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03/15/2010

Abolish the Arts Council and allow consumers to decide which theatres and museums get funding

The Adam Smith Institute has today published a report that calls for the abolition of the Arts Council and, if taxpayer-funded arts spending is to be retained, voucherisation of the money it currently disburses.

The author of the report, David Rawcliffe, notes that the Arts Council apparatus costs £50m each year. He further notes that the Council tends to support projects that don't enjoy the support of average consumers. The Council's disbursements are also hugely unequal. For example, London receives £24/capita but East England only £2/capita.

Mr Rawcliffe makes the case for vouchers:

"A voucher system would focus subsidies on producing the sorts of arts with the greatest positive externalities. Those artists selected by a consumer-driven system are likely also those that would generate the most national pride, that would be enjoyed the most by the next generation, and that would attract the most tourists. As already argued, consumer-side subsidies encourage innovation."

Read a full PDF of his report.

Posted at 03:00 PM in Adam Smith Institute, Culture, Media & Sport | Permalink | Comments (44)

Policy Exchange proposes Financial Crimes Enforcement Agency to lead battle against £30bn fraud bill

A report from Policy Exchange seeks to respond to public anger at the failure of the authorities to convict more people of financial fraud. PX estimates that financial fraud costs more than £30bn a year.

It recommends that the existing disparate agencies - (Serious Fraud Office, Financial Services Authority, two divisions of the Crown Prosecution Service (Fraud Protection Service and Revenue and Customs Division) and the Office of Fair Trading - be combined into one single Financial Crimes Enforcement Agency.

Jonathan Fisher QC, author of the report, commented:

“The plethora of agencies involved in tackling fraud in the City has created overlapping layers of responsibility for investigation and prosecution and a wasteful duplication of manpower and specialist resources. The Government has simply picked the wrong model for the successful investigation and prosecution of financial markets crimes. Over twenty-five years ago the Roskill Report recommended a unified agency, made up of individuals with the numerous professional skills needed in investigating and prosecuting complex cases. This is exactly the structure we should be moving to now.”

A full PDF of the report - that recommends new powers to penalise the employers of convicted fraudsters - is here.

Posted at 07:00 AM in Policy Exchange, Treasury | Permalink | Comments (6)

03/14/2010

Eamonn Butler and Madsen Pirie win the IEA's 2010 National Free Enterprise Award

We are a couple of weeks late with this but congratulations to Eamonn Butler and Madsen Pirie of the Adam Smith Institute for winning the Institute of Economic Affairs' 2010 National Free Enterprise Award.

The IEA declared: "Few have done more to develop and promote free-market ideas."

Previous winners, reports Simon Clark, include Lord Lawson, Richard Branson, Lord King, Baroness Thatcher, Lord Forte and Sir Freddie Laker.

[The Award is a large silver statue representing enterprise escaping the dead hand of the state which the winner gets to keep for one year. The winner also receives the permanent gift of a small inscribed replica.]

Posted at 04:55 PM in Adam Smith Institute, Institute of Economic Affairs | Permalink | Comments (2)

03/11/2010

The Conservative Environment Network is launched

Yesterday saw the formal launch of the Conservative Environment Network. It's an independent group within the party but supported by shadow cabinet ministers, Nick Herbert and Greg Clark, who both attended last night's launch party.

On its homepage it announces its mission:

"Our aim is to “fight the good fight” within the conservative movement by making the case that climate change and other environmental issues are critically important and need to be tackled by effective government policy, private enterprise and Britain’s entrepreneurial spirit."

A fuller statement of the CEN's aims can be found on this page.

Retiring Tory MP Peter Ainsworth explains the CEN's purpose on Platform 10. He takes on the climate change sceptics:

"Disputes about the science of manmade climate change may be rife, but they are entirely irrelevant. It might be suggested that only a brave or very foolish person (or a publicity-seeker) would take issue with the consensual opinion of the world’s leading scientists – but in the end this too is irrelevant. The point is this: waste of any kind is a bad thing, so we must stop wasting energy, food and material resources. Fossil fuels are finite, so we must find ways of being less dependent upon them, and sooner rather than later. Natural resources are limited, not limitless as we in the West have implicitly regarded them for two-hundred years, so we must start trying to obey the laws of Nature. If Nature goes bust, there will be no bail out."

The rest of his piece argues that capitalism and conservatism are the true friends of the planet. Mr Ainsworth concludes with these words:

"The true friends of the Earth are gradually emerging, and they are not those who spend their time screaming at the capitalist system. They are those who respect our duty of stewardship over the natural environment we have inherited, and embrace capitalism as the most powerful tool for change on the planet."

> Today on CentreRight: Conservatives and the environment – the next step in a long tradition

Posted at 08:00 AM in Conservative Environment Network, Energy & Climate Change, Environment, Food & Rural Affairs | Permalink | Comments (19)

03/09/2010

Jon Moulton, Lord Salisbury and Irwin Stelzer join CPS board

Lord Saatchi, Chairman of the CPS, commented:

"I am delighted that three such exceptional individuals are joining the Board of the Centre for Policy Studies at such a critical time in British politics. The Centre for Policy Studies will relentlessly continue to pioneer and advocate policies which lead to economic growth. A new world order is evolving. But nobody knows its shape. Each of our new Board Members will bring insight, drive and expertise to help us define it.”

Posted at 12:30 PM in Centre for Policy Studies | Permalink | Comments (7)

'Poor people need civil liberties too'

Damian Green MP, Shadow Home Affairs Minister, gave a speech to Respublica last week that argued that civil liberties were not a middle class issue but concerned all classes, not least the poor. Extracts from his remarks are published below.

