Capital Shift
Benedict McAleenan and Ben CaldecottIn 2021, the UK will host the G7 and COP26 and take a key part in other major summits, giving it a unique opportunity to lead the global diplomatic agenda. This report argues that he UK should use its position to drive a programme of green finance reforms that will enable a fundamental shift to a sustainable global economy.
What is to be done with the British economy?
Warwick LightfootThe UK needs a modern economic policy that is tailored to the opportunities and constraints of the contemporary international economy. In response to the economic shock of the Covid public health crisis and a decade of slow growth and economic stagnation it needs a confident and audacious policy of macro-economic management and supply-side reform.
‘The Racial Consequences of Mr Churchill’: A Review
Andrew Roberts and Zewditu GebreyohanesOn 11 February 2021, Churchill College, Cambridge – in collaboration with the Churchill Archive Centre, which is part of the College – hosted the second event in its year-long series ‘Churchill, Race and Empire’. It featured a panel discussion entitled ‘The Racial Consequences of Churchill’, during which a series of factually incorrect and profoundly offensive remarks were made by the three panellists – Dr Onyeka Nubia (Nottingham University), Dr Madhusree Mukerjee and Professor Kehinde Andrews (Birmingham City University) – and also by the Chair, Professor Priyamvada Gopal (Churchill College, Cambridge), about Sir Winston Churchill and concerning several major historical events.
The Sewell commission is a game-changer for how Britain talks about race
“This Commission finds that the big challenge of our age is not overt racial prejudice, it is building on and advancing the progress won by the struggles of the past 50 years. This requires us to take a broader, dispassionate look at what has been holding some people back. We therefore cannot accept the accusatory tone of much of the current rhetoric on race, and the pessimism about what has been and what more can be achieved.”
Will history repeat itself on negative emissions?
Negative emissions are piquing the interest of the Government, as shown in its recent announcement of innovation funding for new negative emission technologies (NETs). However, policies based on grants and innovation funding are short-term options – they act as the spark to get the kindling going, but the fire requires continuous government support until the flame catches.
Why we should take Alex Salmond’s ‘Alba’ party seriously
Sceptics who scoff at the prospects of pop-up parties which seek to break the mould of established politics should consider two key points before doing the same with “Alba”, the new party which launched in Scotland today: the Scottish Parliament’s electoral system, and the personality of its founder, Alex Salmond. For all that the launch of Mr Salmond’s new party was cack-handed , his new venture needs to be taken seriously.
Policy win with MOD’s new Office of Net Assessment
In a recent speech the Defence Secretary, Rt Hon Ben Wallace MP, announced the creation of a “Secretary of State’s Office of Net Assessment and Challenge (SONAC)” encompassing war gaming, doctrine, red teaming and external academic analysis. Standing up a UK Office of Net Assessment reporting directly to the Defence Secretary – modelled on the Pentagon’s ONA – was the main recommendation of Policy Exchange’s 2018 report, A Question of Power: Towards Better UK Strategy Through Net Assessment, authored by Gabriel Elefteriu, with a Foreword by General Lord Richards of Herstmonceux, former Chief of the Defence Staff. The draft report’s reviewers included Air Marshal Ed Stringer, Director General of the UK Defence Academy and Joint Force Development who will now oversee the establishment of SONAC; and Professor John Bew, the Prime Minister’s Special Adviser for Foreign Affairs who is leading a No10 taskforce on the Government’s Integrated Review.
Sir Stephen Laws invited to help review the Human Rights Act
Policy Exchange congratulates Sir Stephen Laws KCB, QC (Hon), Senior Research Fellow in our Judicial Power Project and former First Parliamentary Counsel, on his appointment to serve on the independent panel to review the Human Rights Act 1998. The panel, chaired by Sir Peter Gross, former Lord Justice of Appeal, is to consider the Act’s operation over the past twenty years and the case for structural reform. In a lecture on the day of the panel’s announcement, Sir Peter referred to Policy Exchange’s work on Supreme Court reform, noting the foreword written by Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, former Chief Justice of England and Wales. Sir Stephen’s many publications for Policy Exchange on constitutional matters include this jointly authored submission to the Joint Committee on Human Rights. Read details of the announcement here.
Saving a lost decade
A new Policy Exchange report published this week, Saving a lost decade, argues that ministers must become directly accountable for tackling the inequalities that have been highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper, authored by Richard Sloggett, Health and Social Care Lead, uses modelling to show that the Government is on course to miss a key manifesto pledge to increase healthy life years by five by 2035. Read the report and Foreword by Rt Hon Damian Green MP and Lord Filkin CBE here.
The report featured in The Financial Times, with the recommendations endorsed by Steve Brine MP, former Public Health Minister, during a debate in the House of Commons, which can be viewed here.
Upcoming Events
- Saturday, 3 October, 2020 - Tuesday, 6 October, 2020
12:00 - 11:30
Watch our full programme at 2020 Conservative Party Conference. Including speakers such as Ben Houchen, Lord Agnew, Baroness Finn, Rt Hon Sir David Lidington, Matt Warman MP, Rt Hon Baroness Morgan, Professor Nigel Biggar, Lord Bethell, Rt Hon Dr Therese Coffey MP, Rt Hon Lord Willettts, Rt Hon Matt Hancock MP, Rt Hon Sir Michael Fallon, Rt Hon Anne-Marie Trevelyan MP, Tom Tugendhat MBE MP, Rt Hon Alun Cairns MP, Lord Caine, Chloe Smith MP, Hon George Brandis QC, Rt Hon Geoffrey Cox QC MP, Rt Hon Chris Skidmore MP, Rt Hon Jesse Norman MP, Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP.
- Friday, 2 October, 2020
11:00 - 11:30
Policy Exchange invites you to: Ambassador Mick Mulvaney, United States Special Envoy for Northern Ireland and former acting White House Chief of Staff to President Donald Trump in conversation with Dean Godson, Director of Policy Exchange.
- Wednesday, 30 September, 2020
13:00 - 14:00
We are delighted to welcome the Secretary of State for Defence, Ben Wallace MP, to introduce General Sir Nick Carter, Chief of the Defence Staff, to reveal The Integrated Operating Concept at Policy Exchange. In this major speech at an important juncture for UK defence, the Chief of the Defence Staff will present a new approach to the utility of armed force and integration of space, cyber and information, alongside the maritime, land and air domains. In an era of persistent competition and rapidly evolving character of warfare, this new concept for operations represents a significant development in UK military thought and fundamental transformation in the military instrument. The event will be chaired by General David Petraeus.