UK Day One Project

🚀 NEW BRIEFING 🐖 UK Pensions could unlock £ billions for UK R&D, supercharging UK growth, argues Zachary Spiro The UK lags the US for overall VC funding, even when scaled for GDP. Only 10% of UK VC funding comes from pensions, compared to 72%. This implies that UK pension funds are signficantly underinvesting. This means that UK firms are losing out on a critical source of capital. It also means that pensioners don’t benefit from the enormous growth achieved when businesses scale successfully. This is lose-lose. If you are Brit with a pension pot, you make less money. If you are a UK start-up, you get less finance. Returns for Canadian, US and Australian pensions outstrip those in the UK. To address this, the new Government should change pension regulations by: 1) Independent benchmarking, to force fund managers to compete with global funds 2) Require pension trustees to consider fees in the context of net returns, rather than fees alone These changes would lead to new investment structures to unlock venture capital, but can be done with existing ministerial powers. Read the full briefing and recommendations here: https://lnkd.in/eSFw9cgZ

🚀 NEW BRIEFING 🚀 Anthony Finkelstein, former Chief Scientific Adviser for National Security and president of City, University of London and Laura Lungu of University of Cambridge set out a plan to bring S&T talent into government. The new government needs a Civil Service that is better equipped to deliver its missions. A key part of this is talent: we need channels to bring S&T expertise and capacity into different parts of government. We set out a 10 point plan for bringing S&T talent into government, including: 1. Making policymakers good 'customers' through S&T literacy 2. Enhanced engagement with national academies 3. A single cross-government 'fast-response advice' scheme 4. Power-up existing UKRI fellowship schemes 5. Industry & university secondments 6. Expand S&T fast stream beyond STEM degrees 7. Establish 'innovation placements' from start-ups 8. Develop 'shadow' Science Advisory Committees 9. Review grading structures for S&T roles 10. Commission review of UK science capacity in strategic/security areas Read the full briefing here: https://lnkd.in/eArTPHQP

Have you heard of Tempsford? At the junction of the East Coast Mainline and the planned East-West Rail line, Tempsford could be the perfect place for one of the new government's New Towns. Kane Emerson and Samuel Hughes make the case in our latest briefing. The new Labour government has committed to delivering 1.5 million new homes and a generation of new towns across the country. This means we need to get building, quickly. But we also need to build where there is the most pressure on demand - not least to reduce homelessness. Not all new towns are equally successful. Proximity and transport links to areas of high economic activity is key. Edinburgh New Town (pictured) is a great example. So where should this government build new towns? A good starting place is existing rail links, particularly where there are opportunities for value uplift - such as the Digswell Viaduct bottleneck, which requires significant investment. To address the housing crisis, this government will need to build several new towns. Tempsford offers a great place to start: it is connected to the north, south, east and west, and close to London and the Oxford-Cambridge arc. The government will need to act fast. With focus, a hybrid bill could be passed this year. New towns not only house people, but show us what is possible: we can once again be a country that build things. Read the full briefing: https://lnkd.in/eZ3W_QUm

This week Ed Miliband, the new Secretary of State for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, announced this government's priorities on energy and climate. In our latest briefing, Tone Langengen of Tony Blair Institute for Global Change and Rian Whitton of Bismarck Analysis outline a firm power strategy for the UK. What does this mean? Firm power refers to capacity energy capacity that is reliable and available at all times. This is particularly important for manufacturing but also the industries of the future - like AI data centres. The UK's growing dependence on wind and solar, decommissioning of nuclear power stations, and expected growing electricity demand, means that there is an urgent need for reliable and affordable electricity supply. We cannot affordably hit net-zero without firm power. The solution? The new government needs to hit the ground running on nuclear. This means learning from best practice in South Korea and fast-tracking approvals of reactors. It also means empowering GB Nuclear and reforming planning. Up until now, the UK has been decarbonising on easy mode. With EVs, heat pumps and AI data centres, electricity demand is set to soar. Nuclear power requires upfront investment but it opens up fresh options for industrial policy. Read the full briefing: https://lnkd.in/esQYrN8m

The new Chancellor could boost UK GDP by 4.4% with this one simple trick... In our latest briefing, Lucia Coulter, Lee Crawfurd & Tammy Tan highlight the economic and social cost of childhood lead poisoning, a hidden epidemic which costs the UK 4.4% of annual GDP. The UK’s passive surveillance system fails to detect 99.9% of lead poisoning cases, leaving children to continue to be poisoned and failing to prevent future cases. The new government has a huge opportunity to protect children's health, boost growth and reduce strain on the NHS. The new health secretary Wes Streeting should increase blood lead surveillance, mandate reporting and develop a data repository. And the government should amend the proposed Renters Reform Bill to require landlords to test for and report the presence of lead paint to renters. Thanks to Center for Global Development and Lead Exposure Elimination Project for lending us their expertise to support the new UK government. Read the full briefing here: https://lnkd.in/e8ZizxxM

