Jeremy Corbyn: not a spy but a fool who hates the West
Jeremy Corbyn was almost certain not a Communist “asset” but he has never missed an opportunity to praise an enemy of America, writes Robert Colvile in The Telegraph Thursday 22 February. While it might be appealing to think of Corbyn “huffling scruffily around St James’s Park with his cling-filmed sandwiches, looking for dead drops –… View Article
Raise benefits or raise wages – how best to end poverty?
What is the best solution to ending poverty, raising benefits or raising wages? Robert Colvile, Director of the Centre for Policy Studies, joined Helen Barnard of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation to discuss this question as part of BBC Radio 5 Live’s poverty week. Robert and Helen discussed the case for raising the living wage, the… View Article
Labour misses the point of the new gig economy
Labour’s approach to protecting employees rights at work is based on a mistaken assessment of the current situation, writes Robert Colvile, Director of the Centre for Policy Studies, in The Times. More regulation and more protection for workers ignores the reality that a large proportion of those working in the gig economy are “relatively content… View Article
Gavin Williamson is right: Britain’s energy supply is threatened by Russia
Gavin Williamson is right to warn about the Russian threat to Britain’s energy supply, writes Tony Lodge, CPS research fellow, in The Spectator. In his 2017 report “The Hidden Wiring” Lodge highlighted the dangers of the UK increasing energy imports from Europe rather than increasing generation capacity at home. Importing increasing amounts of energy means Britain’s supply… View Article
Hammond, McDonnell battle over new CPS report
Yesterday, the Centre for Policy Studies published The Cost of Nationalisation. This new report represents the first independent attempt to calculate the total upfront cost of Labour’s nationalisation plans – a figure which John McDonnell has repeatedly refused to provide. The report by Daniel Mahoney, the CPS’s Head of Economic Research, estimates that the upfront cost of Labour’s plans –… View Article
Daniel Mahoney discusses Carillion with PM’s Eddie Mair
Daniel Mahoney, Deputy Director and Head of Economic Research at the Centre for Policy Studies, joined BBC radio 4’s PM programme to discuss Carillion and the future of public-private partnerships. Daniel, debating economist Ann Pettifor, pointed to private sector efficiency – estmiated by the CBI to be around 11% of costs – and risk sharing… View Article
When will the Tories start actually asking people to join them?
Robert Colvile, Director of the Centre for Policy Studies, has written for Conservative Home on the challenges facing the Conservative Party and their steadily declining membership. Robert highlights his personal experience that despite being a clear candidate for party membership, no one ever asked him to join. He considers what the recent reshuffle, including changes… View Article
Carillion collapse: We need to open up the supply chain to SMEs
Robert Colvile, Director of the Centre for Policy Studies, joined BBC Radio 5 Live’s Breakfast show to discuss the collapse of Carillion and the future of public-private provision. Robert highlighted the need for more competition, the need to “open up the supply chain…let more small companies in”, in order to provide better services to the taxpayer. He… View Article
The reshuffle was a missed opportunity
Robert Colvile, Director of the Centre for Policy Studies, has written for The Times Red Box on the Conservative Party’s talent pool following last week’s reshuffle. In the piece Robert cheers the promotion of some of the 2015 and 2017 intake, not least Rishi Sunak MP who has written two reports for the CPS and… View Article
MPs quizzed on support for a Royal Commission
Jon Snow, Channel 4 News, quizzed three leading MPs and health campaigners on their views about an NHS Royal Commission on Channel 4 News, Wednesday 10 November. Dr Andrew Murrison, Conserverative MP and former front bench health spokesman, said “I and others are calling for a Royal Commission…we need to do it properly.” He echoed the… View Article
Support grows for an NHS Royal Commission
Many of this morning’s newspapers led with coverage of the latest Centre for Policy Studies report, calling for a Royal Commission on the future of the NHS. In the face of thousands of appointment cancellations, the NHS is struggling and its future looks uncertain. A Royal Commission on the NHS – The Remit, by Maurice Saatchi… View Article
Newspaper leaders back CPS call for NHS Royal Commission following surgery cancellations
Amid yet another winter crisis for the NHS, which this year has led to the cancellation of all non-urgent surgeries for a month, several newspapers have come out in support of an NHS Royal Commission. The Telegraph highlighted that while the cancellations were unusual, the NHS is rarely not in crisis. Ever since it’s foundation… View Article
McMafia doesn’t tell the real story about globalisation
“Behind every great fortune lies a great crime.” That is the premise of “McMafia”, the new BBC drama which tells the story of a young businessman drawn into a life of crime. But Robert Colvile, Director of the Centre for Policy Studies, argues the dark side of globalisation isn’t the full picture, doesn’t capture the… View Article
Reserve half of all homes for Britons to stop foreigners snapping them up, says think tank report
Restrictions on house buying by people who don’y pay tax in the UK need to be brought in in order to place home ownership at the front of the policy agenda, reports Christopher Hope in The Telegraph. In his new report, ‘Homes for Everyone’, Chris Philp MP points out that foreign buyers are snapping up… View Article
Success for CPS policy as teaching phonics boosts reading standards
International tests have shown that the reading ability of nine and ten year olds in England have reached their highest levels since 2001, following a controversial shift in government policy in 2010 which required schools to teach phonics. The Centre for Policy Studies has been pushing for a phonics-based system for many years, with Tom Burkard… View Article
The Lessons of British Austerity – a new report on the United Kingdom’s experiences with fiscal reform
As the debate continues in the US around Donald Trump’s fiscal reform agenda, a new joint project from a series of leading international think tanks examines the experience of Australia, Britain, Canada and New Zealand, with the aim of helping to shape a bipartisan consensus for action within America. The project involves a series of… View Article
