# Centre for Small State Conservatives

> Bigger Citizens Need Smaller Governments


## Posts

- [John speaks with The Telegraph Podcast about how we reach Net Zero affordably](https://smallstateconservatives.org/john-speaks-with-the-telegraph-podcast-about-how-we-reach-net-zero-affordably/)
- [John &amp; a former Labour advisor agree how the PM is getting it wrong on 'freebie' gifts](https://smallstateconservatives.org/john-and-former-labour-advisor-discuss-pms-gifts/): John Penrose and former Labour adviser John McTernan discuss the news that the PM will pay back some of his gifts.
- [Why repaying a few freebies won't solve the PM's integrity problem](https://smallstateconservatives.org/john-responds-to-news-the-pm-has-paid-back-some-of-the-gifts-and-hospitality-he-received/): In response to Beth Rigby&#8217;s tweet above, John said: This won&#8217;t solve the Government&#8217;s integrity problems I&#8217;m afraid, for several reasons: 1. It isn&#8217;t leadership. Starmer isn&#8217;t requiring other Ministers to follow his example or change what they&#8217;re doing. 2. It doesn&#8217;t solve possible conflicts of interest. If a freebie means Ministers owe the donor [&hellip;]
- [CAPX: Twenty ways Ed Miliband can decarbonise on the cheap](https://smallstateconservatives.org/capx-a-billpayers-route-to-net-zero-or-net-zero-done-cheaply/): We may have a new Government, but the big questions around Net Zero are still with us. Families and businesses are facing enormous energy bills that are much higher than they should be and, while the recent fuss about cuts to the Winter Fuel Payment dominates the headlines, it’s easy to forget the bigger, broader [&hellip;]
- [Proposed reforms could stop net zero costing ‘billions of pounds more than it needs to', says John](https://smallstateconservatives.org/proposed-reforms-could-stop-net-zero-costing-billions-of-pounds-more-than-it-needs-to-says-john/): According to a new&nbsp;report, 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aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, British households are still struggling with high energy bills because of outdated regulations pushing up costs. &#8216;A Cheaper Route to Net Zero&#8217;&nbsp;is written by John Penrose and published by the Centre for Policy Studies. Penrose is [&hellip;]
- [John challenges Weston’s new Labour MP over Winter Fuel payments](https://smallstateconservatives.org/westons-new-labour-mp-over-winter-fuel-payments/): Weston-super-Mare&#8217;s former MP John Penrose took to Twitter ahead of the Government&#8217;s vote on whether to scrap Winter Fuel Allowance for pensioners to express his concern over the impact such a decision would have on the local elderly population. He wrote: Despite this appeal, Aldridge cast his vote in favor of removing the allowance, impacting [&hellip;]
- [We need Labour out of office as soon as possible, and Cleverly is the man to do it](https://smallstateconservatives.org/we-need-labour-out-of-office-as-soon-as-possible-and-cleverly-is-the-man-to-do-it/): This article was originally written for Conservative Home and published on 10/09/2024. Just over two months ago, we handed Labour the supermajority we worried about. We lost votes to Labour, the Liberal Democrats, and Reform, as well as to apathy when a good proportion of our voters simply abstained. Too many people thought we deserved [&hellip;]
- [Tackling mis/disinformation used to fan hate &amp; radicalise](https://smallstateconservatives.org/tackling-mis-disinformation-used-to-fan-hate-radicalise/): The Telegraph was recently forced to issue the following statement: The Telegraph is aware of an image circulating on X which purports to be a Telegraph article about &#8217;emergency detainment camps&#8217;. No such article has ever been published by the Telegraph. In response, John Penrose said (via Twitter): &#8220;This shows the power of mis / [&hellip;]
- [John Wants Conservative Leadership Contests To Be More "Transparent" To Stop "Fibbing And Skulduggery"](https://smallstateconservatives.org/john-wants-conservative-leadership-contests-to-be-more-transparent-to-stop-fibbing-and-skulduggery/): The Following article was written by Zoe Crowther and published on&nbsp;Politics Home. Former Conservative MP John Penrose has called for&nbsp;MP voting rounds in Tory&nbsp;leadership contests to be made public&nbsp;to&nbsp;help the party stop&nbsp;choosing &#8220;problematic leaders&#8221;.&nbsp; This, he said, would make the Conservatives less likely of&nbsp;repeating the mistake of choosing a leader who will lead them to [&hellip;]
- [John gives his thoughts on Labour’s green wealth fund](https://smallstateconservatives.org/labours-green-wealth-fund/): The following article was written by Alex Ralph and Lauren Almeida and published on&nbsp;The Times Less than a week after the Labour government was elected, the chancellor and the business secretary unveiled plans for a new National Wealth Fund to begin investing “immediately”. Backed by £7.3 billion of public capital, Rachel Reeves and Jonathan Reynolds [&hellip;]
- [John tells ITV News the Channel Islands should have their own MPs](https://smallstateconservatives.org/john-tells-itv-news-the-channel-islands-should-have-their-own-mps/): In an interview with ITV News, John explains why he thinks the Channel Islands should have their own MPs.
- [John gives his ideas to tackle misinformation and disinformation](https://smallstateconservatives.org/john-gives-his-ideas-to-tackle-misinformation-and-disinformation/): During a panel, John is asked what he would do to tackle the worrying rise in misinformation and disinformation.
- ['Opportunity of smart data could make consumer redress quicker and cheaper'](https://smallstateconservatives.org/opportunity-of-smart-data-could-make-consumer-redress-quicker-and-cheaper/): This article was written by Paloma Kubiak for Your Money Magazine John Penrose MP says there’s no reason why open banking can’t be replicated in online retailing, energy and health. Plus when it comes to consumer redress, it could make the relevant ombudsman service quicker and cheaper. In a keynote speech at the annual flagship [&hellip;]
- [Tory MPs to propose anti-red tape law to address concerns over officials pushing for more regulations](https://smallstateconservatives.org/tory-mps-to-propose-anti-red-tape-law-to-address-concerns-over-officials-pushing-for-more-regulations/): This article was written by Anna Mikhailova (Deputy Political Editor) and published in The Daily mail on 19th November 2023. Tory&nbsp;MPs have proposed an anti-red tape law to be tabled in the Commons tomorrow. It comes amid concerns over officials pushing for more regulations and would introduce a requirement for the amount of red tape [&hellip;]
- [John makes recommendations to improve the Government's Economic Crime Bill](https://smallstateconservatives.org/john-makes-recommendations-to-improve-the-governments-economic-crime-bill/)
- [John interviewed by Times Radio about the Energy Price Cap](https://smallstateconservatives.org/john-interviewed-by-times-radio-about-the-energy-price-cap/)
- [INEWS: We should build taller homes to tackle ‘decades of failure’ on housing, ex-minister says](https://smallstateconservatives.org/inews-we-should-build-taller-homes-to-tackle-decades-of-failure-on-housing-ex-minister-says/): Former minister John Penrose has said people should be able to add more storeys to their homes to tackle housing shortages and warned that the failure to build enough houses in the UK has led to “increased poverty”. In an essay for the Conservative Bright Blue think-tank, shared exclusively with&nbsp;i, the former Northern Ireland minister [&hellip;]
- [Competitive decarbonisation is the only way to save our industrial communities](https://smallstateconservatives.org/competitive-decarbonisation-is-the-only-way-to-save-our-industrial-communities/): This article was written by John Penrose, Jo Gideon, Stephen Kinnock and Arjan Geveke. Today, we are launching a cross-party and cross-industry commission to explore how the United Kingdom can reach net zero without undermining the competitiveness of British industry. We are a cross-party group, which means we follow the proud tradition of pursuing climate [&hellip;]
- [John Penrose MP Interviewed on BBC Radio about the Ministerial Code & Principles of Public Life](https://smallstateconservatives.org/john-penrose-mp-interviewed-on-bbc-radio-about-the-ministerial-code-principles-of-public-life/)
- [John speaks about dangers of disinformation and misinformation during the Online Safety Bill debate](https://smallstateconservatives.org/john-speaks-about-dangers-of-disinformation-and-misinformation-during-the-online-safety-bill-debate/): In a debate in the House of Commons, John explains why it&#8217;s so important we address disinformation and misinformation online
- [John Penrose discusses Levelling-Up on BBC's 'The Week In Westminster'](https://smallstateconservatives.org/john-penrose-discusses-levelling-up-on-bbcs-the-week-in-westminster/)
- [John's Westminster Hall Debate on UK competition and consumer policy](https://smallstateconservatives.org/johns-westminster-hall-debate-on-uk-competition-and-consumer-policy/)
- [PODCAST: Why hasn't Britain abolished poverty?](https://smallstateconservatives.org/podcast-why-hasnt-britain-abolished-poverty/): Britain has failed to abolish poverty because we’ve been looking at it the wrong way. Income inequality is an unhelpful lens that has led politicians to treat the symptoms rather than the causes. That&#8217;s the argument of a new report by John Penrose MP, Chair of the Conservative Policy Forum. In it, he says the [&hellip;]
- [A 5-point Plan to Reset Ethical Standards in Government](https://smallstateconservatives.org/a-5-point-plan-to-reset-ethical-standards-in-government/): The system for regulating ethical standards in government &#8211; is widely recognised as being in need of a major reset. This 5-point plan sets out a blueprint for reform. Successive administrations from both main parties have shied away from improving the system, and its weaknesses have grown increasingly apparent in recent years. The growing catalogue [&hellip;]
- [John's resignation letter to PM Boris Johnson in full](https://smallstateconservatives.org/johns-resignation-letter-to-pm-boris-johnson-in-full/): I’m sorry to have to resign as the PM’s Anti-Corruption Tsar but, after his reply last week about the Ministerial Code, it’s pretty clear he has broken it. That’s a resigning matter for me, and it should be for the PM too. Here’s my letter to him explaining why&#8230;.
