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
Beyond COP26: The UK’s Green USPs
Andrea Leadsom MP and Amber RuddThis report launches Policy Exchange’s new programme, Beyond COP26, in the run up to the COP26 climate conference that the UK will host in Glasgow later this year. The programme is co-chaired by two former Energy Secretaries, Rt Hon Andrea Leadsom MP and Rt Hon Amber Rudd.
Fishmongers’ Hall: A Preventable Tragedy
Peter Clarke CVO OBE QPMPeter Clarke, Senior Fellow at Policy Exchange, who previously served as HM Chief Inspector of Prisons and Head of Counter-Terrorism Command at New Scotland Yard, has warned that the Fishmongers’ Hall terrorist attack was “a preventable tragedy”. In a new paper for Policy Exchange, Fishmongers’ Hall: A Preventable Tragedy, he argues that the relevant police and probation officers lacked the expertise to deal with an Islamist extremist who was ‘one of the most dangerous terrorists to be released from a British prison in recent years’. Clarke urges the Government to move control of prisons from the Ministry of Justice to the Home Office, to improve public safety and security, among other policy proposals.
Government Reimagined
Benjamin Barnard and Chris BranniganPolicy Exchange has convened a distinguished Reform of Government Commission, chaired by Dame Patricia Hodgson DBE, to determine how government can be modernised and equipped for the modern world. Each Commissioner brought their particular expertise and experience to the Commission’s discussions, and this report reflects a broad consensus of views on how to improve the capacity and capabilities of government. The Commission took both informal and formal evidence from a range of figures from academia, politics, business, arms-length-bodies and the Civil Service to inform its work.
The City and UK Financial Services
Gerard LyonsA policy of ‘benign neglect’ towards the City and the UK’s financial services sector since 2016 is no longer enough to maintain its competitiveness in the face of an aggressive EU and intense global competition, warns Gerard Lyons. But the former Chief Economic Adviser to Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP during the Prime Minister’s London mayoralty argues that with the right policy approach, the City can play a critical role in levelling up and delivering more balanced domestic growth.
Hostility crime and the Law Commission
Charles WideThe Law Commission intends to report later this year with proposals in relation to what are, incorrectly, called ‘hate crimes’. This follows a consultation which closed on Christmas Eve 2020. This paper argues that the consultation was flawed and there are reasonable grounds to conclude that it breached the Cabinet Office Consultation Principles 2018. In addition, analysis of the consultation’s failings raises issues concerning the role of the Law Commission in the process of general policy-formation, as opposed to technical law reform.
Environmental Affairs – The Geopolitics of Climate Change
Policy ExchangeEnvironmental Affairs is Policy Exchange’s quarterly journal, which explores the implications of the growing role of environmental policy. As environmental questions are increasingly felt in other areas, from economics, to security, to foreign affairs, we look at what these overlaps will mean. Our contributors are world leaders, distinguished thinkers and experts in their fields, drawn from the UK and around the world.
History Matters Project: Ninth Edition
Alexander GrayThis is the ninth 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. In cataloguing these examples, we do not offer any judgment on the actions of the individual or institution in question, today or in the past. Our aim is simply to provide a clear documentary record of what is happening – which can help inform public debate on these issues. At present, the evidence confirms that history is the most active front in a new culture war, and that action is being taken widely and quickly in a way that does not reflect public opinion or growing concern over our treatment of the past.
Place Matters
Samuel HughesPlace matters profoundly to people. We invest more resources in our homes than in anything else, and by some measures we spend more time gardening than we do on any other pastime. This is no less true of our shared home. Protecting the countryside from suburban sprawl has substantial costs in terms of foregone economic growth, but green belts are widely supported, and were introduced only after a huge grassroots campaign for them.
Immigration, Strasbourg, and Judicial Overreach
John Finnis and Simon MurrayThis paper traces the history of several judicially demanded or created obstacles to preventing unlawful entry or removing illegal migrants. The decisions to create these obstacles, it argues, were well-motivated but unauthorised and even unprincipled. This is a story in which European courts and our own courts all have a part.
Protecting local heritage
Zewditu GebreyohanesSince the height of the Black Lives Matter protests in June 2020, a number of councils across England and Wales have stated their commitment to reviewing local street names and—where these are deemed to have a contentious history—to considering renaming them. In several instances, the decision-making process with regards street name alteration has excluded residents and locals, in spite of the immense direct impact street renaming has on a street’s residents.
