Rebecca Lowe
Fellow, State & Society and Judicial Power Project; Convenor of Research Group on Political Thought 2016–17
Rebecca was the Fellow, State & Society and Judicial Power Project; Convenor of Research Group on Political Thought; and Editor of the weekly Policy Exchange Agenda. She is part of ConservativeHome’s editorial team, where she writes a fortnightly column, and she has written for various other mostly online publications, including Prospect Magazine, The Spectator, the Daily Telegraph, and Newsweek Europe. She studied at Magdalene College, Cambridge, and Birkbeck, University of London, and has worked for various political research organisations, and as a parliamentary researcher. In the 2015 general election, she was a parliamentary candidate for City of Durham, where she gained the sixth biggest increase in the Conservative vote, nationally. Her research interests lie in the intersection between policy, practical politics, and political theory.
Related Publications
Farming Tomorrow
This major new Policy Exchange report sets out the once in a generation opportunity that Brexit offers our nation to reform its agricultural and environmental policy. Since 1973, UK farm and food policies have conformed to the rules and objectives of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) — the EU’s principal policy programme. Doing so has, at great expense, reduced Britain’s agricultural productivity by lessening competition and supporting inefficient farmers. It has also increased costs for consumers. This report outlines opportunities to improve policy by focusing on four main interest groups: consumers, producers, the wider rural economy, and the environment. This report offers timely and comprehensive analysis and answers to some of the most pressing policy questions of our day.
Clarifying Income Distribution: An Issue of Equality or Need?
This report — written by Rebecca Lowe Coulson, Policy Exchange's State and Society Research Fellow — shows that claims suggesting that income inequality has never been greater are not only societally divisive, they are also largely untrue. It also explains why income equality does not necessarily equate to high overall living standards, and explores how that relates to the duties of the state towards the least well off.Related Blogs
Brexit Committee questions Ekins and Laws on legal and constitutional aspects
The Head of Policy Exchange’s Judicial Power Project, Professor Richard Ekins, gave evidence to the House of Common’s Brexit Select Committee alongside regular JPP contributor, Sir Stephen Laws, former First Parliamentary Counsel. Rebecca Lowe, Policy Exchange’s State & Society and Judicial Power Project (JPP) Fellow, reports on the hearing, which focused initially on the constitutional and legal aspects of the bill, before expanding to the Brexit process more widely, with questions ranging from the future role, if any, of the ECJ, to the provision that could be made for a ‘transition period’.
What might we expect from the German federal election?
On Sunday, Germany will go to the polls to elect the nineteenth Bundestag. Rebecca Lowe — Convenor of Policy Exchange's Research Group on Political Thought, and Judicial Power Project Fellow — reflects on the campaign and the possible outcomes.
The real questions behind Vice Chancellors' pay
Rebecca Lowe Coulson — Policy Exchange's State and Society Research Fellow — reflects on the way in which the escalating rate of VC pay seems neatly emblematic of the pressing questions the Higher Education sector is facing. Policy Exchange is currently undertaking work on this topic, with a report due out in the autumn to coincide with the start of the new academic year.
Wealth in the UK
Policies proposed in the parties’ manifestos have directed attention towards the issue of wealth. In this article, Rebecca Lowe Coulson — Policy Exchange's State and Society Research Fellow — provides clarification about what we know about wealth in the UK.
France: The First Round
As part of our ongoing series of French election comment, Rebecca Lowe Coulson — Policy Exchange's State and Society Research Fellow — comments on the result of the preliminary round of the contest. She concludes that people 'celebrating prematurely should take pause for thought. Those who fear Le Pen should not feel relief — and neither should those who still believe in the EU. This is not over yet'.
A Four-Way Marginal?
In the sixth instalment of our series of comment pieces focusing on the run-up to the French Presidential election, Rebecca Lowe Coulson — Policy Exchange's State and Society Research Fellow — considers questions arising from the latest polling, on the grounds that 'our assumptions are growing less assured'.