A new centre-left think tank has sprung from the ground. The ‘Centre for British Progress’ is absorbing the ‘UK Day One’ think tank which presented policy ideas to Labour before the election. Former Labour PPC and onetime Lammy staffer David Lawrence is running the group alongside Day One founder Julia Garayo Willemyns. Labour MPs Chris Curtis and Yuan Yang are also in support. YIMBY wonk John Myers is chairing the board…
The think tank has connections to Starmerite Labour Together. It launches with an essay attacking blockers in society: “British institutions have become quietly addicted to caution. This is not a partisan impulse, but a deeper reflex embedded in our public life, our boardrooms, our research institutions, and even our collective imagination.” It is to focus its research on infrastructure, energy, and technology…
Those aware of the policies that stimulate growth will raise an eyebrow at the think tank’s paean to Beveridge’s “war not on fascism or a foreign power, but on the “Five Giant Evils” of poverty, disease, ignorance, squalor and unemployment.” It also attacks people who believe in “dismantling programmes, indiscriminately deregulating, or tearing down institutional guardrails.” Light on their own proposals so far…
Reactions from Westminster’s think tanks to Reeves’ spring statement have come in. Free market wonks are pointing to the OBR slashing its growth forecast in half while hammering Reeves’ NICs hikes and Rayner’s Employment Rights Bill. Those on the left are slamming the further cuts to welfare and government spending. Something Starmer will be battling with his backbenchers over in the next few days…
Broadly a grim reception from across the board…
The Institute for Fiscal Studies has announced this morning that its Head of Tax Helen Miller will be replacing outgoing director Paul Johnson. Miller has sometimes been vocal on her actual views about tax:
If the Institute for Fiscal Studies had any credibility under Johnson that has been blown out of the water now. Hacks take note…
Westminster’s wonks have weighed in on Labour’s welfare reforms. The overall reaction is that Labour’s plan to get people back to work and cutting the welfare bill is a step in the right direction, though it doesn’t go far enough. Wonks are also pointing to Rayner’s much-hated Employment Rights Bill – which hands power to unions and discourages hiring – meaning there won’t be enough jobs for those being pushed off benefits. Welfare reforms are only part of the puzzle…
Fixing welfare is one thing, but without enough jobs, Labour’s reforms risk collapsing under their own contradictions. One step forward…
The Taxpayers’ Alliance has just dropped a poll showing that Brits are “unanimously” against inheritance tax, with 55% of Brits in favour of slashing (27%) or scrapping (28%) IHT altogether. That’s across both genders, all age groups, social grades, and political affiliations. Nearly half, 46%, labelled it the “least fair” tax. The TPA have now launched a new campaign to abolish IHT “once and for all”, with Elliot Keck saying:
“The British public clearly recognise that inheritance tax is an almost uniquely bad tax, given their unanimous support for cutting or abolishing it altogether. Our political leaders now need to listen to the electorate that put them in office and scrap inheritance tax once and for all.”
Meanwhile, Reeves is ploughing ahead with plans to impose IHT on inherited pensions – something experts have slammed as a “slow-motion car crash” – and slap the 40% tax on farms and businesses worth over £1 million, which supermarkets have warned will risk the UK’s food security. Co-conspirators can support the campaign to abolish the death tax here…
“It’s a privilege to take charge of Onward at a critical time for the future of Conservatism and our country. The UK in many ways resembles the mid-1970s, characterised by a deep sense of decline and with a Labour Government clearly delivering the wrong prescription. As happened then, the centre-right has a responsibility to develop and champion fresh and courageous answers to the challenges Britain faces. I am fortunate to inherit a very talented team at Onward, supported by a superb new Editorial Board, and we will work tirelessly to provide the right policies to allow the Conservatives to win and serve with purpose again.”
The centrist Tory think tank also bolstered its ranks ahead of 2025 hiring civil servant Eve Norridge as the new head of research while Gavin Rice has been promoted to head of political economy. Onwards and upwards…
Speaking at his speech on how to achieve “progressive capitalism” Wes Streeting fired a dig and Andy Burnham:
“Bond markets are not bond villains and fiscal rules matter.”