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Levelling Up and Local Government
When Boris Johnson was Prime Minister, he made “Levelling Up” one of his big political priorities. During the 2019 General Election campaign, we heard a lot about Levelling Up,...
Iraq: What should the West learn from its interventions?
In 1991 a largely neglected intervention in Iraq prevented genocide and boosted freedom. That year up to two million Iraqi Kurds had fled to the freezing mountains and their...
Sunak fails the smell test
There is no suggestion whatsoever that Nadhim Zahawi, Cabinet minister and Chairman of the Conservative Party, has broken the law. His fiercest detractors are not calling him criminal, and...
The Tory’s Apprenticeship Failures
How the Tory Government is failing young people from poorer backgrounds and in places where apprenticeships matter most The conservative government reformed the apprenticeship system in 2017. They introduced...
Proportional Representation leads to less poverty and more growth. That is why we should use it to elect a replacement House of Lords.
Electoral reform for a House of Lords replacement is the long-term prize that a future Labour government should seize as soon as it enters office. Proportional representation ensures that...
How much New Labour should the current Labour Party adopt?
New Labour is older than me – it’s more than a quarter of a century old – so how much is still relevant in 2022? Focussing on the economic...
Iran: Supporting civil rights in the context of imperial history
The 43 year old Iranian regime’s lethal rampages round its neighbourhood have increased of late and reek of desperation. It has, for instance, again bombed exiled Iranian Kurdish camps...
“All In”— a signpost, not a roadmap, to a better future
Britain isn’t working. That is the inciting claim of Labour shadow levelling up secretary Lisa Nandy’s new book, All In: How We Build a Country That Works. In the...
Repositioning Childcare – A Silver Bullet for Prosperity
Childcare in this country is broken. The UK has the second most expensive childcare costs in the world. The average cost of a full-time nursery place for a 2-year...
A century which proves Labour only wins on the centre-ground
This November marks the one hundred years since the Labour Party became the official opposition to the Tories for the first time. The 1922 general election delivered 142 Labour...
Where does housing fit into the productivity puzzle?
Our country has faced a productivity slowdown at a level not seen for the last 250 years. This slowdown impacts living standards, investment in public services, and paints a...
Semiconductors, where industrial strategy and geopolitics meet
Our everyday lives, wealth and security rely on the tiniest of things – semiconductors. These microchips are essential components in our healthcare, communications including phones and tablets, appliances, computing,...
Inequalities, Growth and Social Care Reform: Reflections from the Labour Party Conference
With economic crisis and war in Ukraine, there is a danger that adult social care will not be top of the agenda of new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. But...
Uganda to Ukraine: 50 Years of British Immigration
50 years ago this year, in 1972, my father and tens of thousands of Ugandan Asians were ordered to leave Uganda by the brutal dictator Idi Amin. In a...
Government without power: What Labour should learn from Truss
Is the government the prisoner of the market? Labour looks more likely to form a government than any time since leaving office in 2010. If there was an election...
Why Labour Must Champion Small Business
Self-employment and entrepreneurship have traditionally been claimed by the political right, but the truth is, the Tories have long ceased to be the party of business, unless of course...
Conference for a Shared Future
On the eve of last year’s conference in Brighton, there was a Queen on the throne, a Johnson in Downing Street, and few had heard of Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Now, as...
The Tories Live in the Past, Labour’s Time is Now
As we head to my hometown for Labour conference this week, it is time for all of us to stop being so tolerant of our time in opposition. Here’s...
How Labour Can Win the Economic Argument
When the public believes the government can’t be trusted to make their family better off the opposition is given a golden chance to win the next election. Our current...
Remembering Giles Radice: A One-Man Think Tank
Keir Starmer celebrates his sixtieth birthday this weekend. When he’s blown out his candles, maybe he will consider the past couple of years. The opinion polls show a remarkable...
New New Labour? Values-based Social Democracy
Following the recent electoral victories of Joe Biden, Olaf Scholz, Anthony Albanese and Jacinda Ardern, with further victories on the cards in Brazil and the UK, it looks like,...
Connectivity Conflicts and the Contest for Cyberpower: On the Age of Unpeace
Last month the head of Britain’s MI5 joined his counterpart at the American FBI to issue an unprecedented warning. China, he said, represents the single greatest threat to the...
Tone Deaf Tories Oblivious to the Tsunami About to Hit Britain
Gaby Hinsliff writing in last Friday’s Guardian talks of the emotional detachment of frontrunner Liz Truss – widely tipped to be the next Prime Minister. Displaying about as much...
Should we nationalise energy to tackle the cost of living crisis?
