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We needed Stakeknife – the war against the IRA wasn’t fought in peacetime Surrey

December 10, 2025

<img decoding="async" width="400" height="225" src="https://policyexchange.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/The-Critic-logo.png" class="attachment-medium_large size-medium_large wp-image-37570" alt="" srcset="https://policyexchange.org.uk/wp-content/uploads//The-Critic-logo.png 400w, https://policyexchange.org.uk/wp-content/uploads//The-Critic-logo-300x169.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px" />

We need nuclear now

December 10, 2025

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://policyexchange.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Headshot-11-150x150.png" width="128" height="128" alt="David Spencer" class="avatar avatar-128 wp-user-avatar wp-user-avatar-128 alignnone photo" />

Mark Rowley may have blown his chance to reform the Met

December 9, 2025

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://policyexchange.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Headshot-11-150x150.png" width="128" height="128" alt="David Spencer" class="avatar avatar-128 wp-user-avatar wp-user-avatar-128 alignnone photo" />

Crime might be falling, but the Met is letting London down

December 9, 2025

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The Leadbeater Bill is not limited enough

November 27, 2025

In the Media

In the Press

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The new breed of ‘shoplifting entrepreneurs’ fuelling the UK’s petty crime problem

December 12, 2025

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TT Electronics investors need no more shocks

November 20, 2025

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The cancer of anti-Semitism is tainting the American Right. It’s an export Britain can do without

November 7, 2025

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What a UK government led by Reform would really look like

November 5, 2025

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How Britain’s membership of the ECHR became a political hot potato

October 9, 2025

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Why I’ve changed my mind about the EHCR

October 9, 2025

policyexchange

Leading UK think tank. Shaping the policy agenda since 2002.

3.9 million people arrived in Britain between 2021

3.9 million people arrived in Britain between 2021 and 2024.

An emergency Census is needed due to the unprecedented level of immigration-driven population growth which has taken place in England since the March 2021 edition. This is the central argument of Policy Exchange's new paper, 'The Case for a 2026 Emergency Census in England' by Dr Rakib Ehsan.

This paper presents the case for an emergency census on three grounds:

🟠The unprecedented level of immigration-driven population growth since the March 2021 Census.

🟠 The degree to which the last census was affected by Covid-related data distortions.

🟠 The extent to which the last census was affected by methodological flaws.

Read it on our website at www.policyexchange.org.uk

“The terrible truth is that some murders were no

“The terrible truth is that some murders were not prevented because the alternative was to sacrifice an agent whose continued existence promised to thwart many more attacks. This calculus is hard, even brutal. But it is the sort of calculus that every democracy engaged in counterterrorism must confront.”

Policy Exchange’s Director, Lord Godson, writes for @telegraph 👆

🚨 Over the last 3 years the Metropolitan Police

🚨 Over the last 3 years the Metropolitan Police has been far too slow to focus every part of the force on “Crime Fighting First”.

This is the central finding of Policy Exchange’s report on the force at the 3-year point of Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley’s term.

“We saw in London 1,300 wanted people arrested,

“We saw in London 1,300 wanted people arrested, including 100 registered sex offenders who were breaching their conditions. I think this shows how powerful this as a crime detection tool can be.”

Policy Exchange's Head of Crime and Justice, David Spencer, speaks to BBC News on plans to expand live facial recognition 👆

Watch the full interview on our YouTube (link in bio)

“Pay pressures, coupled with other workforce cos

“Pay pressures, coupled with other workforce costs and restrictions contained in the Employment Rights Bill, will cause more pain for our already groaning social care system.”

Policy Exchange Head of Health and Social Care Gareth Lyon writes for @spectator1828 👆

Policy Exchange’s Ben Ramanauskas and Ticiana Al

Policy Exchange’s Ben Ramanauskas and Ticiana Alencar comment on yesterday’s Budget, referencing findings from our recent report ‘Beyond Our Means: A Plan to Tame Public Spending’👆

Policy Exchange’s Ben Ramanauskas (Senior Resear

Policy Exchange’s Ben Ramanauskas (Senior Research Fellow in Economics) comments on today’s Budget 👆

“The potential lethality – literally so – of

“The potential lethality – literally so – of an accusation of ‘Islamophobia’ has been accorded too little attention.”

Policy Exchange’s Director – Lord Godson – writes for @spectator1828 👆

💷 In advance of next month’s Budget, Policy E

💷 In advance of next month’s Budget, Policy Exchange today sets out a plan to cut public spending by £115 billion a year to fill the black hole in the nation’s finances instead of raising taxes.👆

📣 'Beyond Our Means: A Plan To Tame Public Spending'

The UK faces a twin-pronged fiscal crisis. At about 100% of GDP, public debt is inordinately high and is set to rise a good deal further. Debt interest alone accounts for about three quarters of the government’s budget deficit.

This report proposes a series of measures that would reduce public spending by £115 billion per annum by 2030, or 3.2% of GDP which, if implemented, would reduce public spending as a share of GDP to just over 40%.

Read it at www.policyexchange.org.uk

🎤 Join us next Tuesday for 'Your Money or Your

🎤 Join us next Tuesday for 'Your Money or Your Life: The Fight Against Street Crime'

This event follows the publication of 'Your Money or Your Life: London's Knife Crime, Robbery and Street Theft Epidemic' in July 2025 by Policy Exchange's Head of Crime and Justice, David Spencer.

Speakers include:

🔸Rt Hon Chris Philp MP, Shadow Home Secretary

🔸Jonathan Hinder MP, Member of Parliament for Pendle and Clitheroe and
former Metropolitan Police Officer

🔸Cllr Laila Cunningham, Councillor for Lancaster Gate, Westminster City Council

🔸David Spencer, Head of Crime and Justice, Policy Exchange (Chair)

📅 Tuesday 14th October 2025 (12:30-13:30)

Register via our website 👇
www.policyexchange.org.uk

“There is very little in the taskforce report, w

“There is very little in the taskforce report, which is largely silent on aesthetics, to stop the next generation of new towns looking more like Peterborough than Poundbury.”

✍️ Policy Exchange’s Ike Ijeh – Head of Housing, Architecture and Urban Space –writes for @thecriticmag

The current body of human rights law distorts parl

The current body of human rights law distorts parliamentary democracy, disables good government, and departs from the ideal of the rule of law.

This is the central argument of a new @policyexchange paper which outlines how to develop a workable programme of reform.

Between 2010 and 2024, successive Conservative governments made various half-baked or half-hearted attempts to reform the Human Rights Act 1998 and the European Convention on Human Rights. Human rights law reform was, and still, is very much needed.

You can read ‘The Future of Human Rights Law Reform’ on our website 👇
www.policyexchange.org.uk

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