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David Goodhart

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@David_Goodhart

Founder Prospect magazine. Author ‘Road to Somewhere’ (Anywheres/Somewheres) and ‘Head, Hand, Heart’. Ex-director Demos. Now PX. New book ‘The Care Dilemma’
London Joined November 2009
5.5K Following 21K Followers 13K Posts

Latest posts 5

David Goodhart Verified account @David_Goodhart
Why is British business not putting a stop to this if the reset is as damaging as you persuasively argue?
Catherine McBride OBE Verified account @CeeMacBee 8h
For the many UK politicians @UKLabour and journalists @BBC who don't know anything about UK trade, here are the highlights:

1. The UK is now predominantly a service exporter. 57% of UK exports are services, which are not affected by EU 'red tape'.

2. UK goods exports have dropped from almost 70% of our total exports in 1997 to just 43% in 2025. This trend began long before Brexit and is tied to Net Zero mandates, high UK energy prices, and EV mandates.

3. Machinery and transport goods, such as cars and aircraft parts, are 42% of all UK goods exports. This is by far the UK's largest export sector, although it is also falling. It was 50% of UK exports in 2000. But if the UK joins the EU's CBAM, companies in this sector will see their imported material costs rise, making their exports even less competitive.

4. Chemicals are the UK's second-largest export sector. They account for 19% of UK goods exports, but this share is shrinking due to UK and EU energy costs and Net Zero regulations. These will increase if the UK joins the EU ETS.

5. Miscellaneous Manufactures account for 11% of UK goods exports. This is still the UK's third-largest export sector, even though it includes many goods the UK no longer makes because of our high Carbon taxes, which will increase if the UK signs up to the EU's even higher ETS on November 20th.

6. Fuels account for 9% of UK exports. This is still the UK's 4th largest goods export sector, even though the current and previous governments are/were trying to destroy it with bans on new exploration and ultra-high taxes.

7. Material Manufactures account for 8% of UK goods exports. This sector includes iron, steel, aluminium, ceramics, and glass manufacturing - industries that have gone, or are going, out of business in the UK because of high UK energy costs, which will rise if the UK joins the EU ETS.

8. These five sectors make up almost 90% of UK exports. The other 5 industry sectors are insignificant. But the government and our journalists think the UK is New Zealand and that the only goods we export are food and live animals to the EU. We don't! UK food and live animal exports to the EU were just 1.3% of the UK's total exports.

9. The government is about to sacrifice all of the export industries listed above to slightly reduce the IMPORT costs of a handful of Supermarkets, at least two of which are privately owned German companies.
These savings will not be passed on to UK shoppers because the government has also increased wages again, and supermarket energy costs will increase if we join the EU's ETS.

10. UK exports of food and live animals will not increase because we are paying farmers to not produce them, this has nothing to do with EU red tape. Instead we are paying farmers to plant trees and wildflowers or plaster their farmland with solar panels. (54% of UK electricity is coming from gas today, 12% from solar and 3% from wind.)

11. Write to your MP and tell him to #StoptheReset.
If you don't stop this, don't complain when all of our goods export industries have closed because of EU higher carbon taxes, EU higher carbon import tariffs, and the cost of complying with the EU's new packaging and process regulations.
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4 replies 4 reposts 18 likes 1.8K views View on X
David Goodhart Verified account @David_Goodhart
This is so depressing, the reset seems to be driven almost entirely by EU vibe and ideology
Catherine McBride OBE Verified account @CeeMacBee 8h
For the many UK politicians @UKLabour and journalists @BBC who don't know anything about UK trade, here are the highlights:

1. The UK is now predominantly a service exporter. 57% of UK exports are services, which are not affected by EU 'red tape'.

2. UK goods exports have dropped from almost 70% of our total exports in 1997 to just 43% in 2025. This trend began long before Brexit and is tied to Net Zero mandates, high UK energy prices, and EV mandates.

3. Machinery and transport goods, such as cars and aircraft parts, are 42% of all UK goods exports. This is by far the UK's largest export sector, although it is also falling. It was 50% of UK exports in 2000. But if the UK joins the EU's CBAM, companies in this sector will see their imported material costs rise, making their exports even less competitive.

4. Chemicals are the UK's second-largest export sector. They account for 19% of UK goods exports, but this share is shrinking due to UK and EU energy costs and Net Zero regulations. These will increase if the UK joins the EU ETS.

5. Miscellaneous Manufactures account for 11% of UK goods exports. This is still the UK's third-largest export sector, even though it includes many goods the UK no longer makes because of our high Carbon taxes, which will increase if the UK signs up to the EU's even higher ETS on November 20th.

6. Fuels account for 9% of UK exports. This is still the UK's 4th largest goods export sector, even though the current and previous governments are/were trying to destroy it with bans on new exploration and ultra-high taxes.

7. Material Manufactures account for 8% of UK goods exports. This sector includes iron, steel, aluminium, ceramics, and glass manufacturing - industries that have gone, or are going, out of business in the UK because of high UK energy costs, which will rise if the UK joins the EU ETS.

8. These five sectors make up almost 90% of UK exports. The other 5 industry sectors are insignificant. But the government and our journalists think the UK is New Zealand and that the only goods we export are food and live animals to the EU. We don't! UK food and live animal exports to the EU were just 1.3% of the UK's total exports.

9. The government is about to sacrifice all of the export industries listed above to slightly reduce the IMPORT costs of a handful of Supermarkets, at least two of which are privately owned German companies.
These savings will not be passed on to UK shoppers because the government has also increased wages again, and supermarket energy costs will increase if we join the EU's ETS.

10. UK exports of food and live animals will not increase because we are paying farmers to not produce them, this has nothing to do with EU red tape. Instead we are paying farmers to plant trees and wildflowers or plaster their farmland with solar panels. (54% of UK electricity is coming from gas today, 12% from solar and 3% from wind.)

11. Write to your MP and tell him to #StoptheReset.
If you don't stop this, don't complain when all of our goods export industries have closed because of EU higher carbon taxes, EU higher carbon import tariffs, and the cost of complying with the EU's new packaging and process regulations.
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7 replies 12 reposts 47 likes 2.4K views View on X
David Goodhart Verified account @David_Goodhart
Time to talk more publicly about poor communication skills of some of our foreign carers and its impact on quality of elder care, a sensitive issue but a lot of strong feeling out there. My Telegraph piece, grew out of a recent tweet on the ILR climbdown. telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/11/0…
www.telegraph.co.uk Shabana Mahmood is afraid to break the great foreign care worker taboo Billions spent subsidising Boriswave immigrants could instead have funded local staff who speak English fluently and understand the culture
49 replies 105 reposts 594 likes 39K views View on X
David Goodhart Verified account @David_Goodhart
Another awkwardness that surrounds the deterioration in care issue is that it’s partly the result of a great advance: the increase in women’s opportunities. When there was a captive supply of women’s labour, with few other outlets, the average quality was bound to be pretty high - think of all those ward sisters or care home managers in the 1960s/70s whose daughters are now partners in City law firms etc. In the meantime feminism has been more about escaping traditionally female areas like nursing and social care, rather than raising their pay and status, so they continue to languish, dependent on often less capable care workers from abroad with a small increase in men.
Eleanor Rofe Verified account @eleanorrofe 6d
@Hedd_Wyn_John @David_Goodhart My aunt has recently gone into care. I feel so worried about her. The hardest thing is that you can't tell whether complaints she makes are real or confusion. I think the assistants in her home are pretty good, but how would I know?
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