Britain needs a plan to tackle the soaring cost of energy that has resulted from the war in Ukraine. Having initially set the agenda with the Windfall Tax, Labour...
Manufacturing’s Coming Home? Manufacturing Under the Next Labour Government
Having seen and experienced working life within UK manufacturing, from my father’s clothes manufacturing plant through to large multi-sited organisations providing goods to the food, pharma, retail and technical...
The Labour Party Is A Party For Government, Not Protest
Only the most cynical or the most naïve people parrot the lie that Sam Tarry was ‘sacked for appearing on a picket line.’ If that was even a little...
A Golden Decade of Opportunity awaits Birmingham
Councillor Sharon Thompson, Birmingham City Council’s Cabinet Member for Housing and Homelessness, reflects on the impact that the Commonwealth Games will make in Birmingham. On Thursday 28th July, the...
Learning from Progressive Winners Across the Globe
The 2020s have marked an advancement for progressive movements across the globe. Starting with Joe Biden’s defeat of Donald Trump in the US, progressive politics has made headway around...
The Far-Left Project: A Journey Into Infighting
It is hard to tell who was more upset by Labour’s breakthrough result in Wakefield: those circling the wagons around the soon-to-be-ex Prime Minister? Or the self-styled Labour ‘left’?...
Platinum Jubilee: Can we survive the next 75 years without a written constitution?
The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee should be the occasion for more than a few half-hearted street parties and a second-rate pop concert. If the Monarchy chooses to place itself in...
Fair Pay Agreements: How Labour can help people get on at work—not just get even
Despite calls from the Bank of England for workers to show wage restraint as inflation increases, the current cost-of-living crisis demands much greater urgency in creating the means for...
Starmer at Work: Will Labour’s new ‘politics of work’ achieve workplace dignity?
Dignity at work has formed a central theme of Keir Starmer’s leadership of the Labour Party. In April last year, John Cruddas published a persuasive book making the case...
Vision, not nostalgia, about work
This speech was delivered at Progressive Britain conference in May 2022. It’s fabulous to be here at Progressive Britain conference. We are here, and under Keir Starmer’s leadership we...
Fear of SNP influence will not win the Conservatives the next election
Talk of coalitions is back. Following the local elections, the received wisdom (and some polling evidence) suggests that we are heading for a hung parliament after the next general...
A Labour vision for levelling up: Place and power
With Labour consistently ahead in the polls and conference season rapidly coming into view, now is the time for the party to start setting out its plan for government....
Local elections 2022: The end of the beginning
Her Majesty the Queen has a new Labour council, the best jubilee gift she could possibly have hoped for. Not only the people in palaces, but also the oligarchs...
It is never ‘Labour’s turn’: Learning from 1992
April 9 2022 marks the thirtieth anniversary of Labour’s devastating 1992 defeat. The party’s crushing loss that year shocked the entire political establishment in Britain. The defeat was deeply...
A Positive Labour Narrative On Immigration
Only a few weeks after its launch, almost 200,000 Britons have signed up to the government’s scheme to host Ukrainian refugees. Yet at the same time, the Tories are...
It’s time for Labour to once again be the party of aspiration
We have the Tories on the ropes. A Prime Minister devoid of integrity, partying in Downing Street, while we made sacrifices in sticking to the rules. A Chancellor whose...
Selection season
In this month’s Paul on Politics, spring has sprung and with it minds are turning to the fresh potential Labour candidates for the next election… Margaret Beckett is the...
How Labour can stop the Party
What connects the Partygate scandal and the ongoing response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine? Through their dismissal of concerns about the No.10 parties, and refusal to engage with...
Local authorities must play a pivotal role in Britain’s economic renaissance
If a country’s economic model tells its story, then a new chapter for Britain is well overdue. Structural problems in the British economy have long held us back. Regional...
Kosovo: Celebrating Stages of Statehood
Kosovo turned fourteen on 17th of February. Celebrating the anniversary of its independence, the hope for long-awaited democratic transformation of the country remains. Kosovo represents one of the most...
Health: Personal, Local & Un-Equal
As well as being the week of International Women’s Day, this is Women’s History Month – a time to reflect on the struggle of women for equality and renew...
Building the foundations for Labour’s future
The invasion of Ukraine marks the start of some quite frightening new era, the shape of which we don’t yet understand. Whether Putin’s aggression marks the start of a...
Medway: Left behind by ‘levelling up’
The long-awaited Levelling-up White Paper which champions Boris Johnson’s flagship policy, perhaps cynically, designed to secure his vote in traditional Labour heartlands, has finally been published. The paper sets...
