the 99%
- Fact-based policy-making
- Policies to end mass impoverishment
- Investing in the future
- Cleaning up capitalism
Speaker bios
Mark E Thomas, Founder, The 99% Organisation
Mark E Thomas is the Founder of the 99% Organisation, His background is mathematics and business strategy. His book 99%: Mass Impoverishment and How We Can End It was one of the FT’s Best Books of 2019, and he is also the lead author of the 99% 'Rewiring for Success' working paper.
Clive Lewis, MP, Norwich South
Clive Lewis is a British Labour Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Norwich South since May 2015. Before entering politics, he spent over a decade as a BBC TV political journalist and served as an infantry officer in the Army Reserve, completing a deployment to Afghanistan in 2009. Within Parliament, Clive has held several high-profile shadow frontbench roles—including Shadow Defence Secretary and Shadow Business Secretary—and launched a bid for the Labour leadership in 2020. A prominent voice on the left of his party, he is widely recognized for his advocacy on progressive issues, championing constitutional reform, wealth redistribution, and a UK Green New Deal.
Esther Giles, Treasurer, The Socialist Health Association & War on Want
Esther Giles is an economist by education. She then trained as a public finance professional and worked as finance director in many parts of the NHS, most recently in the South Region as Finance Director for Specialised Services. Esther is now a Director and Treasurer of The Socialist Health Association, and Treasurer and Trustee for War on Want.
Vince Gomez, Former Bond Trader, The 99% Organisation
Vince Gomez is a former bond trader and a member of the Bank of England’s citizen forum. Vince had a very successful career in the city—and when the Global Financial Crisis struck, he realised that it was not only economists who had failed to predict it: hardly anyone in the City fully understood what had just happened either. Since then, Vince has been assiduously studying, speaking and writing about the myths we all believed about the economy, and specifically about money.