Policy area: Government

Reports

Bookkeepers or changemakers? Understanding the chancellor’s choices ahead of the budget

This report from UK think tank IPPR looks at understanding the chancellor's choices ahead of the budget. Voters believe the government should be "changemakers, not just bookkeepers." New polling from IPPR and Persuasion UK reveals the public want ministers to focus on investing in public services rather than just balancing the budget.

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Great expectations in hard times?

This report from UK think tank the Resolution Foundation will preview the big decisions for the Chancellor in the new Government’s first Budget. In this briefing note, we put the big decisions faced by Chancellor in the new Government’s pivotal first Budget into context, discussing the new – and old – spending pressures faced, how...

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The fight for trust

This report from UK think tank the Social Market Foundation argues that overcoming falling levels of trust will require rethinking how we understand the concept. Trust in government is at a historic low. In this paper, Steve van Riel argues that overcoming falling levels of trust will require rethinking how we understand the concept. He...

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The security blind spot: Cascading climate impacts and tipping points threaten national security

This report from UK think tank IPPR looks at climate change poses both immediate and long-term threats that are at least as serious as the Covid-19 pandemic. The new UK government has initiated a Strategic Defence Review and is undertaking a review of national resilience. Security threats resulting from climate change should be at the...

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How does the OBR estimate the demand impact of government policies?

This report from UK think tank the Institute for Government explores the role of fiscal multipliers in economic forecasting. It is important for the government to get as clear an idea as possible of how any measures it announces at fiscal events – budgets and spending reviews – might impact the economy, and to what...

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Our home: A progressive agenda on international nature

This report from UK think tank IPPR urges government to follow up quickly on its commitment to place ‘international nature’ at heart of foreign policy. A healthy natural world is a non-negotiable life-support system for every person on earth. It underpins all of our lives in fundamental ways. However, our joint life support system is...

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Five steps the government must take to deliver its five missions

This report from UK think tank the Institute for Government Labour has come to power promising to lead a ‘mission-driven government’ and on the basis of a manifesto that focused on its five national ‘missions’. The party has defined this as working: “towards long-term national goals” with “departments working together rather than in silos. Business...

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Completing the map

This report from UK think tank the Institute for Government looks at how the government can extend devolution to the whole of England. After a decade of devolution, a dozen English regions are now led by mayors who, in partnership with local government, control key economic powers and budgets. But devolution has unfolded unevenly and...

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Improving accountability in government procurement

This report from UK think tank the Institute for Government looks at improving accountability in government procurement. The Procurement Act, brought in under the previous government and effective from February 2025, will bring in a new public sector procurement regime. Simplified regulations, greater transparency and enhanced exclusion criteria could all help improve accountability. But there...

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Getting it right

This report from UK think tank Power to Change offers detailed guidance for the Government on how to make a Community Right to Buy work for everyone. Across the country communities are being shut out as buildings are boarded up, destroyed or sold to developers and turned into spaces that fail to serve the needs...

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Ministerial maternity leave

This report from UK think tank the Institute for Government draws on the experience of seven former politicians of having a baby while in office. This report, co-authored by former minister Chloe Smith, looks at the experience of seven ministers and MPs who had a baby while in office. It examines the impact of the...

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How the government can build more homes

This report from UK think tank the Institute for Government examines the history of why successive governments have found it difficult to deliver on housebuilding pledges. Fixing the housing crisis has featured in every recent UK government’s list of top priorities: this report examines why so many have found it difficult to deliver on such...

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How a strengthened National Performance Framework can drive effective government in Scotland

This report by UK think tank Carnegie UK looks at how Scotland’s National Performance Framework is being underused. This report demonstrates that Scotland’s National Performance Framework is being underused and failing to shape government policy as it could and should. Dr Max French homes in on the Scottish picture and sets out six steps that...

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How to run the next multi-year spending review

This report from UK think tank the Institute for Government says that Labour's missions need a reformed spending review process. The approach taken in recent spending reviews is not up to the job of achieving Labour’s missions. This report shows how the existing process fails to align government spending with strategic priorities and long-term value...

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20 ways to improve the civil service

This report from UK think tank the Institute for Government sets out 20 tangible actions that the new government should take to radically improve the civil service. Almost a month after the general election, new ministers and advisers are settling into their roles. Departments have already issued a stream of announcements and new initiatives, and...

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