Reports

Latest Reports

Flying start: establishing the UK as a leader in zero emission aviation

This report from UK think tank Green Alliance examines the challenges facing aviation and explores how hydrogen powered aircraft can transform the sector. Aviation is set to become an increasingly dominant source of UK emissions, growing from 8% today to 59% by 2050 as other sectors decarbonise. The UK’s world-leading aerospace sector, worth £11 billion...

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How strategic authorities can develop effective local economic plans: Making devolution work

This report from UK think tank the Institute for Government explores how local economic strategies can be powerful drivers of prosperity and growth. As the government continues progress on the ‘devolution revolution’, it is more important than ever for strategic authorities to use their devolved powers in a coherent and strategic way. This report sets...

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The power of place

This report from UK think tank the Resolution Foundation examines the role of place in driving regional pay inequalities. Pay varies dramatically across England. In 2024, average weekly wages range from £610 in Liskeard to £1,130 in London. Is this because high‑earning areas attract inherently higher‑earning people, or because the jobs located there pay more...

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Wise in 5: active travel

This report from UK think tank PolicyWISE looks at strategic approaches to encouraging active travel in the four nations of the UK and the Republic of Ireland. This briefing from PolicyWISE sets out the different national policy approaches to active travel in the UK and Republic of Ireland in just 5 pages. This report finds...

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Financial dynamics of insecurity in Mozambique and Nigeria

This report from UK think tank RUSI offers policy implications for addressing the underassessed financial dynamics of insecurity in the two countries. This Policy Brief is based on research on Mozambique and Nigeria carried out between February 2022 and February 2024. The research relied on in-country interviews, a targeted review of existing literature and validation...

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Reconciling UK migration policy with the energy transition

This report from UK think tank the Centre for European Reform looks at reconciling UK migration policy with the energy transition. In the recently published immigration white paper, the British government promised to reduce net migration by only offering skilled worker visas to applicants with jobs that pay over £38,700 a year, and which require...

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The right road

This report from UK think tank Bright Blue examines the future of the European centre-right. For much of the postwar era, centre-right political parties dominated European parliaments. European centre-right parties in the time since the Second World War benefited from and presided over strong economic growth, rising living standards and relatively generous social security systems....

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A world of difference

This report from UK think tank the Sutton Trust focuses on what England can learn from apprenticeships systems worldwide to deliver more effectively for young people. In England, more than three quarters of a million 16- to 24-year-olds are not in education, training or work (NEET), with poorer young people most at risk of this...

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Crime, terror and insecurity in Nigeria

This report from UK think tank RUSI takes bottom-up perceptions of violence as a starting point for analysing northern Nigeria’s threat landscape. Nigeria faces numerous security threats: from high rates of violent crime and enduring kidnap-for-ransom issues to long-running insurgencies in the northeast and a metastasising banditry problem in the northwest. Local assessments of these...

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A divided workforce?

This report from UK think tank the Work Foundation examines workers' views on health and employment in 2025. The UK workforce faces a complex web of health and employment challenges that could result in more people prematurely leaving the labour market. While Covid-19 may have accelerated this trend, the underlying drivers pre-date it – the...

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Crime, terror and insecurity in Mozambique

This report from UK think tank RUSI provides a comprehensive analysis of Mozambique's complex and layered security landscape. Mozambique faces an array of security challenges, from resilient illicit economies to an enduring kidnapping problem and a long running insurgency in the north. Many security challenges play out at community level, yet local perceptions and experiences...

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A healthy State?

This report from UK think tank the Resolution Foundation puts the 2025 Spending Review into context. June 11th saw the Chancellor reveal the results of the first ‘zero-based’ review since 2008, the first stand-alone Spending Review since 2019, and the first three-year plan since 2021. It was the Government’s chance to say what its priorities...

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Ministerial leadership during crises

This report from UK think tank the Institute for Government looks at how ministers can prepare for a potential crisis and learn lessons in the aftermath. Crises are among the greatest challenges a minister will face while in office. The minister in charge of the response will have to get to grips with a complex...

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Smart government

This report from UK think tank the Social Market Foundation breaks down existing civil service AI workstreams. This briefing breaks down existing civil service workstreams related to AI and is designed as a follow-up to our 2024 report '“'In the Blink of an AI”. We reviewed existing literature and case studies and combined them with...

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Leave to achieve

This report from UK think tank the Social Market Foundation explores how universities can contribute to social mobility in their regions. Social mobility has been a long-running theme in UK politics, seen as a way of enabling equality of opportunity. Universities are at the heart of these efforts: graduates earn more on average, and attending...

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Better off

This report from UK think tank the Fabian Society shows how the government can make people better off in highly challenging circumstances. At the next general election, ministers will be judged by Ronald Reagan’s famous question: “are you better off than you were?” When voters considered this question last year, they answered ‘no’ – and...

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Universities are boxed in: Is there a way out?

This report from UK think tank HEPI proposes different solutions suitable for the full range of higher education providers. UK higher education institutions are increasingly boxed in on six sides: by increasing regulation by rising costs by falling income for each domestic student; by uncertain future demand from international students; by an increasing availability of...

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Lessons in local growth

This report from UK think tank Power to Change examines how strategic authorities can achieve inclusive growth in England’s regions with the social economy. The Prime Minister has made strategic authorities a key part of his plans for national economic growth, asking metro mayors to produce Local Growth Plans for their regions. Power to Change’s...

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Written evidence: PACAC Mission Government Inquiry

This report from UK think tank the Future Governance Forum takes stock of the government’s progress and offers answers to build a more responsive state. Setting mission-driven government up to succeed requires a radical overhaul of the state: not just its structures and processes, but its culture, capabilities and ways of working. In our submission...

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Online hate speech and discrimination in the age of AI

This report from UK think tank RUSI examines online hate speech and discrimination in the age of AI. Discussions centred around the complexities introduced by AI-generated and targeted hate speech, and explored potential responses, from regulatory measures and content moderation to educational initiatives promoting critical thinking skills. This conference report summarises key themes and points...

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Introducing the Shuttered Front

This report from UK think tank Power to Change argues that visible local decline matters to people when they head to the polls. This new analysis indicates that support for Reform UK is rising in places with declining high streets, predominantly in the Midlands and Northern England. The report argues that visible local decline matters...

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The future of the campus university: 10 trends that will change higher education

This report from UK think tank HEPI offers prompts for productive discussion and innovation in the sector at a challenging time. In a report to mark the end of his tenure as the Government’s Higher Education Student Support Champion, Professor Edward Peck has laid out his thoughts on the future of higher education in a...

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A Nation of Innovators

This report from UK think tank Civitas examines how the Industrial Strategy can kick-start growth in advanced manufacturing. Civitas has partnered with the Bessemer Society and the ERA Foundation to contribute to the new UK Industrial Strategy. Our objective is to identify barriers to growth, and suggest practical measure that will boost advanced manufacturing in...

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The defence pound in national and local prosperity

This report from UK think tank RUSI explores how UK defence spending contributes not only to national security but also to economic prosperity. This paper explores how UK defence spending contributes not only to national security but also to economic prosperity, especially under the current Labour government, which has emphasised the defence sector as a...

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Renew and improve

This report from UK think tank the Resolution Foundation reviews the Household Support Fund and recommends how a longer-term scheme could be improved. At the upcoming Spending Review, the Government has a chance to deliver a long-term settlement for the Household Support Fund, the largest form of discretionary crisis support in England. Conceived of as...

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