Purging the bleeping pager is key to digitising the NHS – Alan Mak MP
65 years on from the first use of pagers in hospitals, over 100,00 devices are still in use across the NHS. Alan Mak MP, who has put forward a bill to ban their use, along with fax machines, argues in The Times that they are contributing to inefficiencies and sub-standard patient care. “97 per cent… View Article
Time to stop punishing London’s landlords – Robert Colvile
Rent controls are “economically illiterate” and rent controls proposed by London Mayor Sadiq Khan will only “exacerbate the housing crisis”, writes Robert Colvile in the London Evening Standard, 12 Febraury. Landlords are only painted as “Public Enemy No 1” with rent control seen as a way to protect tenants from landlord greed but Robert highlights the fact that many landlords… View Article
Britain must build more gas-fired power plants now – Tony Lodge
Falling capacity margins in European electricity markets should “concern British policy makers”, writes Tony Lodge in The Times, Monday 4 February. As Britain’s reliance on European imports increases, Germany and Europe are switching from coal to renewables and supplies of cheap, abundant electricity for Britain are reducing. Lodge warns that – if cheap European electricity does… View Article
Government must ‘strain every sinew’ to boost home ownership – Robert Colvile
Home ownership has become an increasingly distant prospect for an entire generation”, warns Robert Colvile, Director of the Centre for Policy Studies, warns in the Mail Online, Friday 1 February. Commenting on the news that home ownership among young adults has plummetted by a third, Robert encouraged the government to “strain every sinew to fix the… View Article
How Chavez turned South America’s richest country into a hellhole
“Venezuela has plunged into the abyss…a brutal, corrupt government has turned what has once Latin America’s richest country into a hellhole”, writes Robert Colvile in The Sun, Sunday 26 January. Presidents Chavez and Maduro nationalised the oil industry, heavily taxed foreign firms, introduced price and currency controls, and seized the goods of private companies. Robert also… View Article
Alex Morton: For voters to have more money, Government must spend less
“It is right and crucial that politicians back hard work and effort, rather than seeing the British taxpayer as an endless source of money”, writes Alex Morton in his regular ConservativeHome column. He argues that post-Brexit, the Conservative Party will need to re-engage with their voters and members and the best way to do this… View Article
Public sector is most to blame as British productivity lags
Britain’s productivity crisis is being driven by low productivity and inefficiency in the public sector, says Robert Colvile, CPS Director, in The Times on Monday 21 January. As highlighted in a CPS report in 2018, the NHS spends hundreds of millions of pounds printing and posting appointment letters rather than investing more modern, digital solutions…. View Article
Dominic Raab hails future outside the EU
Dominic Raab MP has set out his plans to “cut taxes, reduce household bills and help small businesses”, reports the Daily Express, Tuesday 15 January. In a speech to the Centre for Policy Studies, the former Brexit Secretary also gave his support to a policy increasing the National Insurance contribution threshold – as proposed by the… View Article
Raab: Brexit was a roar for change – and Britain is capable of so much more than this
“MPs should vote against [the Withdrawal Agreement], send a clear message to Brussels that the UK will not be bullied”, writes Dominic Raab MP, in The Telegraph. Writing ahead of a speech to the Centre for Policy Studies, the former Brexit Secretary argues that voting the deal down would leave the UK in a ‘stronger position’… View Article
In defence of Britain’s railways
In the week of the annual rail fare rise, this year at the higher rate of measured inflation, writing in defence of Britain’s railways is a brave — or perhaps even foolhardy — endeavour”, admits Conor Walsh. But writing for CapX, Conor sets out how – but many metrics – Britain’s railways are both significantly improved… View Article
This has been the worst decade for house-building since World War Two
“We decided as a nation…that housebuilding didn’t matter”, writes Robert Colvile, 1 January 2019. As The Telegraph reports on our analysis which showed Britain is on track to build fewer houses in the 2010s than any decade since World War Two, the CPS director argues that all is not lost. Current and recent housing ministers have “done their best… View Article