Latest Publications

British politics since the 2016 Brexit referendum has been characterised by the emergence of a new divide, between graduates and school leavers. Education now has a stronger relationship with vote choice than any other demographic or economic variables other than age. This report, from leading political scientist Professor Robert Ford, explores the implications of the changing electoral landscape for the UK’s major political parties.

We are in the midst of a fraud emergency, but efforts to tackle it have consistently fallen short of reversing its growth in recent years. This report argues that a more concerted and long-term effort against fraud is needed, requiring a “whole eco-system” approach based around extensive cooperation by all those involved in the fraud chain and between the public and private sectors.

The question of whether and, if so, how countries can construct arrangements to transfer asylum seekers to other countries is viewed with alarm by most supporters of refugee rights. But this need not be so. This briefing shows how Labour’s focus on the potential for tough action on Channel crossings, when combined with improved responsibility sharing for refugees across Europe, may represent a way forward that is compatible with the Refugee Convention, and a preferable alternative to the ‘Rwanda scheme’.

Towns are the backbone of our economy, the heart of our communities, and the engine of job creation. Yet, they often face significant challenges, including funding allocation, skills challenges, infrastructure issues and digital adoption. In a time of economic uncertainty, rising living costs, and productivity challenges, it is crucial to create the right conditions for towns, helping them to thrive and grow.

The UK is experiencing an epidemic of fraud, yet the threat of it has remained neglected in political debates about crime, with insufficient research into the problem. This report investigates the extent of fraud, its economic and psychological impact on victims, and sheds new light on the public’s attitudes towards key debates on fraud policy.

Social mobility is more controversial than it might appear, with critics seeing it as excessively demanding, a cover for economic inequality, and inherently wedded to hierarchies of status. For Keir Starmer’s Labour Party, a conception of equality of opportunity based on opportunities for self-realisation, rather than social advancement, offers a way forward.

Debates on asylum policy – specifically on their right to work – have been at an impasse, stuck between extremes. To break the policy impasse of over twenty years, this report makes the case for taking a different, centrist approach to the policy around asylum seekers’ right to work in the UK.

Fraud is being committed at epidemic levels. Yet the impact of fraud is not as well understood as it might be. This interim report looks to add to the current evidence base, outlining the key findings from a recent nationally representative survey and a specific survey of fraud victims.

With labour immigration to the UK scrambled by Brexit, the pandemic, and broader developments in the practical economy, this report focuses on the challenges of labour shortages for UK immigration policy in the context of the avowed political aim – of both the UK’s major parties – of a high-wage, high-skill economy.