Deficit could hit £300bn this year – report
The Centre for Policy Studies predicts the Treasury will spend £127 billion in direct bailout costs, including the employee furlough scheme which launched on Monday. It forecast a further £119 billion will be spent in indirect costs such as lower tax revenues, using the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) scenario of a three-month lockdown followed… View Article
The virus has exposed the urgent need to reform how we treat the self-employed
Over the last two decades, the number of self-employed people has increased by 54 per cent and now stands at five million. Nearly one in three of the net jobs created since 2000 have been people becoming their own boss. Now, for every five employees there is one self-employed person. Senior Researcher, James Heywood, writes… View Article
Getting through the Covid-19 pandemic will require markets as well as strong government
Covid-19 is a major shock to our system. With the UK speeding towards lockdown and much of Europe in similar or worse straits, this crisis — as with most crises — is causing people to look to their governments. This is both understandable and necessary. Rishi Sunak’s excellent pledges (and performances) last week reassured tens… View Article
Our economy is being sacrificed because the NHS was unprepared for a pandemic
In the war with Covid-19, NHS staff are on the front line. The last few weeks have been a stark and sudden reminder that their jobs are not like ours: while the rest of us huddle in our bedrooms, they are risking their own and their families’ lives and health on our collective behalf. Yet… View Article
Carbon offshoring poses competition risk for UK firms
As well as overstating the UK’s performance on climate change, the CPS argues the practice also discriminates against UK companies which are subject to climate levies, planning and regulatory hurdles that their competitors overseas do not have to face, such as the Carbon Price Floor which taxes emissions. The CPS said a new carbon tax… View Article
UK coal-free fortnight claim ‘misleading’
Tony Lodge’s new paper for the CPS, The Great Carbon Swindle, calls for the introduction of a carbon border tax on carbon-intensive imports which would reduce global emissions and better support domestic industries. The tax would be based on the electricity mix of the exporting country, which would incentivise other countries to invest in nuclear… View Article
Matt Hancock asks MPs and peers for views on adult social care reform
Matt Hancock has written to MPs and peers, urging them to help secure a cross-party consensus on reform of the adult social care system, as the government commits to finding an answer to the ongoing problem. James Heywood, a senior researcher at the Centre for Policy Studies, said: “We welcome the government starting the… View Article
Spirits duty cut in the budget would boost the economy, report says
A report by the Centre for Policy Studies identifies the alcohol duty on spirits as a key levy that the Government can cut to “help family finances.” Currently, drinkers can pay more than £10 in alcohol duty and VAT on a £14 bottle of spirit, and charities are lobbying for the tax to be increased… View Article
Stringent mortgage rules are locking many potential first-timer buyers out of the housing market
‘Resentful Renters’, a new paper by the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) think tank points out that a Bank of England “stress test” can “deny people mortgages that they could perfectly well afford”. The report states that Boris Johnson’s plan to encourage a new generation of long-term, low-deposit mortgages could help up to 1.9 million… View Article
Labour’s four-day week ‘to cost taxpayers £17bn’
Research by the Centre for Policy Studies, a centre-right think tank, has found that reducing the hours of public sector employees, including doctors, nurses, teachers, firefighters and police officers, would impose a significant extra burden on the Treasury because the workforce would have to expand. Read the full Times Article here
Government should abolish or reform ‘eye watering’ stamp duty to boost housing market
Stamp duty is the second most unpopular tax in the UK, after inheritance tax, and sees the average buyer in England pay £2,300 in duty when they purchase a property. A new Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) report pushes for a Conservative pledge to reform stamp duty at the next election, branding it a “tax… View Article
CapX – China’s rise is too big to ignore
“There could hardly be a better time to consider Anglo-Chinese relations”, writes John Ashmore, Deputy Editor of CapX. Reporting from the Centre for Policy Studies flagship Margaret Thatcher Conference on China and Britain, Ashmore highlights the views of keynote speaker Martin Jacques, who believes the UK hasn’t “fully taken heed” of what China’s rise will… View Article
Sajid Javid MP launches CPS Small Business Report
On Thursday, the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) launched a major new report with the Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, calling for the Government to adopt an emblematic policy to champion small and family businesses: the Simple Consolidated Tax. ‘Think Small’, written by Nick King, the CPS’s Head of Business, with a foreword by West Midlands mayor… View Article
Damian Green MP sets out plan to fix social care crisis
Social care is one of the most controversial topics in British politics – but one that urgently needs to be addressed. In a new report for the Centre for Policy Studies, the Rt Hon Damian Green MP – who as First Secretary of State commissioned the Government’s social care green paper – put forward a bold and comprehensive proposal to secure… View Article
CBI: ‘Labour’s re-nationalisation plans will profoundly harm UK’
Labour’s plans for re-nationalisation will “profoundly harm” the UK economy, said Carolyn Fairbairn, CBI Director-General. Speaking at Liverpool John Moores University, Fairbairn quoted CPS figures from “The Cost of Nationalisation” paper published in 2018 which estimated the cost of Labour’s re-nationalisation plans at over £170bn, or £6,500 per UK household. Fairbairn added that over 8… View Article
Corbyn fails yet again to grasp the magic of competitive markets
“Competition is what has given us civilisational wonders like iPhones and Teslas and the Greggs vegan sausage roll” writes Robert Colvile, CPS Director, in City A.M., 19 March 2019. Unlike Jeremy Corbyn – who believes one company having the monolopy of mail delivery is efficient – Colvile argues competition is driving better services for consumers and we should… View Article
