Another day, another declaration of 'tougher sentences', this time for assaults on shop workers. But with prisons bursting at the seams, the government lacks a credible plan, as I argue in my piece on the new Sentencing Bill Institute for Government instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/govern…

Loads of fantastic insights came out of our Preparing for Power podcast series - 7 key things summarised here by Ben Paxton
My personal fave is how different life is going from opposition to government - procedures, relationships, everything!

the strange pledge to abolish national insurance - which Labour costed at over 40bn/yr - appears again in today's press release from Hunt and Sunak...

Our Institute for Government intern recruitment is open - apply before 30 April. And if you’re wondering whether to apply but aren’t sure, then apply anyway!

Find out what the job’s all about from our current team here youtube.com/watch?v=kLijtt…

In four weeks, voting will take place for 10 metro mayors across England.

Who are England’s metro mayors? How will these elections work? And what prior political experience do metro mayors typically have?

Here's what you need to know instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainer/metr…

🎧 A brilliant Institute for Government podcast for the weekend

Guest Ciaran Martin dials in to discuss the row over China’s alleged cyber attacks

Sachin Savur on ministers quitting

Thomas Pope grades Labour’s devo plans

With Hannah White & Dr Catherine Haddon

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/ins…

A Labour government would need to take bold decisions to deliver on its bold English devolution agenda

Thomas Pope takes a closer look at whether Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner’s devolution plans add up instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/labour…

Alongside promises to broaden & deepen devo, Labour committed to create an “active centre” of government setting national policy in partnership with local leaders.
Thomas Pope and I looked at the role of the centre in this Institute for Government report👇1/5
instituteforgovernment.org.uk/sites/default/…

Did Rishi Sunak kill levelling up - and what are Labour’s plans for regional growth?

Good write up by Chris Smyth in the The Times and The Sunday Times on Keir Starmer’s devolution agenda - featuring analysis from Thomas Pope of Institute for Government

thetimes.co.uk/article/af0f32…

This is staggeringly rich from Sunak given he's only been able to cut NI while meeting his fiscal rules by pencilling in unspecified cuts from April 2025 onwards

Fiscal rules (and headroom against them) are pretty inescapable in conversations about Britain's economic policy. But how do they work, and should the UK even have them?

I wrote on this dry-but-important area, article and quick thread below:

economist.com/britain/2024/0…

Four things we learned from Rachel Reeves’ Mais lecture

The IfG’s public finances team, Olly Bartrum Gemma Tetlow Giles Wilkes Thomas Pope, found much to welcome in the shadow chancellor’s big lecture – but also plenty of questions that need answering instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/rachel…

Reeves is expected to talk about hardwiring growth into fiscal decision-making in her Mais lecture tonight

- that's great news
- reinventing the Treasury's growth unit should be seen as one part of a broader package

quick thread 1/

The Treasury needs to engage earlier and more widely on tax reform instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/treasu… via Institute for Government