Niall Ferguson: Conservative politicians ‘repeating the mistakes of the past’
Recent Conservative governments have unwittingly repeated the mistakes that condemned Britain to an era of inflation and stagnation, warns leading historian Niall Ferguson. Prof Ferguson will reflect this evening on the lessons for Britain from the 1970s, as he delivers the 2023 Keith Joseph Memorial Lecture to the Centre for Policy Studies. The lecture, which… View Article
Migration fueling ‘cavernous’ housing deficit, says CPS
Revised net migration figures released last week by the Office for National Statistics show the UK had a record level of net migration in 2022 – 745,000 The new net migration figure is equivalent to 1.1% of the UK population Combined with net migration of 467,000 in 2021, migration has increased the UK population by… View Article
UK net migration figures ‘shocking but unsurprising’, says CPS
Responding to the latest migration data from the Official for National Statistics, Karl Williams, Deputy Research Director, said: ‘The scale of net migration in 2022 makes for shocking but unsurprising reading. Today’s revised total of 745k eclipses the provisional record high figure we were given earlier this year, as CPS analysis predicted. ‘We can now… View Article
CPS welcomes permanent full expensing
The Centre for Policy Studies is delighted to welcome the Chancellor’s decision to make full expensing permanent. The CPS has been leading the calls for full expensing for many years. It is a vital step in counteracting Britain’s chronically low rate of capital investment, which was 20% lower than the OECD average in the decade… View Article
Centre for Policy Studies launches 50th anniversary programme
Lord Frost to lead major policy project on mapping the UK’s problems and how to deal with them Alex Morton returns as a Research Fellow focusing on the relationship between Britain’s institutions, the state and the market Prof Niall Ferguson delivers Keith Joseph Memorial Lecture Programme of reports and events to run through 2024 … View Article
Treasury needs to make full expensing permanent, urges CPS
The Chancellor should make full expensing permanent at the forthcoming Autumn Statement. Doing so would raise long-run investment, and increase real wages and economic growth Permanent full expensing is a vital step in counteracting Britain’s chronically low rate of capital investment, which was 20% lower than the OECD average in the decade before the pandemic… View Article
Future of Britain depends on closing the generation gap, warns CPS
The gap between young and old has become the defining political and economic issue of our time, argues a new essay collection from the Centre for Policy Studies ‘Justice for the Young’ sets out the staggering extent of the challenge facing the country in paying for an ageing population while delivering a better life for… View Article
CPS responds to the King’s Speech
Responding to the King’s Speech, Robert Colvile, Centre for Policy Studies Director, said: ‘It was welcome to see the Government adopting many of the policies recommended by the Centre for Policy Studies – tackling low-quality degrees, introducing minimum service requirements during strikes, supporting domestic energy production, confirming Britain’s membership of the CPTPP trading pact and… View Article
Corporation tax increases hammer UK tax competitiveness
The UK ranks 30th out of 38 OECD countries in the 2023 edition of the International Tax Competitiveness Index, published annually by the US-based Tax Foundation. This is down three places from 2022. The UK ranks second for its cross-border tax rules, but comes 26th for individual taxes, 28th for corporate tax, and 35th for… View Article
Unleash power of ownership to boost security and wellbeing, says Redwood
Ownership is at the heart of conservatism but the country is at risk of forgetting lessons learned after the Second World War ‘The Power of Ownership’ by Sir John Redwood MP warns that the UK is at risk of slipping back into nationalised industry, government-directed companies, and reliance on Whitehall to generate solutions Instead, politicians… View Article
Nutrient neutrality reforms ‘badly needed’ says CPS Director
Responding to the government’s announcement on planned reforms to nutrient neutrality laws, Robert Colvile, Director of the Centre for Policy Studies, said: ‘These reforms are badly needed. As we and others have repeatedly warned, the crude and unworkable interpretation of the original ECJ ruling on nutrient neutrality has blocked and delayed a huge number of… View Article
Energy Price Cap fall ‘does not disguise the need for change’
Responding to a fall in the Energy Price Cap, Dillon Smith, CPS Energy and Environment Researcher and author of ‘The Case Against the Energy Price Cap’, said: ‘While a fall in the energy price cap is welcome, today’s announcement does not disguise the need for change. The cap was designed for yesterday’s market and is… View Article
Energy price cap costing consumers money and driving inflation, says new report
Although introduced with the best intentions, the Energy Price Cap (EPC) has gone far beyond its intended purpose and is actively harming competition The EPC was originally brought in as a time-limited intervention to protect a specific group of customers from price-gouging The recent energy crisis has meant it now functions not as a price… View Article
Families unfairly penalised by British tax system, says new report
A new report from the Centre for Policy Studies and Conservative Growth Group warns that the British tax system is increasingly unfair towards families Couples with the same overall income can end up paying dramatically different amounts of tax depending on how earnings are divided between them. A couple earning £60,000 with two children will… View Article
Inflation hammering value of cash savings worth more than £2 trillion
Britons like to save – but too many of us are saving in cash, despite the more attractive returns which might be available through investing in shares There is £1.8 trillion of cash in savings accounts – roughly equivalent to the entire market capitalisation of the FTSE 100 – and approximately £300m in National Savings… View Article
Government must accelerate academies programme, warns former adviser
The growth of academies and multi-academy trusts has changed the face of English schools for the better From only 203 in May 2010, academies now make up more than 10,000 of the country’s 22,000 state schools The growth in ‘multi-academy trusts’ (MATs) has allowed leaders to push up quality and standards for children across multiple… View Article
