The death of nimbyism? Brits now support building in their back yard
Brits suppose home-building in their areas, and think that local house prices are too high, according to new polling released by the Centre for Policy Studies. 47% of people agreed that while some countryside should be protected “some ought to be used for new housing”, reports City A.M. Planning restrictions on Green Belt land also have… View Article
New CPS polling shows voters want more houses, lower house prices
New polling by ComRes for the Centre for Policy Studies, carried out to measure the impact of the housing crisis on public attitudes, confirms that Britain has switched from being anti-housing to pro. The survey of 2,036 adults confirmed the shift detected by the British Social Attitudes Survey over the past six years: voters now… View Article
The purpose of education is to give people skills for life. And we have lost sight of it.
The purpose of education is to give people tools “with which they can make their own way and support themselves” which requires “a range of schools that suit aptitudes – whether academic or technical.” Writing following the publication of ‘Technically Gifted’, a new report from Toby Young published by the Centre for Policy Studies, Alex highlights the need for… View Article
CPS makes big impact at CPC18
The Centre for Policy Studies has a long history of attending Conservative Party Conference, and our presence at 2018’s conference in Birmingham was bigger than ever before. We had a large, dedicated and prominent events space within the secure zone where we hostesd a vast array of fringe events, including receptions, panel discussions and one-on-ones…. View Article
Jeremy Corbyn has stolen Margaret Thatcher’s best lines – Robert Colvile
Labour Party leaders are “cribbing not just from Marx, but also…Margaret Thatcher”, writes Robert Colvile in the Mail on Sunday, 30 September 2018. Robert Colvile notes Labour are packaging their left-wing policies in the language of Thatcher, speaking about ownership and localism while promising policies that “the only workers given this ownership will be members of hard-Left… View Article
If Theresa May wants to keep the keys to No10 — she must make housing her top priority
77% of the vote swing from the Conservatives to Labour in the 2017 election is attributable to the housing crisis, says Robert Colvile, CPS Director. Writing in The Sun newspaper, Robert highlights the various avenues available to easing the housing crisis – including easing Green Belt restrictions, reform of the planning system, and making it… View Article
A Commons with no majority – so no radical Conservative measures? You’ve forgotten about EVEL
“The received wisdom is that the Conservative Party cannot put forward any truly radical policy proposals”, but Alex Morton disagrees. In his regular column for the Conservative Home website, Morton highlights how English Votes for England Laws (EVEL) could allow the government – unable to command a majority of the Commons as a whole –… View Article
CPS joins US-UK think tanks to draft ideal free trade agreement
11 UK & US Think Tanks Produce Ideal Free Trade Agreement 11 Think Tanks in US and UK draft the legal text of an Ideal Free Trade Agreement; Simultaneous launches in the UK and US stress political and commercial will of securing a deal between world’s largest and 5th largest economies; Key policy innovations include:… View Article
Tories must welcome innovators to ‘reinvigorate capitalism’ says minister
Sam Gyimah MP, Minister of State of Universities, Science, Research, and Innovation, will call on the Conservative Party to “reinvigorate capitalism” by taking advantage of Britain’s position as a “global beacon of excellence” as it exits the EU. In a speech to the Centre for Policy Studies, Gyimah will attack recent announcements from Jeremy Corbyn… View Article
CPS Director slams McDonnell after speech to TUC conference
Labour’s plans to force employers to give gig economy workers full employment rights “isn’t backed up by the facts”, says Robert Colvile in the Mail Online, Tuesday 11 September. Colvile highlighted the fact that many gig economy workers value the flexibility, seeing it as “a fair trade-off for lack of job security”, and said “Labour need to join the… View Article
Government must reform pensions tax relief to broaden Britain’s savings base
FIGURES SHOW UK HOUSEHOLD SAVINGS RATIO HAS HIT RECORD LOW Britain’s household savings ratio has plummeted to 4.9%, the lowest since records began in 1963. With savings rates falling and the top 1% of earners receiving double the pensions tax relief of half the working population, the time has come to reform the system. The… View Article
Being a Tory on tax shows you have brains — and the boffins can prove it
CPS Director Robert Colvile writes for the Sunday Times on the correlation between IQ and economic conservatism ‘…Yet the other new study — by Gary Lewis and Timothy Bates, psychologists at Royal Holloway in London, and Edinburgh — not only backs up his conclusions, but makes the causation much more clear. Its central finding is… View Article
Graham Brady: Let technical and vocational schools fulfil their potential by allowing them to select
Allowing technical schools to select pupils will give children “of every kind a better chance of ending up in the school that is right for them”, says Sir Graham Brady MP in Conservative Home, 16 August 2018. Sir Graham, who is the Deputy Chairman of the Centre for Policy Studies, was responding to Toby Young’s… View Article
Education industry publications cover new report on technical schools
Government should reform technical education and allow schools to select pupils to send the message that this type of eudcation is “a valuable pathway for those with a real flair for it”, reports Schools Week. The recommendation comes from ‘Technically Gifted’, a new report from Toby Young published by the Centre for Policy Studies, in which… View Article
Only competitive selection can save Britain’s ailing technical colleages
University Technical Colleges (UTCs) are being used as “dumping grounds” by neighbouring schools, writes Toby Young in The Telegraph 15 August 2018. In ‘Technically Gifted’, his new report for the Centre for Policy Studies, Young argues allowing UTCs to select students with an aptitude for practical subjects will improve the standing of vocational and technical education. Young… View Article
Toby Young: Only selection can save Britain’s technical and vocational education system
Across British politics, there is a recognition that technical and vocational education has been badly neglected. The Government has recently made this one of its core priorities, via the introduction of T-levels for students aged 16 and over and new Institutes of Technology. This is particularly urgent, given our imminent departure from the European Union…. View Article