"There are many aspects of the modern Conservative Party which are significant changes from the Conservatism of recent years. Some of these changes are rediscoveries of the best aspects of historic Conservatism, and one of the most important is our determination to help the poorest and most disadvantaged. You can call this One Nation Conservatism, Tory Reform, Compassionate Conservatism or even Red Toryism, but whatever the name it represents the same decent instinct: that we have a duty to help those who need help, and that such help is the mark of a civilised society.

An essential part of the help we need to give the disadvantaged is the personal space, ability to control their own lives and freedom from the dictates of a nannying state that add up to what we call “civil liberties.” On the surface this is a counter-intuitive argument. Surely civil liberties are only of concern to a few middle-class do-gooders with more compassion than sense? Surely what the people living on our toughest estates demand is a more controlled society to protect them from their neighbours? Civil liberties, the argument runs, are a luxury item for politicians, not to be contemplated in a recession when fear of crime and disorder is rampant.

Continue reading "'Poor people need civil liberties too'" »

Posted at 12:13 PM in Justice , Respublica | Permalink | Comments (24)

Public sector staff are striking fifteen times more than those in the private sector

Research from The TaxPayers' Alliance notes that strikes are now fifteen times more likely in the public than private sectors. Ten years ago private sector strikes were twice as likely. See the research note here (pdf).

ConservativeHome has been highlighting the role of the public sector unions as they pour money into Labour's marginal seats campaign and as they also build up a war chest to "unleash hell" on any incoming Tory government.

Posted at 11:56 AM in Industrial relations, Taxpayers Alliance, Work & Pensions | Permalink | Comments (27)

02/16/2010

Respublica joins the blogging think tanks

Respublica, the think tank of 'Red Tory' Philip Blond, is the latest to launch a blog. It has been named The Disraeli Room. Mr Blond's first post focuses on the big idea of "ownership".

Many think tanks featured by ThinkTankCentral already have established blogs:

The Institute of Economic Affairs;
The Centre for Social Cohesion;
Civitas;
Open Europe;
The Centre for Policy Studies;
The TaxPayers' Alliance; and
The Adam Smith Institute (the best of the bunch in my opinion and has, this morning, a good post against the Robbing Hood Tax).

Policy Exchange and Reform don't have their own blogs but they do have accounts on CentreRight.com and probably reach wider audiences via that channel. Reform's contributions are here and PX's here.

Tim Montgomerie

Posted at 07:53 AM in Adam Smith Institute, Centre for Policy Studies, Civitas, Institute of Economic Affairs, New media, Open Europe, Policy Exchange, Reform , Respublica, Taxpayers Alliance | Permalink | Comments (0)

02/13/2010

Civitas report calls for reduction of corporation tax to 15% by 2020

A Civitas report, authored by Corin Taylor and Richard Bacon, calls for corporation tax to be cut to 15% over the next ten years.

The report points to an independent survey that finds a significant risk of business flight because of Britain's increasingly uncompetitive tax regime:

"KPMG's most recent annual survey on the UK's tax competitiveness found the proportion of groups surveyed that were actively considering leaving the UK had more than doubled, from 6% the previous year to 14%. Of the 20 FTSE 100 companies surveyed in November 2009, four were actively considering moving."

Britain has become increasingly uncompetitive since 2000:

"A 2000 survey of corporation tax rates across 86 countries worldwide found that the average corporation tax rate was 31.1%, above the UK's rate of 30% in that year. In 2009, the average rate across the 116 countries surveyed was just 24.2%. The UK headline rate is 28%... Out of the 86 countries surveyed worldwide, the UK had the joint 29th lowest corporation tax rate in 2000. In 2009, the UK's rate was the 68th lowest out of the 116 countries surveyed."

Bacon and Taylor estimate that the cost of a 15% corporation tax would be between £12.4bn and £22.bn.

Responding to the report Shadow Treasury Minister David Gauke said:

'This report is further evidence that Labour has failed to keep our corporate tax system competitive. It is vital that we reverse this decline and get the country back on its feet. One of the benchmarks we are going to ask the British people to judge us on is whether we improve the UK's rating for tax competitiveness. As a start, we will cut the corporation tax rate from 28p to 25p and our ambition is to have the most competitive corporate tax environment in the G20."

We've emphasised those final words. They are quite an ambition but fit with what ConHome has been saying George Osborne is planning.

More here on the Civitas report.

Posted at 08:30 AM in Civitas, Treasury | Permalink | Comments (12)

02/12/2010

Policy Exchange calls for wealthier students to repay university loans via private sector

In a new report Policy Exchange attempts to address the need for (1) universities to receive more funding but (2) to also avoid the government's student loan debt ballooning out of control.

The report notes that "the Government’s total student debt outstanding is already £25 billion and is expected to rise to £55 billion by 2018." It continues: "In short, particularly if the cap on top-up fees is raised [which Policy Exchange supports], the size of the loan book is set to spiral out of control."

The report's remedy is for the introduction of a private but regulated loan scheme for wealthier students:

"This private loans scheme would be exclusively for students from the highest income backgrounds, but the Government should ensure that banks charge below the commercial rate of interest so that all students continue to have access to some sort of subsidised loan scheme. Creating a new private loans scheme for these low risk borrowers would help to reduce the burden of Government student loan debt, and target Government financial aid at those who need it most."

More here.

Posted at 07:49 AM in Policy Exchange, Universities & Skills | Permalink | Comments (18)