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Patently Absurd
Despite world-class universities and a strong science base, Britain produces fewer patents per person than most major economies. More concerning still, innovation in Britain is declining at the same time as it is accelerating in other global markets.
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Capital Losses: Why increasing CGT will deter investment, slow growth and reduce revenue
The Chancellor is reportedly considering hiking capital gains tax (CGT) in next week’s Budget, as part of plans to find £40 billion in spending cuts and tax rises CGT is widely accepted to be a damaging tax – hampering investment and economic growth and raising relatively little Recent modelling by the Centre for Policy Studies… View Article
The UK’s International Tax Competitiveness: 2024 Update
The UK ranks a dismal 30th out of 38 OECD countries in the 2024 edition of the International Tax Competitiveness Index, published today by the US-based Tax Foundation This extremely poor ranking – below countries like Hungary (7th), Czechia (8th), and Germany (15th) – undermines the UK’s attractiveness to investors, and the Government’s stated aim… View Article
Accelerating Infrastructure
One of Britain’s most pressing problems, as the new government has acknowledged, is how difficult it is to build the infrastructure we need. Infrastructure in Britain is much harder to build than it was historically or than it is today in continental Europe Notoriously, the Lower Thames Crossing has spent 15 years in planning, at… View Article
A Cheaper Route to Net Zero
Despite international gas prices coming back down in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, British households are still struggling with high energy bills because of outdated regulations pushing up costs. ‘A Cheaper Route to Net Zero’ by John Penrose, former Conservative MP and minister, Competition Tsar, leading an independent review of UK competition policy,… View Article
Why the EU is Not the Answer to Britain’s Growth Challenge
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 conference In some quarters, Brexit is still blamed for… View Article
Facing Fakes
Three weeks out from polling day, a new report warns of the dangers of ‘realistic fake footage that is cheap to create and spread across the internet’ impacting the UK general election. A number of deepfake videos have appeared in recent weeks, with high-profile politicians targeted in an attempt to spread false information. In one,… View Article
Conservative Revolution
Purchase your copy here The Centre for Policy Studies, one of the oldest and most influential think tanks in Westminster, is publishing a new book to mark its 50th anniversary, charting the development of Thatcherism and exploring what might be needed to revive Conservatism in the same way today. Conservative Revolution, edited by Karl Williams… View Article
Regulating for Growth
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
Taking Back Control
A new report from the Centre for Policy Studies, written by former Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick MP, former minister Neil O’Brien MP, and CPS Research Director Karl Williams argues that the scale and composition of recent migration have failed to deliver the significant economic and fiscal benefits its advocates promised, while putting enormous pressure on… View Article
The Future of Regulation
A major report from the Centre for Policy Studies, ‘The Future of Regulation’, has shown that the cost of regulation increased significantly during the 2010s – despite repeated promises from Government to shrink the regulatory burden. The report by Tom Clougherty & Robert Colvile is the first to go line by line through the official impact assessments produced… View Article
Shaping the Debate: The Centre for Policy Studies in 50 Papers
To mark the 25th anniversary of the CPS in 1999, Matthew d’Ancona – then on the CPS board – compiled a catalogue of CPS reports, published as ‘The First Modernisers: The Centre for Policy Studies, Past & Future’. It contained a list of 298 CPS publications published up until that point, organised thematically and each… View Article
Sharing the Wealth
In recent months, there has been an intense focus on the competitiveness of the City of London. The Government has unveiled a suite of reforms intended to bolster financial services, and unleash more capital and investment. Labour, too, have promised to ‘unashamedly champion the financial services sector as one of the UK’s greatest assets’. Yet… View Article
Choices for Children
The education reform agenda has been built on choice. But those at the bottom of the economic pyramid often have the least control over their educational experience A new report by Andrew Lewer MP identifies three groups who would benefit most from changing this: ‘looked-after children’, those from poorer backgrounds, and children in ‘inadequate’ schools It makes… View Article
Net Migration and Housing – A CPS Briefing
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
Permanent Full Expensing
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
Justice for the Young
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
