Robert Peston

So, I mean, productivity flatlining since then, living standards flatlining since then.

But he made this very interesting point that actually living standards between Europe and the US are not as different as people often allege.

And part of the reason for that is...

is, of course, the success of businesses like Meta and Alphabet and what they have done in essentially supplying services at cheaper and cheaper prices to European consumers

is they have, in effect, increased the living standards of European consumers without all the sort of, you know, the research and the creation of these world-leading companies.

So, in a sense, you know, I mean, it's sort of part of the vassal state problem that, you know,

You know, this is not the way he put it, but it's the way I'm now thinking about it.

If you're a European citizen, you think, well, you know, I'm doing all right.

Why do I have to worry about, you know, essentially changing the way we tax and regulate?

Yeah.

You know, it's perfectly all right buying American services.

I am a great optimist about the UK and the reason for that is

is we have had plenty of opportunity over the last 20 years to destroy our knowledge base and our universities, and they are thriving, right?

As you can probably tell, you're triggering PTSD in me because it is the case.

But in 2014 into 2015, the economy was growing again.

We were looking more competitive as a nation.

And then we voted to leave the European Union.

So there's one aspect of this which we haven't.

talked about very much in the news, you know, as we speak, which is this whole related issue of government procurement.

You know, one of the things that actually – one of the things that's quite interesting about –