Global Britain, Global Challenges: How to make aid more effective
Policy Exchange today publishes ‘Global Britain, Global Challenges: How to make aid more effective’. The report makes a strong case for the importance of overseas aid and supports the Government’s commitment to spending 0.7 per cent of national income on aid. The report has a foreword by Scottish Conservative leader Rt Hon Ruth Davidson, MSP; she wrote for The Times today about why “Looking forward, a global Britain should both maintain its world-leading aid budget and be a champion for free trade”.
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After Brexit: Will Ireland be next to exit?
In a flagship new report for Policy Exchange, former senior Irish Ambassador Ray Bassett argues that a failure to reach a benign compromise between the EU and the UK in Brexit negotiations risks seriously damaging the Irish economy. So far, the Irish Government has sided firmly with the EU27, but Bassett believes this may be a mistake given how intimately the Irish and British economies are connected. In the event of the UK leaving the Customs Union and the Single Market, Ireland may be forced to follow suit, potentially even seeking its own “Irexit”.
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Defying Gravity: A critique of estimates of the economic impact of Brexit
The models used to assess the economic impact of Brexit were misleading, according to new analysis by Dr Graham Gudgin, Policy Exchange’s new Chief Economics Adviser and the co-author of the report. At the time, the projections made by the Treasury, OECD and IMF were used by the then government and Remain campaign to argue that the British economy would face a significant and permanent loss of income in the event of a vote to leave. A careful analysis of the gravity trade economic models used to generate these pessimistic projections suggests that the impact of Brexit on our economy will be much less significant than the economic consensus constructed at the time of the referendum.
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Call for Evidence: Things to cut before curriculum
School budgets are now a matter of urgent concern – but in seeking savings, are schools making the best choices? Are school and system leaders thinking radically enough about how their organisations can change to meet the core needs of children in education? Policy Exchange’s education unit is seeking the views of those in schools, as well as offering some suggestions of its own.
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What is the American economy’s trend rate of growth, and how can it realistically be raised?
Warwick Lightfoot — Policy Exchange’s Director of Research and Head of Economics and Social Policy — reflects on ongoing debate in the States about the trend rate of growth and the relative performance of the US economy. He argues that while America retains great relative strengths, it is ‘not immune from the structural impediments that hinder other advanced economies with developed welfare states’.
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Only Parliament can decide the law on assisted dying
Richard Ekins — Head of Policy Exchange’s Judicial Power Project — responds to news that the question of whether assisted suicide should be legalised is back before the courts, in an article for The Spectator. Ekins contends that the argument in the High Court this week is likely to focus on whether it is possible to design a system that permits assisted suicide without endangering the vulnerable, which he claims is ‘not a sensible question for a court to be asked to decide’. He conclude that ‘this continuing attempt to use the courts, with the encouragement of some (but certainly not all) judges, to usurp Parliament’s freedom to decide what the law should be is a constitutional travesty’.
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Defence Secretary Rt Hon Sir Michael Fallon MP speaks at Policy Exchange
The Defence Secretary, the Rt Hon Sir Michael Fallon MP addressed a record crowd at Policy Exchange’s summer reception — kindly sponsored by CQS. Sir Michael’s remarks about the need for military values to be considered more by politicians made it the most widely reported Policy Exchange Summer Party ever, including by Sky News, the BBC and the Huffington Post. He also paid tribute to Policy Exchange for our work “on lawfare and to enrich the debate on national security” — in reports such as The Fog of Law and Clearing the Fog of Law.
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Brexit: A Prize in Reach for the Left
Policy Exchange hosted Professor Richard Tuck, one of the world’s leading historians of ideas, to set out the case for Brexit as the best opportunity for the Left to bring about pure socialism. Labour MP Caroline Flint delivered the vote of thanks, in which she cautioned her colleagues that “We cannot spend the next 18 months voting down every one of the Tories’ EU Bills. If we do so, we will look like liars” in remarks covered by the Express, the Sun and Total Politics.
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Policy Exchange’s Richard Howard talks to BBC Wales about Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon
Following his blog on the subject earlier this year, Richard Howard – Policy Exchange’s Head of Environment & Energy – talked to BBC Wales about the Government’s delay in responding to Hendry report on the proposed Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon.
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Upcoming Events
- July 17, 2017
6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Policy Exchange hosted Professor Richard Tuck, one of the world’s leading historians of ideas, to set out the case for Brexit as the best opportunity for the Left to bring about pure socialism. Labour MP Caroline Flint delivered the vote of thanks, in which she cautioned her colleagues that “We cannot spend the next 18 months voting down every one of the Tories’ EU Bills. If we do so, we will look like liars” in remarks covered by the Express, the Sun and Total Politics.
- July 10, 2017
6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Policy Exchange was delighted to award the 2017 Disraeli prize, presented by Rt Hon Amber Rudd MP, Home Secretary to Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull
- June 27, 2017
11:15 am - 12:15 pm
Policy Exchange was delighted to host a seminar with Dr Geoff Raby, HE Alexander Downer AC, Dr Graham Gudgin, Rt Hon Peter Lilley, and Rt Hon Nicky Morgan MP on trade policy post-Brexit