Thoughts on a Modern Bill of Rights
Richard EkinsThis paper is the text of a response to the Consultation on Human Rights Act Reform. The response addresses the main points relating to design of a modern Bill of Rights, focusing in particular on the rights the Bill would introduce and the mechanisms that it would provide in relation to the application of those rights in domestic law.
The Island of Ireland
Dr Graham GudginDespite the Northern Ireland Protocol promoting the concept of an ‘all-island’ Irish economy, this concept is a ‘fiction’, an ‘illusion promoted for political ends,’ argues a new report from Policy Exchange.
‘The Island of Ireland: Two Distinct Economies’, authored by Dr. Graham Gudgin, Policy Exchange’s Chief Economic Advisor, concludes the ‘all-Island economy’ of Ireland is actually two economies with little integration, despite the decades of relative peace since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. The two economies, he says, have as many differences as any two neighbouring economies in Europe.
Transgenderism and policy capture in the criminal justice system
Maureen O’HaraThis report addresses the impact of policies and practices within the criminal justice system in England and Wales which classify and treat suspects, defendants in criminal trials, and convicted offenders on the basis of their ‘gender identity’ rather than their biological sex. In recent years, self-declaration of ‘gender identity’ has been adopted as policy by all of the key criminal justice institutions, despite the fact that this is not aligned with the law. This change appears to have come about largely as the result of policy capture, as it is a widely contested belief and has been adopted without public scrutiny. Current criminal justice policy prioritises the wishes and feelings of those who identify as transgender over the rights of others, and particularly over the sex-based rights of women, such as rights to single-sex facilities. This publication examines the detrimental effects of this approach and makes recommendations about the development of policies which are based on acknowledgment of the significance of biological sex in the field of criminal justice.
The childcare system is broken: It can be fixed by empowering parents
Few dispute the fact that the UK system of childcare is broken. Although around £5.4 billion on childcare, and £3.8 billion on childcare places, is being spent every year on supporting the sector, it remains financially crippling for parents, inflexible, difficult to navigate and there are insufficient places available for those who could benefit. To give a sense of the scale of the problem, a middle-income household will spend nearly 30% of their after-tax income on childcare but only about 5% of their income on energy after housing costs.
Why the Centre for European Reform is wrong about Brexit
The Centre for European Reform published a report ‘What can we know about the cost of Brexit so far?’ on 9 June 2022. It estimated the impact of Brexit on the UK economy as a 5.2% reduction in GDP, a 13.7% fall in investment, and 13.6% fall in trade, compared to a “modelled ‘doppelgänger’ group of countries. This was given major and uncritical coverage in an ITN television news bulletin and in the Economist magazine. Analysis by Policy Exchange argues that the CER’s doppelgänger methodology is fatally flawed and its conclusion of a large hit to the UK’s economic performance is incorrect. In a direct comparison with G7 countries there is no sign that the UK has lagged behind in growth of GDP.
The APPG on Democracy and the Constitution misfires in “the attack on judges”
Judges take an oath “to do right to all manner of people after the laws and usages of this realm, without fear or favour, affection or ill will.” If a new report by a group of parliamentarians is to be believed, there are reasons to fear that Justices of the Supreme Court have betrayed their oath, yielding to (indirect) pressure from, and even threats made by, ministers. The report’s assertions are groundless and will no doubt surprise ministers who of course remain constantly exposed to proceedings for judicial review. The significance of the report, the handiwork of the recently founded All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Democracy and the Constitution, is that it reveals the modus operandi of a subset of the legal profession, which is to weaponise judicial independence for political advantage, not only to score points off the government but now also to shame and browbeat the judges themselves.
New poll: America believes in Special Relationship more than Britain
Americans believe more strongly that the UK-US alliance is a “Special Relationship” than Britons, according to new polling commissioned by Policy Exchange.
Among 1712 British voters, YouGov found that only 28 per cent believe the US-UK alliance is a “special relationship” with a much bigger group – 52 per cent – saying no, the US-UK alliance is not really a “Special Relationship”.
£250,000 Wolfson Economics Prize Shortlist published
The five finalists of this year’s Wolfson Economics Prize on how to “radically improve” hospitals for patients and staff are announced today.
Since the deadline for primary Submissions in June, the Judging Panel have marked entries from more than 250 organisations representing 15 countries across the world, including submissions from NHS trusts, architectural practices, clinicians and patients, seeking planning and design ideas that could improve the NHS hospitals of the future.
Government sets out Declaration on Government Reform
The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Rt Hon Michael Gove MP, today endorsed the Policy Exchange Reform of Government Commission report Government Reimagined as an ‘excellent report’ following a speech announcing a new Declaration on Government Reform. The speech set out a series of commitments to reform government in the shadow of COVID-19,
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