Commenting on the resignation of Lord Jim O’Neill from the Government, Liam Booth-Smith, Chief Executive of Localis, said: “Lord Jim O’Neill’s resignation from the Treasury is unfortunate as it will undoubtedly raise questions about Theresa May’s commitment to the Northern Powerhouse agenda, but I’d caution against over interpreting what this means. Government has still made […]
In a book review for LGC, Liam Booth-Smith writes on why, in or out of government, the fortunes of localism and the devolution agenda are tied to former chancellor George Osborne. Read the article in full here or below. In his 2012 book, The Austerity Chancellor, Janan Ganesh notes George Osborne was never “taken with localism, […]
Writing for City Metric in support of our new white paper ‘Turning Generation Rent into homeowners‘, Liam Booth-Smith writes on the case for government-backed 100% mortgages. You can read the piece in full here or below. “What ransom will property pay for the security it enjoys?” the Victorian liberal reformer Joseph Chamberlain once asked. When Birmingham’s man […]
Writing for the MJ, Liam Booth-Smith considers what local government can expect at Conservative party conference. You can read the piece in full here or below. A party conference is actually quite an impressive affair. Politics at its most professional and amateur in equal measure. The set piece speeches, the confluence of money and media, the sheer maddening concentration […]
A report published today by think tank Localis makes the case for Government to provide mortgage deposits for Generation Rent. The report, Turning Generation Rent into homeowners, argues that for younger people the housing market is an acute example of intergenerational inequity. It is a rigged race, where the finishing line is being moved further […]
Writing for City AM in support of our new white paper ‘Turning Generation Rent into homeowners‘, Liam Booth-Smith writes on the case for green belt reform. You can read the piece in full here or below. Imagine a race in which the finishing line moved further away, faster than you could run. Rigged against you, no matter how […]
If successful in the Labour leadership election and then a general election, one of the ten policies which Jeremy Corbyn has said he would implement as Prime Minister is “to ‘insource’ our public and local council services”. Similar to his and fellow leadership candidate Owen Smith’s pledges to establish a “fully public” NHS, this would […]
This note from the Chief Executive is from our September newsletter. You can read the newsletter in full here and register to receive it straight to your inbox on our homepage. There’s something pornographic about the politics of the far left. Not literally, but in the coarseness, veiled threats, hints of misogyny, that tang of soft violence. There’s […]
Research Fellow, Jack Airey, considers the implications of the Government’s plans to devolve Attendance Allowance to local authorities. When the then Chancellor announced last year that local authorities would fully retain their business rates income by 2020, he was widely praised for pulling a decent sized rabbit out the hat – albeit with the caveat […]
Writing for Prospect, Liam Booth-Smith considers how the Labour Party can rebuild itself through devolution. You can read the piece in full here or below. When the history of these years of the Labour party is written, there will be a footnote for the year 2017 thanking the former Tory chancellor George Osborne. Next year, some of our largest city […]