Net zero costing ‘billions of pounds more than it needs to’, says former Conservative minister
British energy bills are inflated with extra costs imposed by clunky old rules about how power is generated, regulated, traded, stored and transmitted With modernisation, energy bills could be cheaper, subsidies could be lower, British manufacturing could be more competitive, and the country would be on a much cheaper path to Net Zero A new… View Article
CPS responds to Reeves’ conference speech
Responding to the Chancellor’s speech to Labour Party conference, CPS Research Director Karl Williams said: ‘The Chancellor has rightly put growth at the heart of her speech today but she seems blind to the impossibility of achieving the growth this country needs while talking down our economic performance and bracing the country for a painful… View Article
Britain’s real black hole is far larger than £22bn – and far harder to close
Rachel Reeves has warned of a £22 billion ‘black hole’ in the public finances. But the reports published today by the Office for Budget Responsibility and Lord Darzi show that the real black hole is far larger – and driven by the cavernous gap between Britain’s spending commitments and its growth rates. The Office for… View Article
Britain’s growth does not depend on the EU says leading economist
All major parties acknowledge that achieving sustained economic growth is key to the country’s success but disagree on how to achieve it The Government is seeking a new deal with the EU, with the Prime Minister talking of resetting relationships at the recent European Political Community conferenceIn some quarters, Brexit is still blamed for recent… View Article
CPS responds to Labour housing announcements
Responding to the announcement of a draft new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), CPS Director Robert Colvile said: ‘This announcement contains some overwhelmingly positive changes, many of which the Centre for Policy Studies and others have been calling for for some time. Reviewing green belt land, streamlining planning, forcing local authorities to have up-to-date local… View Article
CPS: Labour is paving the way for tax rises
Responding to the Chancellor’s statement following a review of the public finances, CPS Director Robert Colvile, said: ‘The war of words between Rachel Reeves and Jeremy Hunt should not obscure the most important consequence of what we heard – that Labour is set to increase taxes at the October Budget. ‘The Chancellor is presenting this… View Article
CPS responds to King’s Speech housing announcements
Responding to the planning reforms announced in the King’s Speech this morning, Samuel Hughes, CPS Head of Housing, said: ‘Britain needs a huge increase in housebuilding, focussed in the places where it is needed most, like London and the South East. It is therefore welcome to see the Government being ambitious in its proposals, but… View Article
CPS welcomes Chancellor’s focus on planning reform
Responding to the new Chancellor’s speech this morning, Robert Colvile, CPS Director, said: ‘Rachel Reeves is absolutely right to focus on the need for growth, and reforming the planning system as key to unlocking that growth. The devil will be in the detail, but today’s announcements on speeding up infrastructure delivery and holding councils’ feet… View Article
CPS warns of UK’s ‘first deepfake election’
With voters heading to the polls in just a matter of weeks, a new report warns that this could become the UK’s first deepfake election A number of deepfakes have already appeared online in recent weeks aimed at spreading election disinformation A deepfake video purported to show Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting calling Diane Abbott… View Article
Tax cuts for parents ‘extremely welcome’ says CPS Director
Responding to the Conservatives’ pledge to cut taxes for parents, CPS Director Robert Colvile said: ‘The Conservatives’ decision to tackle the unfairness of the high-income child benefit tax charge is extremely welcome. As the CPS identified in its recent paper ‘Family-Friendly Taxation’, this is a hugely unfair measure which results in parents paying higher marginal… View Article
CPS welcomes migration proposals
In response to the Conservative Party’s announcements on immigration policy, CPS Research Director Karl Williams said: ‘The Conservatives’ announcement of an annual migration budget, voted on by Parliament, is a welcome step in the right direction. That is why an annual migration budget was one of the core recommendations of the CPS’s recent report on… View Article
Conservative Revolution: Centre for Policy Studies launches 50th anniversary book
Centre for Policy Studies launches Conservative Revolution, a book looking back on the seismic events of the Thatcher premiership and the revolution she ushered in The book charts the history of the Centre for Policy Studies over the following half-century, from its founding by Margaret Thatcher and Keith Joseph to the present day Crucially, in… View Article
CPS welcomes Tory pledge to cut low quality university courses
Responding to the Conservative Party’s election pledge to cut low quality degrees, Centre for Policy Studies Research Director, Karl Williams said: ‘As the Centre for Policy Studies has repeatedly highlighted, far too many young people are being suckered into low quality university courses with poor employment outcomes. ‘This is bad for students – who leave university… View Article
Net migration hits 2 million over this parliament
New and revised data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published today shows that net migration so far in this parliament (to the end of 2023) has totalled over 2 million, equating to population growth of 3% Gross immigration exceeded 4 million, with non-EU nationals accounting for 74% of the total Revised estimates for… View Article
Red tape choking UK tech start-ups, argues new CPS report
The UK’s current regulatory apparatus, which is slow to adapt to emerging technologies, is holding back the UK’s tech superpower ambitions. Many innovators are looking elsewhere to set up new tech firms, due to Britain’s unsupportive regulatory environment. Previous CPS research established that the net annual burden of regulation on business increased by £6bn in… View Article
MAC review ‘whitewashes’ flaws in immigration system
Responding to the Migration Advisory Committee rapid review of the Graduate route, the authors of CPS immigration report, ‘Taking Back Control’ said: Robert Jenrick MP: ‘We urgently need to unwind the sector’s growing dependency on foreign students. The graduate route should be scrapped and we must fundamentally rethink our International Education Strategy (IES), including the… View Article