- [Chancellor must look beyond handouts to ease pain of rising energy bills](https://smallstateconservatives.org/chancellor-must-look-beyond-handouts-to-ease-pain-of-rising-energy-bills/): The article below was written for the times by Ed Birkett, head of energy and climate at the Onward think tank, and John Penrose, Chair of the Conservative Policy Forum Energy bills are shooting up, hurting everybody but hitting the least well-off hardest of all. And a bad situation will get even worse when the [&hellip;]
- [John joins BBC's Money Box to discuss why childcare in the UK is so expensive and how we may fix it](https://smallstateconservatives.org/john-joins-bbcs-money-box-to-discuss-why-childcare-in-the-uk-is-so-expensive-and-how-we-may-fix-it/): John gives ideas to BBC&#8217;s Money box on why childcare in the UK is so expensive and shares ideas on how we may be able to fix it
- [John joins BBC's Oliver Bullough to discuss money laundering in the UK and tackling it long-term](https://smallstateconservatives.org/john-joins-bbcs-oliver-bullough-to-discuss-money-laundering-in-the-uk-and-tackling-it-long-term/): John joins Oliver Bullough on his BBC show to discuss his former role as Anti-Corruption Champion, Britain&#8217;s unfortunate role in &#8216;offshore&#8217; money laundering, and how we tackle corruption of all kinds.
- [John interviewed on BBC Radio 4 about Lord Geidt's resignation](https://smallstateconservatives.org/john-interviewed-on-bbc-radio-4-about-lord-geidts-resignation/)
- [John Penrose MP discusses long-term solutions to the Energy Crisis on GBNEWS](https://smallstateconservatives.org/john-penrose-mp-discusses-long-term-solutions-to-the-energy-crisis-on-gbnews/)
- [John Penrose responds to Report from the Committee on Standards in Public Life](https://smallstateconservatives.org/john-penrose-responds-to-report-from-the-committee-on-standards-in-public-life/): The majority of recommendations in the report from the Committee on Standards in Public Life makes absolute sense and Ministers should stamp their foot on the gas to getting them implemented. There&#8217;s also areas we can go even further&#8230;
- [John on LBC discussing whether the UK is doing enough to help Ukraine](https://smallstateconservatives.org/john-on-lbc-discussing-whether-the-uk-is-doing-enough-to-help-ukraine-2/)
- [John resigns as Anti-Corruption Tsar](https://smallstateconservatives.org/john-resigns-as-anti-corruption-tsar/): John discusses why he felt he had to resign as Boris Johnson’s Anti-Corruption Tsar, saying it&#8217;s &#8220;pretty clear&#8221; the Prime Minister broke the ministerial code over the partygate scandal.
- [John speaks with Institute of Economic Affairs about social mobility](https://smallstateconservatives.org/john-speaks-with-institute-of-economic-affairs-about-social-mobility/)
- [John on LBC discussing whether the UK is doing enough to help Ukraine](https://smallstateconservatives.org/john-on-lbc-discussing-whether-the-uk-is-doing-enough-to-help-ukraine/): John joins LBC to discuss whether the UK is doing enough to help Ukraine
- [John Penrose MP: How energy market reform can cut bills and leave Putin fuming](https://smallstateconservatives.org/john-penrose-mp-how-energy-market-reform-can-cut-bills-and-leave-putin-fuming/): Well, thanks a lot, Vladimir. The cold weather is here and, with energy bills being used to put the West under pressure for supporting Ukraine, every family and business has to be miles more careful with the heating than normal. Add in the lingering symptoms of the pandemic disrupting global supply chains and fuelling inflation [&hellip;]
- [There's a case for a strong, pro-competitive but tightly-ring fenced Digital Market Unit to erode the power of online network monopolies](https://smallstateconservatives.org/theres-a-case-for-a-strong-pro-competitive-but-tightly-ring-fenced-digital-market-unit-to-erode-the-power-of-online-network-monopolies/): I’m honoured to be this month’s ‘Parliamentary TechChampion’, because of the role technology can play in sharpening competition to create big, powerful citizen-consumers so markets work for people rather than the other way round. This is a key theme in my Government-commissioned report on Competition Policy, Power to the People which made the case for [&hellip;]
- [John Penrose on Times Radio discussing the Honours System](https://smallstateconservatives.org/john-penrose-on-times-radio-discussing-the-honours-system/): In this interview with Mariella Frostrup on Times Radio, John explains why he and much of the country feel the current Honours System is all a bit old fashioned and what an update might look like.
- [John says we need to fix the long-term issues with energy prices](https://smallstateconservatives.org/john-says-we-need-to-fix-the-long-term-issues-with-energy-prices/): In an interview with GB News, John says it&#8217;s not enough to address only the short-term issues with energy prices. Instead, he says it&#8217;s time to start fixing both the short-term and long-term issues right away.
- [Why not give the Falklands a seat in the UK Parliament?](https://smallstateconservatives.org/why-not-give-the-falklands-a-seat-in-the-uk-parliament/): Such an offer would guarantee stability for any Overseas Territory, allowing them to cement their permanent status within the UKSuch an offer would guarantee stability for any Overseas Territory, allowing them to cement their permanent status within the UK. To mark the Platinum Jubilee, a competition has been launched to find the next place to [&hellip;]
- [Cutting red tape for train firms will help decarbonise our railways](https://smallstateconservatives.org/cutting-red-tape-for-train-firms-will-help-decarbonise-our-railways/): Great herds of world leaders, climate change activists and media crews are all converging on Glasgow at the COP26 climate summit, like one of nature’s great animal migrations, to try to save the planet. There will be lofty speeches, lots of scrutiny of who emits the most carbon on their trip, and a fair bit [&hellip;]
- [John Penrose and Stephen Kinnock discuss how the UK can allow the manufacturing sector to grow](https://smallstateconservatives.org/john-penrose-and-stephen-kinnock-discuss-how-the-uk-can-allow-the-manufacturing-sector-to-grow/): John Penrose MP and Stephen Kinnock MP, board members of the Institute for Prosperity, are interviewed on the Ian King Live programme on Sky News. This interviewed first aired on the 16th of November 2020.
- [Is the traditional Tory belief in free enterprise leaving the station?](https://smallstateconservatives.org/is-the-traditional-tory-belief-in-free-enterprise-leaving-the-station/): As flesh is put on the bones of the recent Plan for Rail, it will send a clear signal about whether the Conservatives are still the party of free enterprise. Rail passengers need choice and an entrepreneurial spirit, not a return to a state monopoly. The new Plan for Rail starts really well, by invoking [&hellip;]
- [What is the difference in price between Google and other search engines?](https://smallstateconservatives.org/what-is-the-difference-in-price-between-google-and-other-search-engines/): Using most search engines isn&#8217;t free, it&#8217;s a transaction that requires something from you (usually information). John talks with Radio 4 about the need to know more about what we are getting and what it is costing us in the Digital Age, so we know whether it&#8217;s good value or whether you should switch.
- [Are Britains regulators up to the task?](https://smallstateconservatives.org/are-britains-regulators-up-to-the-task/): In a brief interview, John summaries his policy paper, We Deserve Better, explaining how small changes in the way utility industries are regulated would result in a much better deal for consumers.
