Onward Newsletter 28/07/2023

What’s Onward This Week

Parliamentary recess offers a moment for politics to pause. Westminster seems determined not to take it. This time last year the Conservatives were in the middle of a bruising party leadership race. This year, the first week off has involved a major housing speech, internal battles on net zero and a slew of banking resignations in the wake of the Farage/Coutts saga.

Hopefully, things will settle. This summer is a moment for the Government to pause and flesh out its offer as we look towards an election. The Opposition can also begin firming up its pitch, moving beyond missions to something more concrete. At Onward, we’re putting the finishing touches to a slew of reports to inform both manifestos. And, of course, crossing our fingers that no more antics in silly season throw our work programme off track.

✍️ Research

This week the Levelling Up Secretary, Michael Gove, announced the Government’s plan to densify cities and ensure that new developments are beautiful and serve their communities. Onward’s report ‘Green, Pleasant and Affordable’ was referenced, along with a commitment to implement one of the paper’s core recommendations: the reform of “hope value” so land can more easily be brought forward for development.

Also this week, the Education Committee released its report on childcare and early years, citing Onward’s report ‘First Steps’. The Committee highlighted the complexity of the entitlement system and poor qualification levels for early years staff, and included evidence provided at a committee hearing from our Deputy Director, Adam Hawksbee.

📰 Media Mentions

Director Sebastian Payne wrote for the i on how ditching net zero would tarnish the Conservatives. He also joined the RSA Events Podcast to discuss building a better economy, and was quoted in the Guardian on the Government’s housing plans. 

Deputy Director Adam Hawksbee appeared on LBC and GB News discussing Michael Gove’s housing speech. He also appeared on the Politics Home podcast to discuss the mortgage rate crisis.

Jack Richardson, Head of Energy and Net Zero at Onward appeared on Sky News to discuss the London ULEZ scheme and why it would be a bad idea for Conservatives to backtrack on green policies.

‘Power to the People’, our report on community benefits for green infrastructure, was covered in Bloomberg, The Daily Express, and iNews. 

‘A Question Of Degree’ on low quality university courses was featured in the Evening Standard.

‘Hydrogen: Who Pays?’ was mentioned in Politics Home.

🌐 Onward Online

The Education Committee’s new report on childcare draws on Onward’s research and recommendations. Here is a breakdown of some of the findings with data from our ‘First Steps’ report.

🐥 Tweet of the week

Deputy Director Adam Hawksbee explains with six Onward graphs why the government should not backtrack on net zero policies.