Smaller, Better, Higher Paid?
Download Publication Online Reader The civil service has expanded enormously, particularly since 2016, rising from under 380,000 to over 514,000 by 2024. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, has announced plans to save around of 15% from the government’s running costs, suggesting this may amount to 10,000 jobs from various ‘back office’ functions while protecting the frontline. But the...
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Revisiting the British Origins of the European Convention on Human Rights
Download Publication Online Reader This new paper from Policy Exchange challenges the view that the European Convention on Human Rights is a “British legacy” – and that to leave the Convention would be to a “betrayal” of Sir Winston Churchill. Through an exhaustive examination of the historical record, the report – written by legal academics Dr Conor Casey and Dr...
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Lessons from the Past
Download Publication Online Reader This new report by Policy Exchange reviews the state of history teaching in English secondary schools – and finds that history has been one of the major success stories of the last fourteen years of education reform. Drawing on exclusive new data, including FOI responses from 249 secondary schools about their KS3 curriculums, FOI data from...
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Build, baby, build
Download Publication Online Reader This report by Policy Exchange shows the Government how to deliver on its Manifesto commitment to build more prisons. The report explicitly rejects the suggestion that we are “addicted to punishment” – making the case that protecting the law-abiding majority means sending more criminals to prison. Compared to the 9.5 million criminal offences committed every year...
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Principles for Restitution
Download Publication Online Reader A new Policy Exchange report, Principles for Restitution, published today, documents the increasing pressure on UK museum to return artefacts to their country of origin and shows that in too many cases such decisions are being taken on an inconsistent or partial basis. The report also highlights how some museums are using ‘long term loans’ as a form...
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Two-Tier Justice
Download Publication Online Reader This new report from Policy Exchange, “Two-Tier Justice: Political accountability, the Sentencing Council and the limits of judicial independence”, examines the background, legal and policy framework that have led to the Sentencing Council’s two-tier sentencing guideline coming into force today – despite the outspoken opposition of the Lord Chancellor and Shadow Lord Chancellor. The report argues both...
Read MoreThe Ottawa Treaty and Convention on Cluster Munitions: Can we still afford them?
Download Publication Online Reader A new paper from Policy Exchange calls for the Government to withdraw from the Convention on Cluster Munitions, and the Ottawa Treaty banning anti-personnel landmines – arguing that both now serve as an impediment to greater allied security against Russian aggression. After a number of our NATO allies in eastern and north-eastern Europe have recently signalled...
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Less than Meets the Eye
Download Publication Online Reader This new report by Policy Exchange sets out how the models of the impact of Brexit on UK exports used by the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) are greatly exaggerated – and that the real impact is only a small fraction of what has been assumed. Unlike most previous models, the report analyses trade sector by...
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Robustly Resilient
Download Publication Online Reader A new paper from Policy Exchange urges the Government to put supply chain resilience at the centre of economic, defence, and foreign policy planning. The UK, as an island nation dependent on free and open maritime trade, has been rocked by repeated disruptions to globalised world systems since the late 2010s – from Brexit, to Sino-American...
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Strengthening the Political Constitution
Download Publication Online Reader It is often remarked that the British constitution is not a single codified text. It contains both written and unwritten elements, but so do all constitutional systems. Even countries with detailed codified constitutions cannot make those constitutions workable without taking into account unwritten elements: precedent, convention, reasoning, norms, and historical practice. What makes the British constitution...
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