- ['Invite the Overseas Territories to join the UK post-Brexit' says Penrose](https://smallstateconservatives.org/invite-the-overseas-territories-to-join-the-uk-post-brexit-says-penrose/): This article was written by Sebastian Whale for The House magazine The Tories are in a commanding position to address the many outstanding issues that have accumulated over the past few years. From boundary reforms to a bold offer to the Overseas Territories, former minister John Penrose has plenty of ideas for how his party [&hellip;]
- [We need to pour a big dose of drain unblocker down the constitutional plumbing](https://smallstateconservatives.org/we-need-to-pour-a-big-dose-of-drain-unblocker-down-the-constitutional-plumbing/): Constitutions ought to be straightforward things. Bits of political plumbing to make sure democracies work properly, so power can transfer smoothly from a dying Government to a new one without a punch-up. But that’s not what ours is doing. The plumbing is blocked. We’ve got a Government that can’t govern because there’s no majority, but [&hellip;]
- [How to end the injustice of the skewed university degree system](https://smallstateconservatives.org/how-to-end-the-injustice-of-the-skewed-university-degree-system/): Imagine a world where Eton awarded its own A-levels. No one else could take them and, if you got an A grade in, for example, chemistry, it was worth more than an A grade in the same subject from any other exam board. It would be hideously unfair. Etonians would have a huge, inbuilt advantage [&hellip;]
- [Why railways should be more like airlines – and how passengers would gain if they were](https://smallstateconservatives.org/why-railways-should-be-more-like-airlines-and-how-passengers-would-gain-if-they-were/): There’s just the faintest whiff of new thinking in our railways. A breath of cool air on a passenger’s cheek that might, just possibly, herald a wind of change. And it’s coming, improbably, from the next-door sector of airlines. The Rail Delivery Group, a big-shot industry trade association, has just suggested a more transparent, simpler [&hellip;]
- [The Case For A UK Sovereign Wealth Fund](https://smallstateconservatives.org/the-case-for-a-uk-sovereign-wealth-fund/): The age of austerity is nearly over. After eight long years, we aren’t having to borrow to pay for day-to-day spending on essentials like health, education, policing or defence. It’s all funded by our taxes, at last. We’re paying our way without maxing out the national credit card. Hooray! But why has bringing down the [&hellip;]
- [John hosts a debate on building up not out...](https://smallstateconservatives.org/john-hosts-a-debate-on-building-up-not-out/): John makes a speech in his debate on creating more affordable housing by building up not out&#8230;
- [Why developers need to build up, not out](https://smallstateconservatives.org/why-developers-need-to-build-up-not-out/): Britain must rethink its unfair and outdated planning system. Housing, whether it’s rent or mortgage payments, is probably the biggest single monthly bill that most of us face. And, because we haven’t built enough new hoses for decades, no matter who’s in government, the costs have been getting steeper and steeper. We only add 1 [&hellip;]
- [John hosts debate on Open Access Rail in Westminster Hall](https://smallstateconservatives.org/john-hosts-debate-on-open-access-rail-in-westminster-hall/)
- [Energy regulator accused of being ‘scared to do its job’](https://smallstateconservatives.org/energy-regulator-accused-of-being-scared-to-do-its-job/): This article was written by Nathalie Thomas, Energy Correspondent at The Financial Times. John Penrose has criticised Watchdogs for not imposing a cap on electricity and gas bills. Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of [&hellip;]
- [Energy bills. We need a relative price cap – to boost choice, cut prices and stick it to the Big Six.](https://smallstateconservatives.org/energy-bills-we-need-a-relative-price-cap-to-boost-choice-cut-prices-and-stick-it-to-the-big-six/): Most industries believe that customer loyalty is hugely important. Whether it’s a supermarket’s loyalty card, an airline’s airmiles scheme or the coffee card that gives you a free cuppa, most businesses reward their most loyal customers with special treatment, to keep them coming back. Except for energy. What other industry doesn’t give their most loyal [&hellip;]
- [Allowing developers to build 'Up Not Out' could help solve the housing crisis](https://smallstateconservatives.org/allowing-developers-to-build-up-not-out-could-help-solve-the-housing-crisis/): The way to solve&nbsp;the housing crisis is to reduce planning restrictions on urban property owners, allowing them to build up to the level of other buildings in the same block, argues John Penrose MP. Housing, whether it’s rent or mortgage payments, is probably the biggest single monthly bill that most of us face. And, because [&hellip;]
- [John discusses how a Sovereign Wealth could transform the UK's economy](https://smallstateconservatives.org/john-discusses-how-a-sovereign-wealth-could-transform-the-uks-economy/): A video of the debate John called about his idea for a sovereign wealth fund to make the UK’s economy the strongest in the G20.
- [John on the importance of tackling Electoral Fraud](https://smallstateconservatives.org/john-on-the-importance-of-tackling-electoral-fraud/): John Penrose, Minister for the Constitution, discusses the importance of tackling Electoral Fraud in a debate within Parliament about the Tower Hamlets investigation&#8230;
- [John debates automatic voter registration in Westminster Hall](https://smallstateconservatives.org/john-debates-automatic-voter-registration-in-westminster-hall/): John discusses automatic voter registration during a Political and Constitutional Reform Committee meeting&#8230;
- [John debates House of Lords Reform Debate](https://smallstateconservatives.org/503-2/): John Penrose, Minister for Constitutional Reform, concludes that the challenge of the reform of The House of Lords is not to agree that change is needed but to reach a &#8220;large consensus&#8221; about what that change should be. He says that without that consensus &#8220;the forces of inertia have a tendency to win&#8221;.
- [John Penrose &amp; Steve Webb Discuss The Rail Franchise](https://smallstateconservatives.org/john-penrose-steve-webb-discuss-the-rail-franchise/)
- [How to save our High Streets and green fields in one go](https://smallstateconservatives.org/how-to-save-our-high-streets-and-green-fields-in-one-go/): ConHome readers are intelligent, aesthetically literate folk so – of course – you’ll already be familiar with my article in The Daily Telegraph on protecting the UK’s favourite city and townscapes. But on the off chance you missed it, or if the details have temporarily slipped your memory, here’s the summary version: all cities are [&hellip;]
- [John discusses the life of Margret Thatcher on BBC Radio](https://smallstateconservatives.org/john-discusses-the-life-of-margret-thatcher-on-bbc-radio/): John Penrose discusses the life and achievements of Margaret Thatcher shortly after her death on the 8th April 2013.
- [The Telegraph: Now let’s protect our favourite urban views](https://smallstateconservatives.org/the-telegraph-now-lets-protect-our-favourite-urban-views/): Fancy a walk after all that lovely festive nosh? Something to burn off a few of those calories? Most of us do, and, whether it’s in a local park or market square, there’s usually a spot where the view is perfect. You know, the place where you stop, look up and hold your breath in [&hellip;]
- [Letterman asks John for royal wedding invite](https://smallstateconservatives.org/letterman-asks-john-for-royal-wedding-invite/): Erica Hill reports on David Letterman&#8217;s attempt to wrangle a ticket to the royal wedding out of Britain&#8217;s Minister for Tourism and Heritage, John Penrose.
- [Manchesterism’s first big test is the bond markets](https://smallstateconservatives.org/manchesterisms-first-big-test-is-the-bond-markets/): Here it comes again. Whoever Andy Burnham chooses to be his Chancellor of the Exchequer will face the same challenge as all their predecessors since Gordon Brown: producing ‘fiscal rules’ to reassure the City they will be prudent holders of the nation’s credit card. With Britain’s national debt higher than it’s been for decades, and some marmalade-droppingly-naïve recent comments from Our Andy about funding defence spending with ‘war bond’ borrowing and not being in hock to the bond markets, the new rules will be a crucial early test of&nbsp;Manchesterism’s&nbsp;credibility. If he gets it wrong, Burnham’s eyelashes will sit alongside Liz Truss’ lettuce [&hellip;]
- [Our Drugs Laws Don't Work - But Legalisation Isn't The Answer](https://smallstateconservatives.org/1821-2/)
- [Blair's devolution experiment is broken – and someone needs to say so](https://smallstateconservatives.org/blairs-devolution-experiment-is-broken-and-someone-needs-to-say-so/): The ‘Burnham effect’ that propelled Labour to&nbsp;victory in Makerfield&nbsp;is only the latest example of regional and devolved democratic leaders who are miles more popular than their opposite numbers in Westminster. Political talents as diverse as Boris Johnson and Alex Salmond prospered after being sprinkled with devolved political fairy dust. So do these roles attract democratic titans more easily than the humdrum day-to-day point scoring in Westminster, or are they just soft jobs that make their occupants look good? If Andy Burnham becomes Prime Minister before the year is out we will be running a live experiment to discover the answer [&hellip;]
- [Britain Isn't Ungovernable - The Problem Is Our Leaders, Not The People They Lead](https://smallstateconservatives.org/1818-2/)
- [What Do You Do When - Not If - Government Faces A Scandal?](https://smallstateconservatives.org/1815-2/)
- [Why Big Government Isn't Better Government.....](https://smallstateconservatives.org/1812-2/)
- [How Can We Have Energy That's Cheap As Well As Green?](https://smallstateconservatives.org/1809-2/)
- [How Should We Update The Honours System?](https://smallstateconservatives.org/1806-2/)
- [Britain needs a brand new tax system](https://smallstateconservatives.org/britain-needs-a-brand-new-tax-system/): The battle of essays between Labour Party grandees has given British politics a distinctly retro feel over the last week, as Tony Blair, Keir Starmer,&nbsp;Wes Streeting&nbsp;and&nbsp;Andy Burnham&nbsp;behaved like competing 18th-century pamphleteers explaining in earnest detail why things will only get better if they’re in charge. The ideas these once-and-would-be-future Labour prime ministers have been suggesting are depressingly old-school too. Full of coded nods and winks to the internal factions and power-brokers who will decide their party’s next leadership election, and blaming 20 years of slow economic growth on inequality which has hardly budged for 40.&nbsp; The only, tiny concession to [&hellip;]
- [Getting Railways Back On Track](https://smallstateconservatives.org/getting-railways-back-on-track/)
- [Does The Conservative Party Need A Culture Reset?](https://smallstateconservatives.org/does-the-conservative-party-need-a-culture-reset/)
- [The Truth Is Out There....](https://smallstateconservatives.org/the-truth-is-out-there/): One of the most striking aspects of the revelations in ‘Get In’, the brilliant book by Times journalists Gabriel Pogrund and Patrick Maguire on Keir Starmer’s rise to power, is how uninterested the Prime Minister is in the wider world, in policy, in history – in everything you need to be an effective leader. One former aide summed him up as “the least intellectually curious person I have ever met”, his core problem being “He doesn’t brainstorm. He has no fixed views on anything. There’s no clarity because there’s no belief. There’s no belief because there’s no understanding. There’s no [&hellip;]
- [Britain isn't 'ungovernable': it's badly led](https://smallstateconservatives.org/britain-isnt-ungovernable-its-badly-led/): The 6-7 craze is about to turn from a meaningless, but ultimately fun, meme into something decidedly more serious: the number of UK Prime Ministers in the last 10 years. British firms and families are battling spiralling energy bills while our towns and cities are disfigured by rashes of vape shops, epidemics of shoplifting and roads full of potholes. Police, health and other public services are struggling to cope, but politicians and bureaucrats seem incapable of fixing the problems. No wonder people are asking whether Britain has become&nbsp;ungovernable. But that would be looking through the wrong end of the telescope. Britain [&hellip;]
- [Test Post!](https://smallstateconservatives.org/test-post/): Just a test, here&#8217;s a photo of Cookie!