Aspirations to power
The subject of aspiration has long been an uneasy one for Labour. The Party has been out of power for much of its existence, more so than the Conservatives,...
Time for a progressive refugee policy in Britain
Ten days into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, 1.6 million refugees have already fled across the border. These are staggering numbers not seen in Europe since the end of the...
Ukraine Crisis: How Labour is pushing for a better UK response
In my last article, I stated that Putin was likely seeking to achieve one of two things: Ukraine to be denied entry to NATO, and to gain influence over...
Rethinking Labour’s Past
I have always believed that as a party, Labour can learn and draw inspiration from its history. Our party’s historic achievements help define what it is to be Labour. Labour was...
Labour women, leading locally
Today is International Women’s Day and a chance for all of us to reflect on women’s place in society and public life. Much is said about women’s representation in...
Why political activists should care about history
One hundred and twenty-two years on from the founding of the Labour Representation Committee, 116 from the founding of the Parliamentary Labour Party and 100 years since Labour became...
The Anti Nato Left: A shameful legacy
In this week’s column, Paul takes on the anti-Nato left, tracing its roots to show is has always been a fundamentally un-Labour position. There is no evidence that Lenin...
The Politics of the Pandemic: How Covid Finally Caught up with Boris Johnson
Over the last two years, the Covid pandemic has affected the lives of every single British person. Over 150,000 have died from Covid, the initial lockdown caused the worst...
Designing out Homelessness
Planning for what you want to achieve not just what you want to avoid. There are both individual and structural factors which drive homelessness and exclusion. We need to...
Ukraine Crisis: The role of NATO, Britain, and Labour
The Ukraine crisis shows that only under Labour will Britain be serious about NATO and it’s commitments around the world. These are nervous times. The rhetoric coming out of...
Morgan Jones – Man of Conscience
Morgan Jones was the Labour MP from 1921 until his death in 1939. His claim to fame is the fact that he was the first conscientious objector to be...
Taliban recognition, the next Western betrayal of Afghanistan?
The stories and images coming out of Afghanistan are haunting. The helpless eyes of the long suffering men, women and children pierce through your heart and leave a wound...
The impressive victory of Portugal’s Socialistas
A comeback, and a swansong… Against all odds, the centre-left Socialist Party (Partido Socialista, PS) achieved an absolute majority in the latest Portuguese legislative elections on 30 January. The...
Beyond the Welfare State: Building the Health Society
Given the recent turn in polling, it now seems that Labour could well win the next election with pledges to fix the damage left by the Tories. The pledges...
Neighbours’ values are Labour’s values
The Australian soap opera Neighbours is reportedly under threat from Channel 5 bosses looking for cuts. The economics of this are slightly unclear – whatever its many merits, it...
Levelling up? That’s a job for Labour
In his first column of a new, monthly, series for Progressive Britain Paul Richards takes on Michael Gove… The Labour Government elected in 1997 set the ambitious goal that...
North Macedonia: Never-ending transition and new green promises
The Republic of North Macedonia, which gained independence from the Socialist Federation of Yugoslavia in 1991, has had a tumultuous political history. While the country ended its first decade...
How to tackle the energy poverty crisis?
What is the crisis? Charities and consumer rights bodies have warned that a 51% rise in the energy price cap planned for April will mean “people will be left...
Starmer’s Labour must embrace community power to create its own vision for levelling up
Society is facing challenges on multiple fronts. The last time this country faced comparable challenges it was emerging from the Second World War, and it was Clement Attlee’s Labour...
Croatian politics: a game played by many, won by the HDZ
The 2021 landslide victory in the Zagreb mayoral elections for Tomislav Tomašević was akin to a coronation for the ‘new’ progressive forces in Croatia. The green-left platform ‘Možemo!’ (We...
Serbia in crisis: Can authoritarian trends be reversed?
Despite making progress in EU accession negotiations since 2014, Serbia is a country which has witnessed major democratic backsliding in recent years. Ever since Srpska napredna stranka (Serbian Progressive...
Making Private Equity Work for a Progressive Britain
Overleverage, short-termism and asset stripping must be countered with progressive policies Wielding record levels of cash, US private equity (PE) firms are bargain hunting in Britain, buying up more...
Could the Corbyn party win in North London?
Could Jeremy Corbyn win as an independent? Or will he just serve as a distraction to the fight against the Tories? The Daily Telegraph reports that Jeremy Corbyn, the...
R.E.S.P.E.C.T. (find out what it means for Labour.)
He’s less glamourous. He’s certainly quieter. But last month, a new voice gave Aretha a run for her money by calling for a little r-e-s-p-e-c-t. The people of Germany...
