Publications
All Policy Exchange publications are free to download in .pdf format. You can also purchase hard copies of the majority of our reports – check each individual report page for details.
Recent Publications
Devolve to evolve?
Robert Ede and Dr Sean PhillipsSpecialised services typically care for small numbers of patients with rare or complex conditions. They are commonly overlooked in debates around the future of the NHS. This is despite costs growing by over 50% in eight years, and now exceeding £20bn per year. This one part of the NHS now receives more taxpayer funding than providing police services and fighting crime.
Delegitimising Counter-Terrorism
Sir John Jenkins, Dr Damon Perry and Dr Paul StottThe Prevent counter-terrorism strategy is perhaps the most controversial government policy most people have never heard of. Public recognition of it is generally low, but opposition from Britain’s raucous Islamist scene, near total. From there, opposition has spread to sections of the far-left, and those parts of academia where Islamism and the revolutionary left intersect. This report, written by three experts on Islamism, outlines the campaign against Prevent, and argues that this is not an exceptional campaign against a uniquely flawed policy – the groups opposing Prevent have tended to criticise pretty much any counter-terrorism policy, in sine cases for a generation. The same names and campaign groups appear time after time regardless of the colour of the government of the day.
History Matters Project Compendium 12th Edition
Alexander GrayThis is the twelfth edition of our rolling compendium, which attempts to draw together a range of recent developments that turn on the place of history in the public square – including the removal of certain statues on public display, the renaming of buildings and places, and changes to the way history is taught in educational curricula.
Did the Colston trial go wrong?
Charles Wide.In June 2020, a statue depicting Edward Colston was damaged by being pulled from its plinth, rolled and dragged across cobbles, and dropped into Bristol harbour. Four people were charged with criminal damage. All four were acquitted in January this year.
Whatever happened to integration?
Brendan Cox, David Goodhart, Eric Kaufmann and Richard WebberThe decline of the White British population in inner-city Britain appears to have halted and may even have reversed, according to a new report on ethnic integration and segregation.
At Your Service
Dr Sean Phillips, Robert Ede and Dr David LandauGeneral practice has always been the foundation and gateway to the NHS. However the problems are mounting up: a stretched and increasingly burnt-out workforce, no systematic reporting or analysis of activity and demand, fragmentation with secondary care, and confusing and dated contracting and reimbursement mechanisms. The status quo is increasingly unacceptable to both patients and GPs. There is now a consensus that changes are needed, including to the small-scale independent contractor model, to ensure that primary care can thrive in the future.
The case for shareholder-based capitalism
Geoffrey OwenThe purpose of this paper is to examine whether these criticisms of the capitalist system are valid, and whether the proposed reforms are desirable.
The paper looks first at the historical background, showing how the doctrine of shareholder primacy came to the fore in the US and the UK in the 1980s and 1990s, and how that doctrine has come to be challenged by supporters of stakeholder capitalism. A debate is now in progress, on both sides of the Atlantic, pitting defenders of shareholder primacy against a range of pro-stakeholder advocates.
The paper discusses three of the central issues in this debate: what the purpose of companies should be; short-termism; and inequality.
Stopping the Small Boats: a “Plan B”
Policy ExchangeThis report outlines a plan of action to address the Channel crisis. Plan A would be an agreement with France to accept the return of migrants and asylum-seekers attempting to crossing the Channel in small boats. If such an agreement cannot be reached, Plan B would be to remove persons attempting to enter the UK on small boats to a location outside the UK – whether the Channel Islands, Sovereign Bases in Cyprus or Ascension Island – where their asylum claims would be considered. Economic migrants (failed asylum seekers) would be returned to their home country, or to some other state willing to receive them. Genuine refugees would be resettled in a safe state other than the UK. No person entering (or attempting to enter) the UK on a small boat from a safe country would be allowed to settle in the UK, even if a genuine refugee.
UK’s Defence Space Strategy in Context
Gabriel ElefteriuThis analysis by Gabriel Elefteriu notes that the UK’s first Defence Space Strategy is an excellent document with an assertive message. It maps out a coherent and logical path towards UK space power. But delivering a range of complex space capabilities quickly within tight budgets will be a major challenge for the MoD: real civil-military integration and a unified space decision & acquisition authority at the heart of Government is required. The Defence Space Portfolio is also an economic tool that can shape the industrial landscape, so the way the new Own-Collaborate-Access framework will be applied should be a matter of wider debate and geopolitical consideration as well.
A New Deal for Drivers
Ben SouthwoodAverage road speeds around the UK’s cities are painfully low, damaging economic growth and forcing people to endure long commutes or to miss out on the best jobs. In this report, Policy Exchange argues that road pricing could improve the lives of drivers as well as commanding public support.
