![Tom Pope](/sites/default/files/styles/wysiwyg_full_width_desktop/public/2023-01/tom-pope-326x326.jpg?itok=KZw2-eyM)
Thomas Pope
Deputy Chief Economist
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Capital spending in public services
Crumbling schools, hospitals and prisons need a new capital spending plan to turn performance around.
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Funding local growth in England
The next government must end "begging bowl culture" of local growth funding.
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How the next government should complete the job of English devolution
The next government must extend devolution to 85% of England to deliver meaningful and balanced economic growth.
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Where next for levelling up?
This short paper highlights five key challenges that any government seeking to reduce regional inequalities will need to address.
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A Labour government would need to take big decisions to deliver on its devolution agenda
Do Keir Starmer’s and Angela Rayner’s devolution plans add up?
All work
Fiscal rules in the UK since 1997
Fiscal rules are restrictions on fiscal policy set by a government to constrain its own decisions on spending and taxes.
Levelling up: the IfG view on the white paper
The white paper does not provide a clear-sighted diagnosis for tackling regional inequalities.
The levelling up white paper: welcome ambition but underwhelming policies
The set of policies in the long-awaited levelling up paper fail to meet the scale of the challenge
Levelling up: where does government spend money?
The government has committed to tackling regional inequalities as part of its ambition to ‘level up’ different parts of the UK.
Whitehall Monitor 2022
Major reform is needed for government to respond to crises like the pandemic while simultaneously delivering long-term policy goals.
The government should react with care to 'cost of living crisis' tax pressures
Short-term tax changes should not undermine the government's longer-term fiscal plans
Omicron wave means government should revive targeted economic support
Any economic support should learn the lessons of previous schemes to ensure better value for money.
A worse economic outlook means Rishi Sunak’s spending choices are getting harder
Rishi Sunak still faces difficult choices between competing demands
Performance Tracker 2021
The pandemic has created huge backlogs in public services – failing to address these backlogs now will push up costs in future.
Health and social care levy
The government announced plans for a new ‘health and social care levy’. But how will it work?