Momentum says ‘stay and sulk’ — we say ‘stay and fight’
Latest momentum briefing reveals the widespread chaos and confusion on the hard left Congratulations to Helen Morgan, emphatic victor in the North Shropshire by-election. The electorate’s revulsion at government hypocrisy...
Bosnia and Herzegovina: A Case of Outsourced Politics?
The first essay in Progressive Britain’s new ‘Spotlight on the Western Balkans’ series. Following Bosnian politics can be a daunting task. The country is stuck in a vicious cycle...
Welfare reform: giving back to the people who have paid in
Labour can tackle both political and economic challenges through contributory welfare I am confident that most people who have knocked on a door in an election campaign and had a...
Why “groundhog day” in the Western Balkans is bad news for Europe
Milica Delevic introduces Progressive Britain’s new ‘Spotlight on the Western Balkans’ series. After having been a major focus throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, the countries of the Western...
The Rise and Fall of Johnsonism
Johnsonism has been a hard target for Labour to directly attack, but there are now signs that it is struggling. Labour has a chance to present a vision of...
Britain must stop betraying refugees
The news yesterday of twenty-nine refugees drowning while trying to cross the Channel off Calais, in inflatable dinghies, to Britain, made me feel numb. It made me think of...
Budget 21: Productivity politics
Yesterday was a far bigger budget than many in the know had expected. Analysis about what it all means for the economy is still trickling though from the Resolution...
‘Please Prime Minister, can we have some more?’
While the Prime Minister has made ‘levelling up’ the centrepiece of his post-Brexit agenda, The Financial Times’ Robert Shrimsley described Mr Johnson’s recent speech to the Conservative Party Conference as “all destination,...
Illiberal Britain
In June, the Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, declared that, “for me, Hungary has no place in the EU any more”. He was responding to a new law banning...
The surprising challenges of spending free money
Governments need to consult the private sector to bring about the best in public-private innovation partnerships This was what Europeans had been dreaming about. The COVID pandemic, with all...
Yellow Squares, Green Circles? Germany’s Coalition Kingmakers
Esther Brown and Marius S. Ostrowski After four successive election victories by outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel, this year’s German election has created a political situation marked by an unfamiliar...
Why Labour shouldn’t be afraid of the Culture War
Shortly after Jeremy Corbyn was elected Labour leader in 2015, David Cameron declared “Twitter is not Britain”. It was meant as an admonishment to those who thought that the...
Inflating Labour
What do likely coming changes in inflation mean for Labour’s electoral hopes? Inflation is coming, but for how long it will last above the 2% Bank of England target...
Bulgarian politics
Bulgaria faces prospect of third parliamentary election as uncertainty dominates Bulgaria appears to be heading for a third general election in a matter of months, after the second inconclusive...
The numbers behind the local elections
The May 2021 local elections: an analysis of vote-switching, polling and recent history Opposition parties tend to do well in local government elections so May’s set of results, where...
Next Generation EU and the Spanish economy
With the NGEU programme, Spain has a chance to make its economy more sustainable, inclusive and resilient. Whether it does so remains to be seen
Spain, the euro zone’s fourth...Covid-19 and remittance-dependent economies
The pandemic has highlighted how migrant workers are essential to the effective functioning of Western economies. Progressive governments should take measures to support workers who in turn support families...
US Democratic Party Consensus on Israel
Biden’s Progressive Agenda Blown off Course? The Biden Administration came to power on January 20, 2021, with huge challenges not least of which were tackling the Covid-19 crisis and...
Inequality and violence against women
If we’re to truly confront the scourge of violence against women that plagues all societies across the world, we have to confront the origins of our biases against women.
2021...The Promise of the Biden Plan
In the third of a three part series, Alexander Perry considers the implications of the Biden presidency for climate action Click here to read the first part of this...
Climate change and inequality
In the second of a three part series, Alexander Perry considers the implications of the Biden presidency for climate action For the previous article in this series, click here....
Biden’s green agenda
In the first of a three part series, Alexander Perry considers the implications of the Biden presidency for climate action President Biden’s proposed environmental policies are some of the...
Covid-19 and (less) work?
We’ll be happier and healthier once we reimagine work as no longer being at the centre of life, but as something that we do to create a better life...
Covid-19 vaccinations in Spain
The ongoing vaccine rollout shines a light on the current state of politics in Spain
The joy surrounding the news of the approval of the Covid-19 vaccine, together with the...Brazil’s path to illiberal populism
COVID-19 might strengthen the shift towards illiberal populism underway in Brazil The period between 1974 to 2005 was marked by an increasing number of states becoming democratic for the...