- [We need to talk about addiction](https://smallstateconservatives.org/we-need-to-talk-about-addiction/): Even though the final local election results won’t be declared for a while yet, it’s clear there are glum faces in our two traditionally-biggest parties, an enormous trademark grin from Nigel Farage at Reform UK, and that Zack Polanski’s Greens are on the march.&nbsp;&nbsp; The populist parties aren’t gaining because they discovered a magical fountain of brilliant new policy ideas that no one had thought of before. Green policies like slashing defence spending, scrapping the nuclear deterrent and admitting more asylum seekers have never won British elections, and haven’t suddenly become wildly popular now. The engine driving Reform and the [&hellip;]
- [International support for Open Access railways, not renationalised ones](https://smallstateconservatives.org/international-support-for-open-access-railways-not-renationalised-ones/)
- [Stop bandaging broken pensions &amp; create something better instead](https://smallstateconservatives.org/stop-bandaging-broken-pensions-create-something-better-instead/)
- [Top Bosses are singing our song....](https://smallstateconservatives.org/top-bosses-are-singing-our-song/): One of Britain&#8217;s top business leaders, CEO of Next Lord Wolfson, came up with recommendations which are strikingly similar to ours at the Centre for Policy Studies annual Thatcher conference
- [More 'West Wing' &amp; less 'The Thick Of It' please.....](https://smallstateconservatives.org/more-west-wing-less-the-thick-of-it-please/): Anyone who’s ever watched ‘The West Wing’ knows it’s only fiction, but wishes it wasn’t. It’s a glowing picture of how government ought to work. But as the never-ending fallout from&nbsp;Peter&nbsp;Mandelson’s&nbsp;appointment&nbsp;as ambassador to the US shows, the reality is often closer to ‘The Thick Of It’ or ‘Yes Minister’ instead. Behind all the finger-pointing and blame-gaming of this latest crisis, the unwelcome, underlying truth is that governments of all stripes haven’t been working very well for a while. Public sector productivity has been flatlining for years while the rest of the economy has improved, which means taxpayers are steadily paying [&hellip;]
- [Stop bandaging the symptoms of poverty - try curing them instead.](https://smallstateconservatives.org/stop-bandaging-the-symptoms-of-poverty-try-curing-them-instead/)
- [John interviewed by Young Conservative Network](https://smallstateconservatives.org/john-interviewed-by-young-conservative-network/): Great fun covering everything from Honours Reforms to why Kemi (probably) supports Small State Conservatives too&#8230;&#8230;
- [Getting Britain Off The Benefits Treadmill](https://smallstateconservatives.org/getting-britain-off-the-benefits-treadmill/): This week saw Labour’s key&nbsp;benefits reforms&nbsp;come into force. Ministers and their outriders in the press and social media have been arguing that measures like abolishing the two-child benefit cap will cut poverty. But everybody else sees people who work paying higher taxes to fund benefits for those who don’t, with senior journalists like Andrew Neil arguing the Labour Party should be renamed the Welfare Party instead. The criticism is biting and right, but what’s the alternative? Reversing Labour’s changes would put much-needed cash back into working families’ pockets, but push officially-reported poverty back up again too. So we need a [&hellip;]
- [Why Wes Streeting is (nearly) right about Patient Power](https://smallstateconservatives.org/why-wes-streeting-is-nearly-right-about-patient-power/)
- [How 'Patient Power' could transform the NHS](https://smallstateconservatives.org/how-patient-power-could-transform-the-nhs/): Every so often, in up-and-coming neighbourhoods full of progressive metropolitan types, a group of community-minded idealists will set up a restaurant where diners pay what they feel their meal is really worth, rather than anything as capitalist or bourgeois as a preset price. They don’t last long, of course. The number of right-on diners willing to pay over the odds for a bowl of made-with-love artisanal oatmeal is always lower than those who either dine-and-dash, or who honestly but severely underestimate the costs of running an eatery. Yet now it’s the turn of the NHS. A new&nbsp;Patient Power Payments&nbsp;system will [&hellip;]
- [Let's use pupil power to shrink bad Uni courses &amp; cut student debt](https://smallstateconservatives.org/lets-use-pupil-power-to-shrink-bad-uni-courses-cut-student-debt/): Almost buried under this week’s avalanche of news reports on war in Iran and who-said-what-to whom in the newly-released Mandelson files, was an announcement from the Treasury Select Committee launching an inquiry into ‘widespread dissatisfaction’ over student loan repayment terms.   They can say that again. It may not be as urgent or compelling as drone attacks in the strait of Hormuz, or whether Peter Mandelson was shown secrets he wasn’t cleared to see. But with almost 3 million graduates owing over £50,000 each in student debts, and many others owing smaller-but-still-chunky amounts, it’s a heavy millstone around an ever-growing number of people’s [&hellip;]
- [Britain needs economic security - and a sovereign wealth fund](https://smallstateconservatives.org/britain-needs-economic-security-and-a-sovereign-wealth-fund/): In his Sunday Telegraph column, journalist &amp; commentator Liam Halligan name-checks John &amp; supports a Sovereign Wealth Fund This is a before and after moment in the Middle East. We’re in the early stages of a profound recalibration – which could last months. Amidst the humanitarian fallout, the economic impact of US airstrikes on Iran, and the Islamic Republic’s region-wide retaliation, is also huge – not least for the UK. This is because Britain, as a highly indebted, net energy importer, is vulnerable. Clear evidence of that vulnerability can already be seen. Over the last week, the price of Brent [&hellip;]
- [Starmer’s net zero surrender to EU will ‘damage British business’](https://smallstateconservatives.org/starmers-net-zero-surrender-to-eu-will-damage-british-business/): The Commission for Carbon Competitiveness (where John is a Founding Commissioner) wrote a letter warning the PM to put the brakes on negotiations to rejoin Europe’s Emissions Trading SchemeCamilla TurnerSunday Political Editor Sir Keir Starmer has been warned not to hand Brussels a “blank cheque” over&nbsp;net zero rules&nbsp;which threaten to “undermine” British business. The Prime Minister is being urged by his own MPs to put the brakes on negotiations with the European Union (EU), which they fear could have a “damaging” impact on energy-intensive industries in the UK. In a letter to Downing Street, MPs warn British firms will be [&hellip;]
- [Why Britain Needs A Sovereign Wealth Fund](https://smallstateconservatives.org/why-britain-needs-a-sovereign-wealth-fund-2/): If the definition of political success is when other people start claiming your ideas as their own, then this week’s speech by Richard Tice committing Reform UK to creating a&nbsp;UK sovereign wealth fund&nbsp;ought to count as a pretty big win. I first proposed the idea in a&nbsp;policy paper&nbsp;more than a decade ago.&nbsp;CapX was wise and far-sighted enough&nbsp;to feature it in 2019. And most recently, we published a bang-up-to-date version at the Centre for Small State Conservatives&nbsp;last December.&nbsp; The reasoning is pretty simple. Our ageing society has more and more retired folk who’ve all been promised state pensions, benefits and health [&hellip;]
