By Tim Montgomerie A new report from the Reform think tank analyses the bureaucracy-enhancing 'money-go-round' that grew up under Gordon Brown. The appropriately-titled Money-go-round paper notes that middle and higher earners were big welfare gainers under Labour but all gains were lost in higher taxes: Although it gives 'in principle' backing to George Osborne's attempt […]
By Tim Montgomerie The Reform think tank runs an annual Reformer of the Year award. Last year's winner was Heather Brooke, campaigner for reform of MPs' expenses. This year's nominations are below: Rt Hon Andy Burnham MP, who called for the Government to curb its pledge to increase NHS spending in real terms year on […]
By Dale Bassett, Research Director of Reform. The independent think tank Reform today publishes a collection of essays on the future of the creative industries. The book, "A creative recovery", features contributions from leading experts on media policy and a foreword by the Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt. An extended version of this essay appears in […]
By Jonathan Isaby The think-tank Reform has today produced a 196-page report, The first hundred days, reviewing the Government's performance in dealing with Welfare; Education; Public services and the deficit; and Health. It welcomes the way in which radical policing and school reforms will give more power to local people, but concludes that big welfare […]
OVERALL JUDGMENT Madsen Pirie of the Adam Smith Institute: "Basically the coalition's first budget was a reality check, and an indication that Britain is on the way back from the madness of the Brown years. It will be a slow haul, but this was a positive start." BIG CUTS IN SPENDING… Matt Sinclair of The […]
Lucy Parsons is Senior Economics Researcher at the independent think-tank Reform and co-author of Reform Budget 2010: Taking the tough choices. Next week the Coalition Government will set out its Emergency Budget. So far the focus has been on where the axe will fall on public spending, but given the size of the hole in […]
The Institute for Fiscal Studies notes that today's cuts are "less than a tenth of the fiscal repair job" that Alistair Darling said was going to be necessary. Andrew Lilico, Chief Economist of Policy Exchange identifies the Departments which have suffered the largest cuts: [Today's cuts as a percentage of today's budgets | The extent […]
Ahead of today's Budget the centre right and reformist think tanks have been lining up to offer Alistair Darling advice. Here's a summary of what they're saying. There is an air of unreality about the tough decisions that are going to be necessary, according to Mark Littlewood of the IEA: “Politicians are not talking seriously […]
In a press release, Reform states: ““Fewer hospitals, more competition” argues that the NHS has been right to reduce hospital beds by nearly a half since 1987, from 270,000 to 160,000. Since the conquest of infectious diseases sixty years ago, health services have focused on the delivery of short episodes of hospital-based treatment in order […]
Respublica, the think tank of 'Red Tory' Philip Blond, is the latest to launch a blog. It has been named The Disraeli Room. Mr Blond's first post focuses on the big idea of "ownership". Many think tanks featured by ThinkTankCentral already have established blogs: The Institute of Economic Affairs; The Centre for Social Cohesion; Civitas; […]
Key people involved The team includes Director, Andrew Haldenby and the outgoing Deputy Director, Liz Truss. Liz is standing down having been selected as a Conservative PPC. Consultant Directors include Professor Nick Bosanquet and Greg Rosen. The Chief Economist is Dr Patrick Nolan. Senior researchers are Lucy Parsons (public spending) and Dale Bassett (social policy). […]
"A more productive health service" Authors: Mike Penning MP, Mark Britnell, Peter Molyneux, Ali Parsa, Dr Peter Carter, Dr Paul Charlton, Harry Keenan and Professor Nick Bosanquet Publication date: 1 December 2009 “A more productive health service” is a collection of articles from some of the best thinkers within healthcare on how to save money […]
"Road to Recovery"(PDF) Authors: Professor Nick Bosanquet, Thomas Cawston, Andrew Haldenby, Patrick Nolan, Lucy Parsons and Elizabeth Truss Publication date: October 2009 This report details the damning state of Britain's current infrastructure which is ranked 34th in the World (behind Namibia and Spain) and which receives less spending than any other OECD country. While the […]
"The end of entitlement" (PDF) Authors: Thomas Cawston, Andrew Haldenby and Patrick Nolan Publication date: October 2009 One of the principal themes of this report is that in an age of financial hardship resulting in increasing pressure on the welfare state, middle class welfare is unsustainable. According to the authors middle class welfare amounts to […]
"A dangerous consensus" Author: Nicholas Boys Smith Publication date: September 2009 The report argues that increased State intervention and regulation is not the solution to the global banking crisis. The author suggests that greater Government control of the banking industry will make future banking crises more not less likely. The author also calls for a similar […]