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How Many Homes Does the UK Need?
Decades of lacklustre housebuilding and recent record migration have left the UK with a shortfall of more than 6.5 million homes. The debut research by Head of Housing Ben Hopkinson shows how the UK has fallen dramatically behind comparable European countries, with British families paying the price through unaffordable homes.
Giving Back Control
Housing has recently become one of the most controversial issues in British politics. The Government has recommitted to its target of building 300,000 homes per year. But it has also promised to do more to give local communities control over the planning process. A new report by the Centre for Policy Studies examines the leading… View Article
The UK’s International Tax Competitiveness 2022 Update
The US-based Tax Foundation think tank this week published its annual International Tax Competitiveness Index, which showed the UK coming in 26th out of 38 OECD countries However, with corporation tax rising to 25% in April and Rishi Sunak’s super-deduction set to expire without replacement, calculations by the Tax Foundation for the Centre for Policy… View Article
A Censor’s Charter? The case against the Online Safety Bill
As the Government weighs up its options on the Online Safety Bill, a new report from the Centre for Policy Studies urges ministers to fundamentally rethink the proposals While having noble intentions, the OSB is a major threat to freedom of speech, as it will incentivise firms to remove much legitimate and legal content for… View Article
After the Super-Deduction
On Friday, Kwasi Kwarteng is widely expected to cancel Rishi Sunak’s proposed rise in corporation tax from 19% to 25% New modelling by the US-based Tax Foundation and the Centre for Policy Studies shows that in the long term this will increase GDP by 1.2%, investment by 2% and wages by 1.1% compared to the… View Article
Economic Bulletin: The Bleak Midwinter
As the new Government prepares to unveil its package of energy reforms, analysis from the Centre for Policy Studies shows the extraordinary potential cost of some of the measures under consideration. A new briefing note from the think tank, ‘The Bleak Midwinter’, sets out the awful economic impacts of the energy price crisis and the… View Article
The New Majority
Working-class voters are abandoning the Conservatives as the cost of living crisis bites – and shoring up their support needs to be the party’s overwhelming priority That is the main message in ‘The New Majority’, a new report by the Centre for Policy Studies and policy research agency Public First, which examines the changes to… View Article
No Way to Help the High Street
The Government has floated the idea of an online sales tax to support high streets at the expense of online retailers, potentially set at 1% or 2% of online sales. A new paper from the Centre for Policy Studies, supported by the Coalition for a Digital Economy (Coadec), today shows that this would do more… View Article
The Right to Own
Right to Buy was one of the most transformative policies of the 20th century, making the dream of home ownership a reality for millions. Since its introduction in the 1980s, approximately 4.5 million social tenants took up the opportunity to buy their homes from the state. But the numbers have fallen off a cliff, hitting a low of… View Article
Why Choose Britain?
Britain’s prosperity has long depended on being open to talent and investment. Following Brexit and the pandemic, and amid the worst cost of living crisis in a generation, that openness is more important than ever. It is crucial to boosting economic growth and raising living standards, and will be absolutely necessary in delivering the Government’s… View Article
Cutting the cost of living
British households continue to face the dire realities of a worsening cost of living crisis, which the Government has rightly made its number one priority. A new Centre for Policy Studies briefing paper today outlines a host of measures that the Government could implement immediately to help address the short term challenges of the cost of living… View Article
Changing Track
Just over two years ago the United Kingdom went into its first national lockdown. Overnight, rail lost its monopoly on commuting. Journeys fell from 1.7 billion to 388 million and the industry faced an unprecedented revenue crisis which has burdened taxpayers with a £14 billion bill. Despite the UK being one of the most open societies… View Article
Solving the Childcare Challenge
Britain has the highest childcare costs in the developed world – a typical two-earner family in the UK spends around 30% of their household income on nurseries and childminders, twice as much as in France and three times higher than in Germany or Japan. This is despite the state subsidising childcare to the tune of… View Article
Economic Bulletin: Back to the 1970s?
The Cost of Living Crisis The cost of living squeeze is already hurting British households, and it’s only going to get worse. Inflation – which reached 5.5% in January – is outpacing wage growth, leading to a decline in real incomes. Interest rates are going up. At least two thirds of adults are reporting cost… View Article
National Insurance: A Plan to Blunt the Pain
With every week that goes by, the depth of the cost of living crisis becomes clearer – and the impact on households worsens. So the Government’s planned 1.25% rise in National Insurance Contributions, set to come into force in just two weeks, could not come at a worse time. The Centre for Policy Studies has… View Article
Trading Up
SMEs make up 99.9% of UK businesses, employing 16.3 million people. They are at the heart of the UK economy. Yet historically, they have been far more reluctant to export than their international rivals. Only one in 10 British businesses export; far fewer than many of our European counterparts. In a major new paper, CPS… View Article
Economic Bulletin: Is there any money left?
With Covid restrictions finally lifted, the country’s attention is turning from public health back to the economy. Cost of living pressures, the balance between tax, spending and debt, and the pressing need to raise Britain’s mediocre long-term growth rates are once more at the forefront of the policy debate – and rightly so. Britain faces… View Article