- [UK Politics Needs A Deep Clean](https://smallstateconservatives.org/uk-politics-needs-a-deep-clean/): How times change. It was only last autumn when I outlined here in CapX how an already-sleazy new Government needed an integrity reset to clean up politics and save its own reputation at the same time. Now it is increasingly clear that we are facing a growing integrity crisis in UK politics – and the Government’s promised reforms may not be enough. Last year, everyone thought scandals like&nbsp;donor-funded clothing&nbsp;and freebie tickets to&nbsp;Taylor Swift concerts&nbsp;or the&nbsp;footy&nbsp;were pretty bad. But then the hole got deeper, as a steady drumbeat of disgrace fuelled resignations over everything from&nbsp;mistreating housing tenants&nbsp;to dodgy&nbsp;WhatsApp&nbsp;messages,&nbsp;forgetful tax returns&nbsp;and&nbsp;Peter Mandelson’s close friendship&nbsp;with paedophile financier [&hellip;]
- [Why rail renationalisation is a 40-year-old doom loop &amp; how to avoid it.](https://smallstateconservatives.org/the-rail-renationalisation-doom-loop-how-to-avoid-it/)
- [John's interview for The Capitalist podcast](https://smallstateconservatives.org/johns-interview-for-the-capitalist-podcast/)
- [Britain needs millions more cheap, beautiful, affordable homes. Here's how](https://smallstateconservatives.org/britain-needs-millions-more-cheap-beautiful-affordable-homes-heres-how/)
- [Build Up, Not Out; The Housing Fix Britain Needs](https://smallstateconservatives.org/build-up-not-out-the-housing-fix-britain-needs/): Governments generally use Christmas and the New Year to bury bad news, hoping no-one will notice while they’re distracted by paper hats, mince pies and brandy butter. But this year Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook decided to ring the changes by swapping the traditional Scrooge costume for announcing glad tidings of comfort and joy instead. The cause of all this unexpected seasonal cheer was a list of&nbsp;housing reforms&nbsp;which a cross-party coalition of MPs, pressure groups and local Councils have been suggesting for years, and which ought to increase the number of new homes the UK builds each year. The changes aren’t [&hellip;]
- [Let Me Speak Truth, But Tell Me No Lies](https://smallstateconservatives.org/let-me-speak-truth-but-tell-me-no-lies/): Britain’s enemies don’t need tanks or missiles to undermine our democracy. All they need is a smartphone and a social media account. The algorithms do the rest — amplifying lies, polarising debate, and pushing users down rabbit-holes of radicalisation. It’s cheap, effective, and happening right now &#8211; last year, inauthentic Iranian accounts were found to have posted 250,000 pro-Scottish independence tweets on X since late 2021, while MI5 has warned that state actors are using AI to manipulate democratic processes. We don’t tolerate this on TV or radio. Broadcasters have to aim for factual accuracy and balance, so even when [&hellip;]
- [How To Save The Water Industry](https://smallstateconservatives.org/how-to-save-the-water-industry/): Dry taps and bottled water for customers of South East Water in Tunbridge Wells, Thames Water going bankrupt in slow motion, spiralling bills across the rest of the country and to cap it all, fat cat pay and bonuses for water company bosses. The water industry is about as popular as a burst sewer at the moment.&nbsp; Even this week’s announcement of an official inquiry into South East Water’s supply problems by water regulator Ofwat looks like window dressing, rather than a genuinely game-changing intervention. The unloved and struggling quango’s death warrant was signed months ago when ministers started consulting [&hellip;]
- [Keeping &amp; fixing the Office for Budgetary Responsibility is right, but only a first step](https://smallstateconservatives.org/keeping-fixing-the-office-for-budgetary-responsibility-is-right-but-only-a-first-step/)
- [Britain could be a true meritocracy - an aristocracy of talent](https://smallstateconservatives.org/britain-could-be-a-true-meritocracy-an-aristocracy-of-talent/): Arise Sir Idris Elba, Sir Christopher Dean and Dame Jayne Torvill. This year’s New Year Honours list had a host of well-deserved gongs for famous and not-so-famous names, alongside the usual criticisms about back-scratching cronyism too.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Whatever the rights and wrongs of last week’s list, the idea of getting a gong or a title feels laughably unlikely for most of us. We assume they’re either inherited by people who are extremely posh, and who are descended from and probably married to other, equally-posh folk. Or perhaps that new ones are handed out by a magic circle of people who all [&hellip;]
- [When senior Tories say Quangos need reform, is a Public Productivity Act the answer....?](https://smallstateconservatives.org/when-senior-tories-say-quangos-need-reform-is-a-public-productivity-act-the-answer/)
- [Minister 'Gets It' with a good start on Housing](https://smallstateconservatives.org/minister-gets-it-with-a-good-start-on-housing/): Government Ministers announced a welcome &amp; positive step towards a &#8216;Build Up Not Out&#8217; housing policy. Perhaps they&#8217;d been reading our proposals in Poverty Trapped&#8230;&#8230;?
- [Even the Prime Minister is frustrated by red tape....](https://smallstateconservatives.org/even-the-prime-minister-is-frustrated-by-red-tape/): Sir Keir Starmer isn&#8217;t the first Prime Minister to be frustrated by red tape costs and delays , but he could be the last if he picks up the Centre&#8217;s &#8216;Slashing Red Tape&#8217; proposals to solve the problem. Let&#8217;s see&#8230;..!
- [Knowledge is power - how to give students better life chances &amp; choices](https://smallstateconservatives.org/knowledge-is-power-how-to-give-students-better-life-chances-choices/): This week’s Government announcement of a multi-million-pound boost for apprenticeships is just the latest attempt to improve young people’s life chances with a smoother transition from school into education, work and training. It’s a well-intentioned move, in spite of tart-but-accurate criticisms that Ministers are splashing taxpayers’ cash to undo the job-destroying effects of Government decisions which push up employer National Insurance costs and raise an increasingly-expensive Minimum Wage. But there are over 900,000 under-24s who aren’t in education, employment or training (NEETs) and the numbers have risen sharply (by over 250,000) since the pandemic. So, sadly, the problem is far [&hellip;]
- [A UK Sovereign Wealth Fund Would Be A Strategic Anchor Investor](https://smallstateconservatives.org/a-strategic-anchor-investor/): How a Sovereign Wealth Fund could help British startups stay &amp; grow into world-leading firms based in UK, rather than being acquired by foreign buyers so jobs, wealth and supply-chains are all created abroad.
