Burnham means evolution, not a revolution for financial services The focus is shifting from designing reforms to delivering them The next wave of reforms is already taking shape with AI at the top of the list Growth remains important, but the politics will increasingly focus on the cost of living Fiscal constraints will shape the Chancellor's first Budget Defence, devolution and regional […]
The Life Science Sector Plan's first annual update landed at the end of the political era in which it was written. Work began after Labour's 2024 landslide, when a decade-long framework tied to the Industrial Strategy and 10 Year Health Plan looked capable of surviving at least a full parliament. A year after publication, Keir […]
Under Burnham, the boundaries between foreign investment, UK strategic capability and national security are becoming increasingly blurred and the ISU's casework is likely to reflect that in its new home. The UK’s National Security and Investment Act (NSIA) regime has always sat at the intersection of prosperity and security policy. Andy Burnham’s decision to move […]
Scotland and Wales will go to the polls in two months to elect new governments. As voters across the UK increasingly reject traditional parties in favour of insurgent challengers such as Reform and the Greens, what does this mean in Scotland, where the SNP has governed for 19 years, and in Wales, where Plaid Cymru […]
In her second Mansion House speech on July 15, Chancellor Rachel Reeves set out her far-reaching vision for the UK’s financial services sector. It centred around the publication of the Government’s new Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy. This Strategy is designed to guide financial policy over the next decade and is focused on pro-growth […]
UK faces an infrastructure gap that constrains growth and the transition to net zero The 10 year strategy and funding allocations are designed to address the structural weaknesses facing UK infrastructure: low, volatile investment levels and all-too-common project over-runs. Significant deficiencies in this country’s economic infrastructure act as constraints on growth: slow electricity grid […]
In her first Budget last October, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced a series of changes to employer National Insurance contributions (NICs), designed to raise £25 billion a year – although £10 billion of that was expected to be lost as profit margins are squeezed and businesses pare back pay rises and hiring, and raise prices. The […]
The UK has a confused approach to private markets. Venture and private equity investors provide 81% of equity capital in 2024 and 73% between 2020 and 2024.[1] In the City and across Whitehall, this is both lauded and feared. Private markets are variously portrayed as the UK’s high growth saviour and a high risk, opaque […]
A media sector in need of more support? The UK has a vibrant media ecosystem built over centuries. Daily newspapers entered circulation three centuries ago under Queen Anne. Radio stations and film studios emerged in the 1920s and 30s. In 1936, BBC television made its first transmission, and in 1955, commercial public service broadcasting arrived […]
The opening months of 2025 saw the Labour Government begin to shape a more assertive defence posture in response to both geopolitical tumult and the UK’s domestic challenges. Three major moments defined the emerging character and ambition of this new approach: a commitment to increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027, structural reforms […]
A strategic shift Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s commitment to increasing the UK’s defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 (2.6% including National Security spending), with an ambition to achieve 3% in the next parliamentary term, marks a significant shift in UK national priorities. The decision, funded by a reduction in the overseas aid budget, […]
To understand how shifts in US trade policy under Trump could reshape global supply chains and competitiveness, read our blog ‘The Trump effect: how US trade policy is reshaping global supply chains and competitiveness’: Scenarios We consider three scenarios of new US tariffs, their probability, how they would impact exports to the US, and second-order […]