Today the Chancellor set out the new Government's ambition to reform planning. These reforms are very welcome, but many will take time to impact on the UK's housing stock. That's why Kane Emerson and John Myers have set out three 'fast wins' to get Britain building. 1️⃣ Learn from Haringey Council and let residents build up. Gentle density is beautiful and practical, allowing home-owners to use their space more efficiently, and providing housing where it is most needed. 2️⃣ Street votes empower communities to encourage densification and value creation. Schemes have been enormously successful in Vancouver, Seoul and Tel Aviv. 3️⃣ Estate renewal should be a top priority for the new government. Ambitious renewal plans can fund new council homes for every existing resident through cross-subsidy, a win-win for councils and communities. Our planning system requires radical reform. But in the meantime, gentle densification can make a real, immediate difference to the UK's housing crisis. Read the full briefing: https://lnkd.in/ep9SJX6k

Today is Day One! Congratulations to Keir Starmer and The Labour Party, who won a huge majority but now face the real challenge of policy delivery. At UK Day One we will continue to publish proposals for growth & progress. Here are some of our latest ideas: 🚉 Devolving Local Transport Infrastructure 🚉  Benjamin Hopkinson from Britain Remade has a plan to get Britain moving through devolving transport infrastructure powers, which could catalyse transport investment and support regional growth. https://lnkd.in/d--tfUZN 🏛 8 quick & easy fixes to boost civil service efficiency 🏛 whatever the new government wants to do, a well-functioning civil service will be critical for delivery. Jordan U. of the Institute for Government sets out a plan for making internal processes and talent recruitment work better. https://lnkd.in/eAxSruDR 🤝 Funding AI through new bonds 🤝  a dream team of Stanford economists outline how the new Government could use bespoke bonds to fund UK AI investment, and ensure that the benefits of the AI revolution are shared by all. https://lnkd.in/eSn2tKvx 🌮 Making the UK the global centre for alternative proteins 🌮  Linus Pardoe of The Good Food Institute makes the case for the UK to become the global home of research and creation of alternative proteins, a growing industry with huge potential for the UK. https://lnkd.in/entHsgJV If you have an idea for how the new government can pursue growth & innovation, we would love to hear it!

🚀 NEW BRIEFING outlining 8 quick & easy wins to boost civil service efficiency - from Jordan U. of the Institute for Government The new Government will depend on the civil service to hit the ground running on its missions, but the civil service is riddled with inefficiencies and bureaucracy. The problems include: 1. Failure to recruit external talent 2. Long onboarding times 3. Poor induction processes 4. Bad internal collaboration and communications 5. Various miscellaneous inefficiencies, explored in the briefing These lead to waste, low morale and poor delivery. But many of these problems can be fixed quite easily with some central coordination. A new government would be well placed to bring in much needed reforms, such as: 1. Standards for external recruitment 2. A simple pass/fail onboarding standard 3. Publishing of data, particularly in relation to recruitment 4. Secondment pipelines to bring in external talent 5. HR support for hiring managers 6. A whole of govt organogram (!) 7. A shared, cross-government collaboration platform 8. Centralised induction guidance Perhaps most importantly, the solution is 'just do it'! Civil servants often agree what the problems are, and many of the solutions are straightforward. A new government just needs to get on with it. Read the full briefing here: https://lnkd.in/eAxSruDR

🚀 NEW BRIEFING 🚀 The new UK government will need to capitalise on the AI revolution, but how to pay for it? The solution: AI bonds. Drawing on inspiration from UK war bonds, Stanford University dreamteam Helena Roy, Emma Rockall and Emma Casey what this could look like. AI bonds would finance state investment in UK AI infrastructure - from compute and education to application in public services. But they will also give every British citizen a stake in the AI revolution: ensuring that gains are re-invested and distributed across the UK. During WW2, the UK government issued war bonds to fund the war effort. More recently, governments have issued bonds to invest in green tech and build infrastructure. The AI revolution will be transformative, and the UK must invest to stay ahead and ensure everyone can benefit. AI bonds will need to be carefully designed to ensure they raise money for the right projects, and the benefits are fairly distributed across society. Read the full briefing here: https://lnkd.in/eSn2tKvx

Yesterday our fantastic team of policy entrepreneurs spent a valuable day at the Institute for Government learning all about how Westminster works + how to create change. Special thanks to Katie Thorpe, Alice Lilly, Nehal Davison and Saudamini Sigdel for making it happen!