No, Brits are not undertaxed
A myth has taken hold on the left of British politics that Britain is under-taxed In particular, an increasing number of people argue that middle earners pay less tax than their European counterparts, and that there is room to tax them more However, this rests on a statistical error. Britain only looks like it has… View Article
CPS sets out plans to boost Britain’s infrastructure
A new report from the Centre for Policy Studies highlights the true scale of Britain’s infrastructure cost crisis, with the country spending large sums for comparatively little return HS2 is the clearest example of cost failure: at £102.7 billion for just 140 miles of track, it is the most expensive high-speed railway in the world… View Article
Liam Halligan responds to the Prime Minister’s party conference speech
Liam Halligan, CPS Director, said: ‘Half a century ago, a Labour Chancellor named Healey had to go cap in hand to the IMF for a bailout to rescue our economy. We are dangerously close to history repeating itself. ‘Andy Burnham had the chance to speak to the country today, to tell the public the measures… View Article
CPS responds to ‘Your First Home’ announcement
Commenting on the government’s announcement of the ‘Your First Home’ scheme, CPS Head of Housing and Infrastructure Ben Hopkinson said: ‘Like ‘Help to Buy’ before it, the ‘Your First Home’ scheme will subsidise demand for housing while doing little to address the underlying issues driving Britain’s housing crisis. ‘As a number of CPS papers have… View Article
Government’s own stats say Burnham would be wrong to raise capital gains tax
Many in the Labour Party, including those close to Andy Burnham, are calling for the next Prime Minister to raise capital gains tax, and even to equalise it with income tax But the Government’s own analysis shows that raising CGT further would cost money, rather than raising it Hiking the higher rate of CGT by… View Article
Liam Halligan appointed CPS Director
The Centre for Policy Studies is delighted to announce the appointment of Liam Halligan as its next Director. Liam is a leading economist, author, columnist and broadcaster. Since 2003, he has written his award-winning weekly Economic Agenda column in The Sunday Telegraph, regularly appears on flagship news and political programmes, and is the author of Home… View Article
Burnham’s council house pledge adds to England’s £79bn housing subsidy, according to a new report
As he prepares to enter Downing Street, Andy Burnham has pledged to oversee ‘the biggest council house building programme since the post-war period £39bn is earmarked over the next decade for the construction of subsidised housing for social rent in England – £3.9 billion per year – despite the UK already having the fourth highest… View Article
Conservatives and Reform can seize London’s once-in-a-generation housing opportunity, says new report
London faces the worst housebuilding crisis since the Second World War. Between 2021/22 and 2023/4, the other regions of England delivered 94% of their housing targets, while the capital managed only 36%. In 2024/25, only 4,170 homes started construction, even as the population grew by nearly 100,000. A new joint report from Onward and the… View Article
Unlocking aspiration is key to any future Conservative government
Aspiration needs to be the anchor of any future Conservative policy offering, according to a new pamphlet endorsed by Michael Gove and Katie Lam MP. The report, written by Conservative activists and published by the Centre for Policy Studies, sets out why reclaiming aspiration as a core national value is both a moral imperative and… View Article
Labour’s EU reset plans ‘no substitute’ for a credible growth strategy, says leading economist
Labour politicians have repeatedly raised the prospect of Britain moving closer to the EU, either through a reset in relations that sees the UK becoming more of a rule-taker or by rejoining either the Single Market, the Customs Union or even the EU itself A new report from the Centre for Policy Studies argues that… View Article
Britain’s tribunal system rewarding pointless litigation, new research warns
A new briefing from the Centre for Policy Studies argues that Britain’s tribunal system has become swollen, costly and damaging to growth Between 2019/20 and 2024/5, the number of new immigration cases increased from 42,293 to 79,074. The number of welfare cases increased from 93,303 to 132,965. And the number of special educational needs and… View Article
CPS welcomes Lords call for pro-growth regulation
The Government has said that economic growth is its number one mission. However, a new report from a cross-party House of Lords committee makes clear that there is a ‘significant gap’ between its ambitions to reduce regulatory barriers to investment and ‘the reality faced by regulators and businesses on the ground’. The report made a series of… View Article
Reform’s triple lock pledge would kick the pension time-bomb further down the road
Responding to Reform UK’s announcement on retaining the pension triple lock, CPS Head of Economic & Fiscal Policy, Daniel Herring said: ‘Reform’s commitment to the triple lock is disappointing for a party that promised radical change. By 2070, the OBR projects that pension spending will have risen from 5.1%% to 7.8% of GDP. Spending on… View Article
New analysis reveals alarming decline in UK innovation
Britain prides itself on being a world leader in science, research and innovation. But that reputation is increasingly hollow New research published today by the Centre for Policy Studies shows that the average number of patents filed with the UK Intellectual Property Office has fallen from 29,000 a year in the 1990s to 21,000 a… View Article
Robert Colvile to step down as CPS Director
The Centre for Policy Studies has today announced that its Director, Robert Colvile, will be stepping down in the coming months. Robert joined the Centre for Policy Studies team in September 2016 as Editor of its CapX media arm, becoming Director of the CPS and Editor-in-Chief of CapX in October 2017. During his tenure the… View Article
Spring Forecast’a disappointment to match Britain’s economic performance’
Responding to the Chancellor’s Spring Forecast, CPS Director Robert Colvile said: ‘The Spring Forecast was, like Britain’s economic performance, an overwhelming disappointment. Indeed, a Chancellor can rarely have sounded so excited to announce a downgrade in growth. ‘The Chancellor may well be right to limit policy changes to the autumn Budget – although the Government’s… View Article
