Robert Colvile urges Hammond to reconsider vape tax proposal
A number of think tanks and organsiations have written an open letter to Philip Hammond and Matt Hancock, urging them to reconsider a proposed vape tax. The letter – signed by CPS Director Robert Colvile along with representatives of the Taxpayer’s Alliance, the Adam Smith Institute, and the Institute of Economic Affairs – calls a… View Article
CPS Director urges government to re-examine green belt housing
Green belt land should not be immune from house building, says Robert Colvile, Monday 6 August. Robert was quoted in The Guardian in response to a new data released by the Campaign to Protect Rural England showing an increase in applications to build on the green belt. Robert said it was “bizarre that greater London is… View Article
Ministers urged to axe huge deposits on home lets as tenants lose out
Ministers should consider a system of rental insurance in order to “rectify an unfair system which is unpopular with hard-pressed tenants”, reports the Daily Mirror, Sunday 5 August. The system, proposed by Brian Sturgess in “Down with Deposits” pulished by the Centre for Policy Studies, aims to make life easier for Generation Rent by removing the requirement… View Article
More than two million households support the elimination of mandatory deposits for renters
Think tank calls for alternative to help Generation Rent Polling by YouGov has shown that 43% of renters would support a system of deposit replacement insurance with a small cost rather than the current system of tenants paying large upfront deposits. A new report published by the Centre for Policy Studies finds the average renter… View Article
Robert Colvile discusses water nationalisation on BBC Newsnight
As Michael Gove summoned water companies to a meeting to discuss continued leaks and potential hosepipe bans, Robert Colvile joined Emily Maitlis to debate if the water corporations should be renationalised. Debating Faiza Sheehan, Robert highlighted the cost of such a step would be over £80bn and require additional borrowing – as calculated by the… View Article
Royal Mail pensions plans “a risk too far” says Johnson
Royal Mail plans to offers its employees a Collective Defined Contribution (CDC) pensions scheme risk undermining recently-gained pensions freedoms. ‘A Risk Too Far’, published today by the Centre for Policy Studies, also cautions against CDC schemes because of the system risks creating irreversible intergenerational injustice by overpaying pensioners at the expense of current and future… View Article
The Sun: The true scandal of lifting the public sector pay cap is the Left’s whining
The scandal surrounding public sector pay isn’t the reported pay freeze, but the way left-wing vested interests skew the debate with “hand-wringing rhetoric and statistical sleight of hand”, writes Robert Colvile in The Sun, Friday 27 July. While unions solemnly point out a teacher outside London has a starting salary of only £23,000, they neglect to… View Article
Why you’re better off working for the state
The true scandal surrounding public sector pay is that “left-wing vested interests dominate the debate” and obscure the truth, writes Robert Colvile in The Times, 26 July 2018. While it is obvious that public sector workers deserve decent wages, Robert Colvile points out that we also need to ask why public sector pay was (in 2016) on… View Article
Five housing reforms that we need to implement straight away
Housing needs fixing by 2022, otherwise the Conservatives will lose the next general election, warns Alex Morton in Conservative Home. Alex, Director of Policy at the Centre for Policy Studies, argues there are 5 main areas where action needs to be taken: improving design to reduce conflict with existing residents, change of use, accelerating building… View Article
Damian Green slams ‘ruthless’ social media companies in call for digital election rules crackdown
Political campaigning posts on social media should be regulated in a similar way to printed materials, said Damian Green, in comments to the Centre for Policy Studies, reports Sky News. Speaking at the launch of ‘Who Governs Britain?’, Green backed the report’s proposal calling for an online version of the traditional political imprint, saying “There needs… View Article
The Times: Confidence in democracy and MPs ‘at crisis point’
Online political advertisments and targeted campaigns should carry an imprint similar to those on printed election materials in order to boost trust in politics, says Matt Warman MP. The idea is just one of many put forward in ‘Who Governs Britain?’, a new report published by the Centre for Policy Studies as part of its… View Article
Tell voters who is really to blame, says the Daily Mail
The public should be able to find out which elected official is behind a decision and why it was made, reports the Daily Mail, Monday 23 July 2018. That is one of a number of policy proposals that tries to address to gap between politicians and the public as polling shows the public don’t trust… View Article
Brits feel disconnected with the politicians who represent them, says The Sun on Sunday
Exclusive polling for the Centre for Policy Studies reveals that when people are asked which elected politicians act most in the publics’ best interests, the most popular answer is “none of them”, reports The Sun on Sunday, 22 July 2018. The polling, comissioned ahead of the release of new report ‘Who Governs Britain?2 by Matt… View Article
Matt Warman: Closing the gulf between the politicians and the people
Almost three in ten people don’t even know MPs make laws that affect them and 40% of people have no trust in parish councils, local authorities, or the House of Commons, writes Matt Warman MP. Matt, whose report ‘Who Governs Britain?’ is published by the Centre for Policy Studies today, sets out the scale of the… View Article
Democratic crisis requires urgent action
Laws covering both political campaigning and the structure and transparency of government must be changed to restore public faith in democracy, a new report from the Centre for Policy Studies argues today. With a foreword by the Rt Hon David Lidington, and being launched tonight by the Rt Hon Damian Green MP and Chloe Smith… View Article
Fewer than one in 10 people have faith in local and national governments
David Lidington has warned of the risk of “long-term damage to mainstream politics” is the gulf between the public and politics isn’t addressed, reports The Sunday Telegraph, Sunday 22 July. Lidington’s warning came in the foreword to ‘Who Governs Britain?’, a new report from the Centre for Policy Studies and written by Matt Warman MP… View Article