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Security as means and ends – Roundtable report
Can Labour and its European counterparts learn from each other to re-envision a brighter future of work? From Covid-19 to Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine, the profile of the...
Security at Work in an Uncertain World
A new politics of work could address issues domestic and international, can Labour develop one? Whether we like it or not, work is central to most of our lives....
The Role of Modern Government
In a tight fiscal environment, what cost neutral measures could Labour take to boost Britain? There are many levers that should be available to a government to achieve its...
Future Industries: Technology Led Growth For Britain In The 2020s
This paper sets out thinking about UK future industries and how they can be incorporated into the Labour Party’s emerging Industrial Strategy. We have identified six industries which are...
On The Path To Power?
Christabel Cooper takes a deep dive into the May 2022 election results Labour have enjoyed a steady 4-5% lead over the Conservatives in the polls for the last few...
Rebuilding Labour And The Nation: May 2022
How far have perceptions of Labour changed since September 2021? What factors are behind its recent successes in the polls? Where is Labour lagging behind? This research was commissioned...
Thinking in Straight Lines
This paper sets out to help answer the question that many in Labour and on the left in general have been asking in recent years. With people’s attitudes swinging...
Labour and the Past, Present and Future of Work
Most of us spend most of our time at work. Work is what we do, where we go, who we know and how we get on in life. But...
Building the Foundations for Labour’s Future
Britain in 2022 is recovering from the pandemic, facing new geopolitical uncertainty and a cost of living crisis – all while having to deal with the long tail of...
Rebuilding Labour And The Nation
A report for Progressive Britain by Chris Curtis, Opinium Research, September 2021. Does Labour have a chance at the next general election? Where do voters like the party’s offer...
Learning about place
Understanding lifelong learning and social mobility in Covid Britain
Learning about place: Understanding lifelong learning and social mobility in Covid Britain is a major new report undertaken by Professor Graeme Atherton...Public Value Management
Institutional design and decision for the common good
In a world where the human experience is increasingly overshadowed by diversity and danger and which is currently confronting the twin...
Left Unity
Manifesto for a progressive alliance
Progressive politics is in crisis. Tainted by its accommodation to the neoliberal revolution, the progressive left is struggling to respond as the temporary consensus around...Fragmented Catalonia
Divisive Legacies of a Push for Secession
The Catalonian secessionist crisis was the most noticeable event that Spain offered to Western politics in the opening decades of this century. Within...Will Germany show solidarity? Yes, but…
The German government still has to seek approval for EU bonds
How much of and what kind of help are Europeans willing to provide reciprocally during the Corona crisis? This...Heading for disaster
How Britain's Brexit collision course with the European Union will exacerbate the Covid crisis
We need to talk about Brexit again. The negotiations on Britain’s future relationship with the EU are...Towards a new pensions settlement — Volume III
The international experience, volume III
Delivering a stable income in retirement should be the primary focus of any workplace pension system. This is notably not the case in most Anglo-Saxon...Warring Fictions
Left populism and its defining myths
Warring Fictions is a critique of Corbynism and left populism more broadly, using the root causes of Labour divisions since 2015 as a case...Pathways and legacies of the secessionist push in Catalonia
Linguistic frontiers, economic segments and media roles within a divided society
The Spanish Supreme Court has handed down sentences 0f between nine and thirteen years to nine Catalan separatist...
Fragments in the Ruins
In a world where the human experience is increasingly overshadowed by diversity and danger and which is currently confronting the twin challenges of a global recession and pandemic,...
Open Left
The future of progressive politics
The ten years since the financial crash have been lean years for progressive politics of all kinds. Now Brexit in the UK, Trump in the...Towards a new pensions settlement — Volume II
The international experience, volume II
In a world of ageing populations and in the midst of a global shift from defined benefit (DB) to defined contribution (DC) pensions, the onus...Endgame for the centre left?
The Retreat of Social Democracy across Europe
After a period of electoral dominance, centre-left parties in western Europe have suffered a dramatic erosion of support; the vote share enjoyed by...Filter Podcasts By Topic:
Progressive Britain History Project, Ep 7: Labour and the Unions
Progressive Britain History Project hosts Laura Beers and Steven Fielding speak to Professor Andrew Thorpe, Professor of Modern History at The University of Leeds and author of “A History...
Progressive Britain History Project, Ep 6: Women in Politics
Progressive Britain History Project hosts Laura Beers and Steven Fielding, speak to Dr Emma Lundin, Senior Lecturer at Malmo University in Sweden, about women in politics.