the 'aim to permit' gambling venues scrapped, cumulative impact assessments introduced as they have for alcohol venues, and the license fee for AGCs doubled.
The Pride in Place spending is great (if spent well) but regulatory/licensing changes can help too.
www.smf.co.uk/publications...
Not surprising to see the study this morning that the poorest parts of England have 70% more vape shops/bookmakers than wealthier areas.
Our report on Adult Gaming Centres (AGCs, high street slot places) called for councils to be given more powers to say no to these kind of venues, with... (1/2)
Excellent summary of what is going on with SEND policy here, as well as new polling on teachers' views on possible solutions.
Anyone who was intrigued by the Citizens Advance idea (lump sum now in exchange for postponing your state pension by a year) I've got a thought piece out today on it with the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.
actuaries.org.uk/think/
Good point - I believe the advance would still be available for those who have gained NI credits, so self-employed people making voluntary/class 2 contributions would be eligible, as would those earning NI credits in other ways
Definitely an implication that we're looking into. Our data suggests that expected use cases would be broader than we expect and not concentrated in housing deposits so that moderates the housing market impact at least
Yes I think default would be that they would be on working age benefits for an extra year
Yeah the fiscal implications are a big part of this project. Take up looks like it would be high so we are examining options for doing that affordably.
Yeah that's fair. One option under consideration is pairing receipt of the Citizens Advance with a PensionWise style financial health check in, helping people to think through their retirement plans and understand the implications of talking the Advance.
@smfthinktank.bsky.social are doing a bunch of polling, qualitative research and economic modelling to understand who would take it up, what they'd do with it, and what the fiscal implications would be.
Get in touch if you have any thoughts or want to discuss. (2/2)
Would you take £12.5k now in exchange for pushing back your state pension by a year?
I'm currently exploring the idea of a Citizens Advance, which Andrew Lewin MP, its originator, makes the case for in a great blog piece for Best for Britain
bestforbritain.substack.com/p/would-you-...
(1/2)
SMF are doing a bunch of polling, qualitative research and economic modelling to understand who would take it up, what they'd do with it, and what the fiscal implications would be.
Get in touch if you have any thoughts or want to discuss. (2/2)
Find more details in my blog from last week smf.co.uk/commentary_p... (3/3)
...there had already been some 'accidental churn' which meant 10-15% of govt had already been swapped out since July 2024. To stay in line with other 'big but infrequent' reshufflers (Blair, Major) perhaps 30-40% of the rest of the frontbench may find themselves swapped (2/3)
13 out of 28 cabinet posts taken by new people - in line with a the 'big but infrequent' reshuffles we expected from Starmer so far, with 40-50% turnover. For the junior ranks...(1/3)
Charts galore in my analysis of reshuffles past - could Starmer really change up to 40% of his front bench?
www.smf.co.uk/commentary_p...
Congratulations to those receiving results today, but worrying indicators for the post-16 education sector
For policymakers and the HE sector, #ResultsDay reveals a great deal about
- how the higher education system is functioning
- who it is reaching
- how well it is navigating a turbulent financial environment.
4️⃣ trends to keep in mind when the results and UCAS data land tomorrow🧵
Want to raise some money whilst discouraging the most harmful forms of an activity and protecting a UK heritage industry? Raise gambling taxes, with a higher rate on 24/7 remote gaming says
@smfthinktank.bsky.social www.ft.com/content/4d20...
3) Does this overperformance of the polls reflects standard by-election behaviour of kicking the government?
We will have to wait for more electoral tests here and elsewhere to tell. (12/12)
2) Are the polls currently failing to capture Reform’s true strength in the country? Possibly, it will be interesting to see how polls shift after these results. (11/12)
That would put the 15-20 seats that benefit it at greater risk, including Ministers such as Alison McGovern and high profile MPs such as Angela and Maria Eagle and Dan Carden all at risk if it is breached. (10/12)
1) Does this mean that the Mersey Wall has been breached? That the effects dragging down Reform in this patch of the North West have dissipated? (9/12)
Reform did about 4% better in R&H than their UK average in GE24. With a current polling average of 25%, a result of 29% in the by-election might be expected. Their result of 38.7% blew this out of the water. This prompts 3 questions. (8/12)
With all these factors combined, Runcorn and Helsby, and many seats in or near Merseyside, should have been more fertile territory for Reform in GE24. This by-election win shows that this may well now be the case. (7/12)
- It’s 97% white vs an average across seats in the model of 82% (although it hasn’t fallen as much as elsewhere)
- 29% of people have degrees vs an average of 34%
- 20% of people are on Universal Credit vs an average of 17%
(6/12)
Reform took 18.1% of the R&H vote in the 2024 general election. That was higher than their overall UK vote share of 14.3%, but lower than the 20% the model would have expected. The red dam may therefore have shaved 1.9% off Reform’s vote in GE24. Why? (5/12)
Whether the Mersey Wall was thanks to political culture, the avoidance of The Sun or the joys of having 100s of Labour politicos clogging the waterfront in Liverpool once a year, we can’t yet say. But the trend was clear. (4/12)
We built a model that predicts Reform’s vote share based upon the demographics, economics and state of public services in a given seat. Reform underperformed almost everywhere in Merseyside in GE24 compared to what the model would have expected. (3/12)
Our recent analysis of populism uncovered a ‘Mersey Wall’, holding back the rising tide of Reform in GE24. Runcorn and Helsby (R&H) is determinedly part of Cheshire, but this political phenomenon stretched to its doors. (2/12)
