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John’s interview for the Popular Conservatives podcast
The Popular Conservatives are a new & fast-growing part of UK centre-right politics who, like us at the Centre for Small-State Conservatives, favour a smaller & more efficient state. So when they invited John to appear on their ‘PopConversation’ podcast,…
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Westminster & The Disinformation Challenge
An opportunity to hear a podcast of the inaugural event of the Council for Countering Online Disinformation (CCOD) at Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), in partnership with the Aspen Institute.
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We don’t need to nationalise our railways to fix them
One of the new Labour Government’s first acts was to hand a big wedge of taxpayer cash to already well-paid train drivers, along with a promise of more as rolling rail renationalisation steadily tightens its grip over the next few years.…
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Knowing ‘What Works’ Will Help Good Growth
Fed up with a Britain where nothing works anymore? This article for Academy of Social Sciences proposes a single, simple but fundamental change to Government procurement rules to start fixing the problem. John Penrose makes the case for stronger evaluation…
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How To Solve Britain’s Red Tape Crisis
Labour’s bonfire of the quangos is barely smouldering so far. The run-up to last month’s ‘Spring-Statement-that-honestly-wasn’t-an-Emergency-Budget’ included a big anti-red tape fanfare, with lots of worthy rhetoric about tackling bureaucratic complexity and regulatory risk-aversion. But it always starts this way,…
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New Policy Thumbnail: Cheaper Energy
UK energy costs are already amongst the highest in the world and current Government policies will make them even more expensive; limit household choices (for example by forcing people to buy particular types of cars or home heating); and cost…
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Small-State Conservatives need to revive the mission to deliver supply-side reforms
Churchill is supposed to have said that America can usually be relied on to do the right thing, but only after they’ve tried everything else first. It’s a phrase that applies just as strongly to today’s Conservative Party as well.…
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Britain’s pension system is bust – it’s time for radical reform
With all the fuss about Labour’s ‘heat or eat’ decision to means-test pensioners for their winter fuel allowance, and the ‘did-she-or-didn’t-she’ media hyperventilation about Kemi Badenoch questioning the future of the pension triple lock, it’s easy to forget that Britain’s state…
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If Only They’d Asked Us First…. Ministers Ask Regulators How To Grow Faster
PM Keir Starmer, Chancellor Rachel Reeves & Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds have written to regulators, including Ofwat, Ofgem & the Environment Agency, asking for ideas on how to boost economic growth. The move has been greeted with a mixture of…
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A Cheaper Route to Net-Zero: 20 Ways to Cut Energy Bills
Despite international gas prices coming back down in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, British households are still struggling with high energy bills because of outdated regulations pushing up costs. ‘A Cheaper Route to Net Zero’ by John Penrose,…
