Families. How tax reform can help us defuse the demographic timebomb
Tom Clougherty, CPS Research Director, has contributed to ConservativeHome’s ongoing series of articles on reducing demand for government. In it Tom urges politicians to get over their “knee-jerk fear” of appearing paternalistic when talking about families and highlights the importance of strong families to economic growth, birth rate, and educational outcomes. The article goes on… View Article
‘The Future of Driving’ coverage continues
News outlets are continuing to cover recent CPS report ‘The Future of Driving’ as new figures emerge about unrepaired potholes across the UK. The report, which argues for per-mile road pricing for electric vehicles in part due to the wear and tear these heavier vehicles put on the nation’s roads, has been covered by the… View Article
Media coverage for ‘The Language of Freedom’
The latest CPS report from US pollster and communications guru Frank Luntz has been covered by a range of outlets. ‘The Language of Freedom’ surveys Brits to find out their attitudes to freedom and other key values, showing a deep divide between the two main parties voters not just in the values they prioritise but… View Article
Mortgage intervention would be “completely wrong” says CPS Research Director
As interest rates rise and mortgage repayments spiral, the Labour Party and others are calling on government to intervene and support homeowners but the CPS Research Director Tom Clougherty disagrees. “I think it would be completely wrong for the government to intervene in the mortgage market,” Tom told the Telegraph. “If they really intervened, it… View Article
Margaret Thatcher Conference dominates media coverage
Speakers and panels at the Margaret Thatcher Conference have dominated the papers and airwaves, including a front page Telegraph story ahead of Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s speech to the conference dinner. Education Secretary Gillian Keegan’s opening keynote speech to the conference was covered by the Sunday Telegraph, the Telegraph, the Daily Mail Penny Mordaunt, Leader of… View Article
Traffic-light labels on contracts ‘could save taxpayer billions’
As reported in The Times, The Centre for Policy Studies has given its support to John Penrose MP’s proposal to put Ofsted-style ratings on government contracts, indicating value for money. Read in full here
Why we such bring back housing targets
CPS Director Robert Colvile writes in defence of housing targets for the Sunday Times. “There’s a famous Winston Churchill quote about democracy being the worst possible political system, except for all the others. The same could be said of housing targets” he writes. Read the article here.
Reducing the demand for government: Schools
As part of a series for the ConservativeHome website on reducing the need for government, CPS Head of Education Mark Lehain has written on what schools and school reform can do to help. Highlighting a series of statistics on outcomes for those with and without higher or further education, Mark writes “whether the aim is… View Article
Electric cars would ‘remain significantly cheaper’ than petrol under new car tax plans
Electric cars would ‘remain significantly cheaper’ than petrol under new car tax plans, says the Daily Express. Reporting on the latest CPS publication, ‘The Future of Driving’, the paper spoke to Colin Walker, transport analyst at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, analysed the report and commented on what it would mean for drivers. He… View Article
CPS migration figures dominate coverage
Analysis by the Centre for Policy Studies sought to predict the ONS net migration figures for 2022, based on a range of potential scenarios. Looking at previous record highs, the average since the Brexit, and averages for the decade prior to the pandemic, our researchers came up with a range of net migration forecasts between… View Article
How Labour got it wrong on housing, time and time again
CPS Head of Housing, Samuel Hughes, spoke to the Telegraph about Labour’s proposed housing reforms and how they could ‘misfire’ by hurting homeowners and the market. ‘Some first-time buyers are affluent young professionals, and some second-time buyers are struggling families in overcrowded flats – so as a redistributive measure it will misfire in some cases.’… View Article
It’s time to liberate our streets by handing back control to local communities
Writing in Building Design CPS Head of Housing, Samuel Hughes, asks why we subsidise on-street parking when there are so many other good uses for our streets. He suggests empowering communities to decide how parking spaces are utilised, allowing for more activities such as outdoor dining for restaurants to the benefit of local residents and… View Article
Britain must take back control and kick its addiction to immigration
CPS author Nick Timothy has written his regular Telegraph column on the need to tackle immigration. Nick, who co-authored our 2022 paper ‘Stopping the Crossings’, highlights CPS analysis which suggests net migration in 2022 could be between 700,000 and 997,000 and argues that “maintaining a reliance [on immigration] comes at a significant cost” in terms… View Article
Bring back train ticket checks to curb costly fare-dodgers
Tony Lodge, Research Fellow at the Centre for Policy Studies, writes in The Times today on the growing issue of fare dodging on Britain’s railways. Tony, author of several reports on the future of rail, including ticketing reforms, notes that “lost revenue through fare evasion ultimately means higher fares and less investment, as losses and… View Article
Semiconductor strategy funding ‘disappointing’, says UK tech industry
Tech leaders have declared the UK’s long-awaited semiconductor strategy “disappointing” but a CPS researcher said the government is “right to acknowledge that the UK simply cannot afford to compete in the global subsidy war”. Gerard B. Lyons, business researcher and co-author of “Cashing in our Chips – How to strengthen the UK’s semiconductor sector” said the… View Article
Tories can’t hide from the reality of migration figures
The Sunday Times cites CPS analysis that net annual migration to the UK has passed 700,000 — more than double the pre-Brexit record. ‘The aim of building 300,000 homes a year, which the UK is already failing to meet, was based on an assumption that net immigration would run at 170,000 a year. According to… View Article