How important is the voice of workers to the success of industry? Needless to say, industrial success is a collaborative process: the best companies enjoy the benefits of excellent management, engaged shareholders (or a visionary owner) and a talented, well-trained, properly paid workforce. Despite this, received wisdom in the UK has long been that company…
General election campaigns are an opportunity for competing political parties to set out their visions of the economic and social future of the country. Those visions can be markedly different, but going into this campaign we are in the happy position of knowing that the new Government, to be elected on 8 June, will be…
As expected, Andy Burnham has been elected as the new Mayor for Greater Manchester. Whilst the result may not be a great surprise, it is nonetheless important. With a population of 2.7million, Greater Manchester has the biggest set of devolved responsibilities in England (outside of London), and the new Mayor’s set of powers are likely…
As the UK leaves the European Union, it will need to develop its own independent trade policy that fits with a wider industrial strategy. This includes developing a system of trade remedies, the instruments that are used to combat market distortions (such as dumping and subsidised exports) that disrupt genuine free trade and that are…
Summary: It makes no sense to think about the deficit without thinking about the size and strength of the economy. A Newsnight report on the public finances last night was illustrated with a chart seemingly showing high spending causing the deficit. It was drawn from an IFS report issued yesterday, but it could well have…
The current system of rail franchising leaves much to be desired. Passenger satisfaction is very uneven, and the system is not well aligned with the needs of the economy. Today, Campaign for Better Transport (CfBT) published a report on the state of Rail Franchising in the UK. Since 1995 a range of private Train Operating…
Yesterday saw the last minute publication of the government response to the inquiry into teacher recruitment and retention undertaken by the House of Commons education select committee earlier this year. The committee’s original report, published in February, highlighted a number of key issues, including that the increasingly complex range of routes into teaching training routes…
New research we’ve published today, commissioned from the National Institute for Economic and Social Research, shows that insecure work isn’t inevitable. The rise and rise of insecure work in the UK is sometimes treated as a natural consequence of technological and social change. The development of online platforms has made it easier for employers to parcel…
The campaigns against TTIP and CETA – EU trade deals with the US and Canada – have raised public awareness of the dangers of the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) system. ISDS is a corporate court system contained in trade deals which allows international companies to sue governments for threats to their future profits. However, where…
I work for the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group, a group of tax and welfare rights specialists with expertise in the tax and related welfare issues of the low-paid. Often, people contact us describing their problems with tax, National Insurance, tax credits and interactions with other means-tested benefits. A good number of the problems have…
You wait for years for the needs of working people to become the focus of political attention and then suddenly everybody’s interested. The onset of the General Election campaign has coincided with the beginning of Brexit negotiations and the long overdue dawning of understanding at the highest reaches of the European Union that working people are disillusioned…