- [Why Britain Needs A Sovereign Wealth Fund](https://smallstateconservatives.org/why-britain-needs-a-sovereign-wealth-fund/): John was interviewed by think tank Onward! about why the UK needs a Sovereign Wealth Fund
- [A UK Sovereign Wealth Fund](https://smallstateconservatives.org/a-uk-sovereign-wealth-fund/): Making Britain The Biggest &amp; Fairest Asset-Owning Democracy In The World We Brits are good at inventing things, but when it comes to growing brilliantly creative entrepreneurial firms into big world-leading companies we fall short. Our startups are snapped up and shipped abroad so jobs and wealth migrate overseas. Our savings lag behind our peers, which leaves us over-reliant on foreign investors. And our pay-as-you-go welfare state, once a beacon of post-war progress, now spends billions on benefits that aren’t curing poverty and faces ever-rising costs as our ageing population writes IOUs that our children will struggle to repay. This [&hellip;]
- [John's interview for the Popular Conservatives podcast](https://smallstateconservatives.org/why-bold-institutional-reform-is-essential/): The Popular Conservatives are a new &amp; fast-growing part of UK centre-right politics who, like us at the Centre for Small-State Conservatives, favour a smaller &amp; more efficient state. So when they invited John to appear on their &#8216;PopConversation&#8217; podcast, we thought it was worth a go! John &amp; PopCon Director Mark Littlewood got on very well &#8211; you can watch the podcast below:
- [Wanted: Ideas For Economic Growth](https://smallstateconservatives.org/wanted-ideas-for-economic-growth/): When the Office for Budget Responsibility had finished grovelling and prostrating itself for leaking the entire Budget in advance, it made a genuinely eye-popping admission about what was actually in it. They said that, after they’d downgraded their growth forecasts to match Britain’s lacklustre economic performance since the 2008 banking crisis and the Covid pandemic, the combined impact of Rachel Reeves’s Budget on those new, lower growth projections was… nothing. Zero. Zilch. Even worse, it wasn’t a ‘net zero’, where government ministers had made some big structural reforms which created benefits that they’d spent somewhere else. It was an absolute [&hellip;]
- [Growing support for big Public Sector reforms, although not (yet) for a Public Productivity Act](https://smallstateconservatives.org/growing-support-for-big-public-sector-reforms-although-not-yet-for-a-public-productivity-act/)
- [Why Haven't We Abolished Poverty Forever?](https://smallstateconservatives.org/why-havent-we-abolished-poverty-forever/): This article originally appeared in Centre Write, the online journal of Bright Blue where John is an Associate Fellow. In the last 40 years, the spread of capitalism to Asian ‘tiger’ economies and then India and China has meant that the number of people living in poverty has dropped dramatically worldwide. We are delivering a higher quality of life to more people, and a higher proportion of the planet’s population, than at any stage in our species’ history. This rising tide has benefitted Britain too. Things like washing machines and fridge-freezers were rare luxuries when today’s grandparents were young but [&hellip;]
- [How Wes Streeting Could Fix The NHS](https://smallstateconservatives.org/how-wes-streeting-could-fix-the-nhs/): Wes Streeting wants you know that he really, definitely&nbsp;isn’t&nbsp;plotting against Keir Starmer. Honest. In fairness, with NHS productivity flatlining since the pandemic, resident (formerly known as ‘junior’) doctors striking again after getting more than 20% extra pay last year and a raft of much-needed NHS reforms being announced this week as well, there’s plenty to keep the precocious Health Secretary busy in his current job without worrying too much about the next one.&nbsp; Of all the items in his overflowing in-tray, those NHS reforms are probably most important over the long term. Because, and it’s sad to say,&nbsp;the NHS is [&hellip;]
- [Why Britain Needs A Taxpayer Protection Act](https://smallstateconservatives.org/why-britain-needs-a-taxpayer-protection-act/): Most UK families, business leaders and investors will spend the next month trying to ignore the ever-darkening economic clouds that are gathering in the run-up to Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ autumn Budget.&nbsp; Her problems have been mounting for months. First her own Labour backbenchers rebelled over savings on benefits reforms, blowing a huge hole in her plans to save money. Next, everyone from Gordon Brown to Andy Burnham demanded she scrap the two-child benefit cap, which will push spending higher still. Then her official forecasters at the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) downgraded their forecasts for&nbsp;UK productivity, crushing hopes that faster [&hellip;]
- [More support for simpler, lower taxes](https://smallstateconservatives.org/more-support-for-simpler-lower-taxes/)
- ['Smart data' will boost UK growth, but Britain has to move faster](https://smallstateconservatives.org/smart-data-will-boost-uk-growth-but-britain-has-to-move-faster/): John gave the Keynote Speech at the London 2025 Smart Data Show, saying the UK has a world-leading position in growth-boosting Smart Data supply-side economic reforms, but that we need to move faster if we&#8217;re going to stay ahead of international rivals who are hungry for our crown. Listen below:
- [We've given OBR an impossible task: let's simplify their job](https://smallstateconservatives.org/weve-given-obr-an-impossible-task-lets-simplify-their-job/): Asking any forecaster to predict Government debt 5 years ahead is an impossible task, but because it&#8217;s in the Government&#8217;s Fiscal Rules that&#8217;s exactly what the Office for Budgetary Responsibility (OBR) has to try and do. Here&#8217;s how to end their misery&#8230;&#8230;.
- [How To Make Britain's Energy Cheap As Well As Green](https://smallstateconservatives.org/energy-thats-cheap-as-well-as-green/): This week the&nbsp;high priests of Net Zero on the Climate Change Committee told MPs that global temperatures are likely to rise by a lot more than 1.5 degrees, so we need to start adapting British buildings and infrastructure to cope with higher seas, stronger storms and hotter summers. It’s a huge moment: official confirmation that the international Net Zero pledges which we helped broker aren’t stopping global warming the way everyone hoped. Even though Britain is one of the world’s leading decarbonisers, skyrocketing emissions from countries like India, China and the US have drowned the reductions we’ve achieved. And Donald [&hellip;]
- [Huge Government cladding scheme waste - proof Britain needs a Public Productivity Act](https://smallstateconservatives.org/huge-government-cladding-scheme-waste-proof-britain-needs-a-public-productivity-act/)
- [Online Lies, Bias, Bots &amp; Trolls: Which Answers Protect Free Speech?](https://smallstateconservatives.org/online-lies-bias-bots-trolls-which-answers-protect-free-speech/): AI means the power &amp; speed of online rumours, lies and bias are growing fast, with rising danger of damage to elections, jobs &amp; trust across all societies. The newly-launched Council for Countering Online Disinformation (CCOD &#8211; John is a Director on their Advisory Board) held a LinkedIn Live event to discuss the problem, and how they can be solved without harming free speech.
- [Conservatives Pledge To Abolish Stamp Duty - An Important Step Towards Simpler, Lower Taxes](https://smallstateconservatives.org/conservatives-pledge-to-abolish-stamp-duty-important-step-towards-simpler-lower-taxes/)
- [Gosh: UK Re-Nationalised Railways Aren't Working Very Well......](https://smallstateconservatives.org/shock-news-nationalised-railways-dont-work-very-well-after-all/)
- [The Case for a Public Productivity Act](https://smallstateconservatives.org/the-case-for-a-public-productivity-act/): Most Chancellors spend a lot of time peering nervously upwind to spot approaching economic storms and squalls, but Rachel Reeves won’t need a particularly strong telescope to pick out the procession of dark clouds that are heading her way. Some of those clouds are bigger and blacker than they needed to be after Labour backbenchers rebelled over savings on benefits reforms, and because she’s almost certainly now been told to scrap the two-child benefit cap as well. But the biggest cloud of all comes from her official forecasters at the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), who have today delivered their [&hellip;]
- [Support for....you know....doing what actually works in practice....](https://smallstateconservatives.org/support-for-you-know-doing-what-actually-works-in-practice/)
- [Front-line examples of how UK benefits trap people in poverty](https://smallstateconservatives.org/front-line-examples-of-how-uk-benefits-trap-people-in-poverty/)
- [Growing support for simpler (but, sadly, not yet for lower) taxes](https://smallstateconservatives.org/growing-support-for-simpler-but-sadly-not-yet-for-lower-taxes/)
- [The Energy Market Isn't Working......shock news part 92....](https://smallstateconservatives.org/the-energy-market-isnt-working-shock-news-part-92/)
- [An ageing UK means the state pension has to change](https://smallstateconservatives.org/why-an-ageing-uk-means-the-state-pension-has-to-change/)
- [Why is UK life expectancy worse than other nations with similar health spending?](https://smallstateconservatives.org/why-is-uk-life-expectancy-worse-than-other-nations-with-similar-health-spending/)
- [John's IEA podcast on how to fix Britain](https://smallstateconservatives.org/how-to-fix-britain/): John does the IEA Podcast, outlining Small-State Conservative solutions to not-so-small problems like state pensions, benefits reform, the NHS and childcare, and explains why Bigger Citizens Need Smaller Governments.
- [We've tried everything else....time for a smaller state instead....](https://smallstateconservatives.org/weve-tried-everything-else-time-for-a-smaller-state-instead/)
- [How To Clean Up Westminster](https://smallstateconservatives.org/how-to-clean-up-westminster/): My successor as Prime Minister’s Anti-Corruption Tsar is the redoubtable Labour Baroness Margaret Hodge, a five-foot-nothing spitfire who doesn’t take nonsense from anyone.&nbsp; She’s going to need every ounce of her trademark energy and determination after the Government stepped on not one but two integrity landmines in the last three weeks. First they lost Deputy Prime Minister and vicious critic of real or imagined Tory sleaze&nbsp;Angela Rayner, who was hoist on her own petard after getting her tax affairs in a tangle. And then&nbsp;Peter Mandelson’s emails&nbsp;to convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein led to him being sacked over an integrity problem for [&hellip;]
- [Stopping Online Lies &amp; Bias](https://smallstateconservatives.org/how-to-stop-online-lies-bias/): At the inaugural event of the Council for Countering Online Disinformation, John explained why online lies &amp; bias are such a serious problem, and how we can stop them.
- [Westminster &amp; The Disinformation Challenge](https://smallstateconservatives.org/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.
