Blogs & Reports what we think

News on Wednesday that RBS Chief Executive Stephen Hester has been strongly encouraged to stand down will come as no surprise to those who’ve followed the bank’s reprivatisation saga in some detail. As more details have emerged it seems increasingly likely that HMT, via UKFI, played a key role in edging Hester towards the exit.Read more

“the UK lags behind every major European country when it comes to using renewable energy. This simply isn’t good enough… we need to see the whole of the government pulling in the same direction to cut emissions and green our economy.  Climate change cannot solely be the concern of the climate change minister…..quite frankly, whenRead more

Recent media coverage suggesting that a housing crisis is engulfing London has been pretty hard to miss. Expected population increases across the capital in the coming years will place increasing pressure on the ability to meet housing demand. Indeed, it is being suggested by a range of sources that the number of new homes needingRead more

Reshuffles are invariably the worst kept secrets in British politics. Touted, trailed and trawled in the media for months before they take place, their announcement often holds few surprises. This summer/autumn the Westminster Village will be incapacitated with excitement, as David Cameron looks to reshape his front bench. However, the reshuffles will pose some difficultRead more

About a month ago, we wrote a blogpost about whether the Data Communications Bill was dead or just dormant. We smiled at the Queen’s mention of ‘matching internet protocol addresses’ in her Speech to Parliament, and we concluded that, despite Lib Dem and activist opposition, a form of the Data Communications Bill was back on the cards.Read more

It is a shame that the professional public affairs industry always gets drawn into rows about “lobbying”. These rows are actually more to do with MPs and Peers than properly run firms that actually do proper public affairs work. Last week and over the weekend, stories broke about an MP and three Peers allegedly caughtRead more

Last week, the UK’s Major Projects Authority (MPA) announced that several large government projects had been given a ‘red’ or ‘amber/red’ status, meaning that “successful delivery of the project is in doubt, with major risks or issues apparent in a number of key areas”. One of the projects is the Cabinet Office’s G-Cloud framework, whichRead more

Parliament’s two-week recess offers the PM a welcome breather from the internecine strife that has engulfed the Conservatives over the last few weeks. It’s a chance to draw a line under troubles, take stock and shift the agenda back on to more solid ground for his party’s prospects at the next election. That means gettingRead more