Incisive commentary from the IfG’s expert team on issues facing government and key ministerial decisions.
From analysis of key political events such as budgets and party conferences to snap responses to unexpected developments such as government reshuffles, our writers set out their views and analyse what government gets right, what it gets wrong, and what it can do better.
The UK’s trade strategy should not place the US at the front of the queue
The UK should resist the temptation to make the US the priority in any post-Brexit trade policy.
The Labour and Conservative manifestos dodge the biggest Brexit questions
The Labour and Conservative party manifestos are looking only at the short term and fail to answer the important questions about Brexit.
Manifesto plans fail to address real problems in the NHS
Neither Labour, Conservative, nor Liberal Democrat plans propose enough to deal with NHS recruitment and retention problems.
Manifesto plans for new departments raise more questions than they answer
The main parties' manifesto pledges to create new government departments risk creating uncertainty and distraction.
The next government must turn climate pledges into action
The parties’ manifestos contain ambitious targets for tackling climate change, but the next government must back words up with action.
The new year challenges ahead in Parliament
The government will face a number of challenges in Parliament in 2020.
Party manifestos promise money but no clear plan for schools spending
The parties’ proposals for large school spending increases need to address teacher retention.
Competing visions for the state need strong economic growth to become a reality
The Labour and Conservative manifestos will be hard to deliver without stronger economic growth.
The FTPA is a bad law – but it should not be replaced with something worse
The next government must approach the repeal of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act with care.
Radical change versus playing it safe as parties divide on business policies
The party manifestos offer massively different solutions on how to best deliver for society and the economy.