- [Labour's Childcare Reforms Will Fail Our Children](https://smallstateconservatives.org/labours-childcare-reforms-will-fail-our-children/): Nursery places that are&nbsp;rarer&nbsp;than hens teeth, childcare which&nbsp;costs&nbsp;more than tickets for an Oasis reunion gig, and fleets of&nbsp;nursery providers&nbsp;complaining they’re teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. Everyone agrees that Britain’s childcare services could and should level up opportunities, break glass ceilings and reduce gender pay gaps, but they are less affordable than almost every other G20 nation instead. So the Government’s decision to kick off this week’s big autumn reset alongside the&nbsp;launch of a major childcare reform&nbsp;ought to have been a big deal. Except it wasn’t. Ministers trumpeted £7,500 of taxpayer cash for half a million hardworking families, but without [&hellip;]
- [Ofgem increases the energy price cap, but there is a better way........](https://smallstateconservatives.org/ofgem-increases-the-energy-price-cap-but-there-is-a-better-way/)
- [The Ever-Rising Costs of Government Borrowing](https://smallstateconservatives.org/the-ever-rising-costs-of-government-borrowing/): Government borrowing costs are costing taxpayers more &amp; more. If we had a legally-binding rule as the Centre outlines in the Policy Thumbnails section of this website, we could keep the debt in check &amp; stop things getting even worse,
- [Simpler, Lower Taxes](https://smallstateconservatives.org/simpler-lower-taxes/): This article is the latest in a fortnightly series of policy proposals for CapX from John Penrose and the Centre for Small State Conservatives.&nbsp; The slow, warm days of August are traditionally when Treasury spin doctors start floating ideas for an upcoming Autumn Budget. This year’s kite-flying included replacing&nbsp;stamp duty&nbsp;with a property sales tax which, sadly, is the economic equivalent of putting lipstick on a pig. Stamp duty is already a kind of sales tax, so replacing it with a slightly different alternative is just tinkering. It won’t solve the fundamental problem, that all sales taxes create frictions which slow [&hellip;]
- [The fiscal farce that’s bankrupting Britain](https://smallstateconservatives.org/the-fiscal-farce-thats-bankrupting-britain/): American political strategist James Carville wryly observed that, rather than being reincarnated as US President or the Pope, he wanted to come back as the bond market because it can intimidate anybody. The hard truth behind his quip is the reason why every British Chancellor since Gordon Brown has set out ‘fiscal rules’ to reassure the City that they will be prudent holders of the nation’s credit card. And with Britain’s national debt higher than it’s been for decades, the credibility of those rules is the only thing standing between&nbsp;Rachel Reeves&nbsp;and the career-ending humiliation of a sterling crisis, or even [&hellip;]
- [Former Bank of England Chief Economist: our fiscal rules don't work &amp; need to change](https://smallstateconservatives.org/former-bank-of-england-economist-our-fiscal-rules-dont-work-need-to-change/)
- [Labour’s change to Ofwat doesn’t hold water](https://smallstateconservatives.org/labours-change-to-ofwat-doesnt-hold-water/): Sewage in rivers, hosepipe bans, spiralling bills, fat cat bonuses for water company bosses and floods. The water industry’s list of problems is as toxic as it gets and so, for a Government that says it wants to be judged on delivery, there was a lot riding on the showpiece set of&nbsp;water reforms&nbsp;announced earlier this week. Ministers had nimbly skipped past the most serious pitfall by excluding renationalisation completely. The political Left loves the idea, of course, but Chancellor Rachel Reeves knows the bond markets would take fright at the monumental amount of extra borrowing it would add to our [&hellip;]
- [Community Notes 'Too Weak' To Stop Social Media Lies Behind Southport Riots](https://smallstateconservatives.org/social-media-community-notes-too-weak-to-deal-with-rumours-lies-of-southport-riots/)
- [Britain's Benefits System Is Unfair To All Involved](https://smallstateconservatives.org/britains-benefits-system-is-unfair-to-all-involved/): The Government’s screeching u-turn on reforming Personal Independence Payments has distracted attention from a more fundamental problem with Britain’s broken benefits system. Regardless of whether the right people are getting the right kinds of benefits or not, too few of them stop claiming once they’ve started. We’ve got a ‘Hotel California’ system where people check in but never leave. That means it won’t be enough for Ministers to make it harder for people to start claiming benefits in the first place. They’ve got to make it easier to stop claiming as well, so more people graduate to stand on their [&hellip;]
- [Britain's 'Hotel California' Benefits System, Where People Never Leave.....](https://smallstateconservatives.org/the-missing-half-of-uk-benefits-reform/)
- [Britain Needs A 'Top 5 In 5' Industrial Strategy, Not Bets On New Tech](https://smallstateconservatives.org/only-thatcher-sized-reforms-will-end-britains-malaise/): This article is the first in a fortnightly series of policy proposals from John Penrose and the&nbsp;Centre for Small State Conservatives. Nobel-Prize-Winning economist Paul Krugman famously said “productivity isn’t everything, but in the long run, it’s&nbsp;almost&nbsp;everything.” His words should send shivers down every British spine, because UK productivity already lags behind USA, France &amp; Germany, and we’ve done worse since the 2008 banking crash too. If we can’t fix the problem, long-term mediocrity beckons.&nbsp; So last week’s launch of Labour’s new Industrial Strategy matters a lot. But it’s just the latest in decades of attempts to solve the UK’s productivity [&hellip;]
- [We don’t need to nationalise our railways to fix them](https://smallstateconservatives.org/we-dont-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&nbsp;well-paid train drivers, along with a promise of more as rolling rail renationalisation steadily tightens its grip over the next few years. But it hasn’t worked. Train strikes have carried on regardless, and now&nbsp;The Telegraph&nbsp;reports there are calls for even more taxpayer subsidies too. It’s a grim comment on how bad our railways have become that going back to the 1970s now seems like a good idea. It doesn’t have to be this way. There’s a proven alternative that passengers are already [&hellip;]
- [Will Cunliffe's UK water report be brave, or 'just one more wafer-thin mint' instead?](https://smallstateconservatives.org/will-cunliffes-uk-water-report-be-brave-or-just-one-more-wafer-thin-mint-instead/)
- [Merging the UK carbon trading scheme with Europe's is a disastrous mistake](https://smallstateconservatives.org/merging-our-uk-carbon-trading-scheme-with-europes-is-a-huge-mistake/)
- [Reeves' Welcome U-Turn on Cash ISAs](https://smallstateconservatives.org/reeves-panics-u-turns-on-isa-allowance-disaster/): Good to see Rachel Reeves thinking better of cutting the amount people can save into cash ISAs to as little as £4,000, according to The Telegraph. She would have hung millions of savers out to dry if she&#8217;d gone ahead and, anyway, there&#8217;s a better &amp; fairer way of saving money if she&#8217;s interested&#8230;&#8230;&#8230; You can follow John on X here! If you want to know more about the alternative approach we&#8217;re suggesting, you’ll find more details, soundbites and rebuttals about it under A Nation of Capitalists in the Policy Thumbnail section of our website
- [Knowing ‘What Works’ Will Help Good Growth](https://smallstateconservatives.org/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 of public policy and for drawing on the evidence of what works when devising and implementing policies to increase productivity and economic growth.  Of course, the kind of rigorous evaluation John advocates, and the evidence of what has or is likely to work in growth-related policy, will naturally come from the social sciences. The hugely successful 19th century American business [&hellip;]
- [How To Solve Britain's Red Tape Crisis](https://smallstateconservatives.org/how-to-solve-britains-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.&nbsp; But it always starts this way, because talk is cheap. Governments promise to slash red tape and, for a while, hopes are high as the sound of chainsaws felling quangos echoes through the government forest.&nbsp; Then things start to slow down because the deeply ingrained habits of Westminster, Whitehall and regulators are to produce more rules, not fewer. Ambitious MPs and campaign groups make their names [&hellip;]
- [Want better-behaved Tory MPs? Here's how.....](https://smallstateconservatives.org/want-better-behaved-tory-mps-heres-how/): This week saw the publication of Ungovernable, the diaries of former Tory Chief Whip Simon Hart. Here&#8217;s how to turn Conservative MPs into a team that&#8217;s not only governable, but ready to govern the country as well. Infighting, splits,“effing useless”&nbsp;Ministers and rescuing MPs from brothels. Former Chief Whip Simon Hart’s diaries expose just how badly-behaved and incompetent some Conservative Parliamentarians had become in the dog days of the last Government. We looked divided, exhausted and, in the worst cases, in it for ourselves rather than to serve constituents or to make the country a better place. No wonder voters decided [&hellip;]
- [New Policy Thumbnail: Cheaper Energy](https://smallstateconservatives.org/new-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 jobs, investment and growth by creating higher costs for UK firms compared to rivals in other countries. In this thumbnail policy outline, we outline how to get Britain moving again with cheaper energy. here.
- [Small-State Conservatives need to revive the mission to deliver supply-side reforms](https://smallstateconservatives.org/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. In 14 years of Government we did plenty of important things, like taking on Gordon Brown’s ‘something for nothing’ society and delivering Brexit. But any Government faces huge, buffeting sidewinds that can blow it off course and ours was no different: the LibDem coalition inevitably meant compromises; we lost time with divisions over Brexit; we were hit with a once-in-a-century [&hellip;]
- [Britain’s pension system is bust – it’s time for radical reform](https://smallstateconservatives.org/britains-pension-system-is-bust-its-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&nbsp;pension triple lock, it’s easy to forget that Britain’s state pension is basically broke.&nbsp; It was set up when most people only lived a few years beyond retirement, so it seemed pretty cheap at the time. And it was done in a hurry, with a pay-as-you-go-scheme where current taxpayers fund today’s pensions because Ministers wanted an immediate electoral boost from grateful pensioners at the ballot box, rather than slowly building [&hellip;]
- [Dear Pat McFadden: We'd Like A Pony For Christmas Please........](https://smallstateconservatives.org/dear-pat-mcfadden-wed-like-a-pony-for-christmas-please/): Pat McFadden, a senior cabinet minister, has called for &#8220;responsiveness&#8221; and &#8220;calculated risk-taking&#8221; within the civil service, as reported by the Institute for Government. But just wishing for something won&#8217;t make it happen, as John Penrose, founder of the Centre for Small State Conservatives, pointed out.
- [Sacking Chair Of Competition Watchdog Creates Fresh Questions Over Chancellor's Growth Plan](https://smallstateconservatives.org/sacking-chair-of-competition-watchdog-creates-fresh-questions-over-chancellors-growth-plan/): Marcus Bokkerink, Chair of the Government's top competition watchdog the Competition & Markets Authority, has been forced to resign by Government Ministers. John Penrose, author of the Government-commissioned report on competition policy...
- [If Only They'd Asked Us First.... Ministers Ask Regulators How To Grow Faster](https://smallstateconservatives.org/if-only-they-asked-us-first-ministers-ask-regulators-how-to-grow-faster/): PM Keir Starmer, Chancellor Rachel Reeves &amp; Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds have written to regulators, including Ofwat, Ofgem &amp; the Environment Agency, asking for ideas on how to boost economic growth. The move has been greeted with a mixture of groans and raspberries. They could have asked business leaders, tech entrepreneurs or angel investors for ideas, but no: apparently big Government and its regulators are where the answers to anaemic growth and productivity will be found instead. It sums up rising post-budget fears that Labour doesn&#8217;t &#8216;get&#8217; wealth creation, and are still wedded to the idea that bigger Government is [&hellip;]
- [Betrayal Is Never Pretty: Why Labour Should Rethink Their Response To WASPI Women](https://smallstateconservatives.org/waspi-women-why-they-must-be-compensated/): This week Labour Cabinet Minister Liz Kendall announced that &#8216;WASPI&#8217; (Women Against State Pension Inequality) women won&#8217;t get any redress for Government mistakes which caused injustice to some (although not all) of them. That&#8217;s in spite of her (along with PM Keir Starmer &amp; the rest of the Labour leadership) making cast-iron pre-election promises that they would. It&#8217;s a topic which the Centre&#8217;s founder John Penrose took up personally with Ministers on multiple occasions while he was an MP. Here&#8217;s just one of several examples. John spelt out why this latest decision is bad politics and bad ethics too, by [&hellip;]
- [A Cheaper Route to Net-Zero: 20 Ways to Cut Energy Bills](https://smallstateconservatives.org/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, former Conservative MP and minister, Competition Tsar, leading an independent review of UK competition policy, and co-chair of the Commission for Carbon Competitiveness’ argues that the current system is hostage to the volatile international price of gas, to our detriment, and that regulations dictating how energy firms should behave have become steadily more complicated, detailed, expensive and slow – adding [&hellip;]
- [Labour (finally) appoints new Anti-Corruption Champion](https://smallstateconservatives.org/labour-finally-appoints-new-anti-corruption-champion/): The Government have, at last, appointed the new Anti-Corruption Champion after a whopping 917 days of vacancy. Previous Anti-Corruption Champion John Penrose congratulated the new champion, Baroness Hodge of Barking, on her new role within the government, highlighting her record for being fearless and hard to ignore. John resigned as the Anti-Corruption Champion under the government led by Boris Johnson on the 6th of June 2022 due to the former PM breaking ministerial code in relation to the Partygate scandal. Since his principled resignation, and until Baroness Hodge&#8217;s appointment, the role remained vacant. You can read the full statement made [&hellip;]
- [The UK's sluggish economic growth, &amp; how to fix it](https://smallstateconservatives.org/the-uks-sluggish-economic-growth-how-to-fix-it/): Why has UK economic growth been so much slower than USA since 2008, &amp; than our normal rate before then too? According to new work from international economist Tyler Goodspeed in a lecture for the Institute of Economic Affairs this week, it isn&#8217;t the usual suspects like sclerotic planning throttling housebuilding &amp; new infrastructure; or expensive energy killing UK manufacturing; or pricey &amp; inflexible childcare are keeping people away from work. Those were all around for years before 2008, so what changed after the 2008 banking crash? The answer is that our bank lending didn&#8217;t recover after 2008, whereas USA&#8217;s [&hellip;]
- [Why The Welfare State Is Bankrupt, How Rachel Reeves Just Made It Worse, &amp; How To Fix It](https://smallstateconservatives.org/john-talks-pension-sustainability-with-jacob-rees-mogg-on-gbnews-state-of-the-nation/): John Penrose joins Jacob Rees-Mogg on State of The Nation to discuss how Rachel Reeves&#8217; 1st budget massaged the figures to justify more borrowing, and how a new National Balance Sheet would keep politicians honest by revealing what they’re really up to, so they can’t mortgage our children’s future on the sly Watch Here: If you like this idea, you’ll find more details, soundbites and rebuttals about it under Taxpayer Net Worth  in the Policy Thumbnail section of our website
- [CAPX: A national balance sheet can keep politicians honest](https://smallstateconservatives.org/capx-a-national-balance-sheet-can-keep-politicians-honest/): Rachel Reeves is in a bind. Not just because of ‘did they or didn’t they’ arguments about whether Labour fibbed about long-planned tax rises during the election, or because all those bushy-tailed new Labour MPs and battle-scarred union bosses want the Chancellor to raise public sector spending even higher. But because she’s promised ‘sound money’ rather than a borrowing binge, spending cash we haven’t got. How to escape from the fiscal vice? By publishing a new&nbsp;national balance sheet&nbsp;which recognises the value of some publicly-owned assets, Reeves is hoping to prove that there’s fiscal headroom to justify extra Government borrowing and [&hellip;]

## Pages

- [Policy Thumbnails](https://smallstateconservatives.org/policy-thumbnails/)
- [Our Team](https://smallstateconservatives.org/our-team/): Below you can find more information about the team behind The Centre For Small State Conservatives
- [News](https://smallstateconservatives.org/news/)
- [Contact Us](https://smallstateconservatives.org/contact-us/): Please use the form below to get in contact with our team.
- [About John Penrose](https://smallstateconservatives.org/about-john-penrose/): John Penrose is the Founder of the Centre for Small-State Conservatives. He is also Chair of the Conservative Party’s in-house think tank (the Conservative Policy Forum or CPF); an Honorary Professor at Kings College London; a member of Onward think-tank&#8217;s Editorial Board; an Associate Fellow at Bright Blue think-tank; a founding Board member of the Council for Countering Online Disinformation; and a founding Commissioner of the Commission for Carbon Competitiveness as well. He is a prominent policy thought-leader on the centre-right of UK politics, as well as a former MP, Prime Ministerial anti-corruption Tsar and serial Government Minister.  Policy Proposals [&hellip;]
- [About the Centre for Small-State Conservatives](https://smallstateconservatives.org/about-the-centre-for-small-state-conservatives/): The Centre for Small-State Conservatives has been created to renew a longstanding strand of Conservativism which contains the answers to many modern British problems. Small State thinking has been overlooked for years because the Conservative Party’s last period in Government began in coalition with the Liberal Democrats, and then faced three huge events – Brexit; a once-in-a-century pandemic; the first war in Europe for 80 years – which demanded expensive big-state answers like the Furlough and Energy Price Guarantee schemes. Now there are four fresh problems which politicians must face: the demographic timebomb of an ageing society; a new AI-driven [&hellip;]
- [Policy Ideas](https://smallstateconservatives.org/policy-ideas/): A Cheaper Route To Net-Zero Families and businesses are facing enormous energy bills that are much higher than they should be, because of clunky old rules about how power is generated, regulated, traded, stored and transmitted. There is plenty of debate over cuts to the Winter Fuel Payment but not enough of a conversation about how to lower bills across the board. This paper gives 20 low-cost, no-regrets ways to decarbonise the electricity system. Fixing the Carbon Leak Net Zero is turning decarbonisation into deindustrialisation, by closing UK manufacturing and moving emissions to less-green foreign factories instead of reducing them [&hellip;]
- [Small State Sayings, Soundbites &amp; Slogans](https://smallstateconservatives.org/small-state-sayings-soundbites-slogans/): This is a selection of handily-supportive small-state comments. If you have any you think would fit in well then please send them to us!&nbsp; Economy Inflation is a thief. It steals the savings of the prudent and punishes the thrifty Overspending is not generosity.. It is injustice, robbing future generations to satisfy the present. Governments should be economic referees, not players. Every pound of red tape costs has the same effect on jobs, growth and exports as a pound taken through tax. But Governments behave as though it is free. Margaret Thatcher used supply-side reforms to transform Britain from the [&hellip;]
- [Privacy Policy](https://smallstateconservatives.org/privacy-policy/): What we collect We will collect your name and email address when you sign-up. What we do with the information we gather We use your information to send and personalise e-mail newsletters by John&nbsp;Penrose&nbsp;and the Centre for Small-State Conservatives. We won’t share your details with anybody, unless we are specifically required to by law. Security and data retention To keep your data safe we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure. How we use cookies A cookie is a small file which asks permission to be placed on your computer’s hard [&hellip;]


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