Press Releases
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Press Releases from 2021
Two Tests for UK Trade: Does seamless, tariff-free trade boost exports and does distance matter?
16 September 2021
During the UK’s departure from the European Union, debate about UK trade policy was dominated by two assertions: That seamless, tariff-free trade with the EU was the optimal outcome for UK manufacturing; That trade grows fastest with countries that are nearest. In this report, trade analyst, Phil Radford performs two correlations on UK trade data to scrutinise the evidence for these two assertions. By comparing the performance of the UK’s 14 largest…
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A response to the Home Affairs Select Committee’s report – The Macpherson Report: Twenty-two years on
12 August 2021
Following the Home Affairs select committee’s recent report, The Macpherson Report: Twenty-two years on and its inquiry into the impact of the 1999 Macpherson report, this recent response by the Director of the Statistics and Policy Research Programme at Civitas, Richard Norrie, finds the committee’s report ‘strikes a downbeat and pessimistic tone’. Richard Norrie’s response presents a critique of the report by ‘examining the foundations for its pessimism’. Confidence in police…
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Towards Strategic Coherence: Reform proposals following ‘Inadvertently Arming China?’
28 July 2021
A Civitas report, Inadvertently Arming China? in February this year revealed the widespread sponsorship of scientific research centres in UK universities by Chinese military-linked conglomerates and universities. It found research at some of these centres is being sponsored by the British taxpayer. Notably, some of these conglomerates produce Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) including intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and nuclear warheads. Others manufacture strike fighter engines, stealth aircraft, military drones and navy ships. Given…
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Curbing of free speech linked to universities with inflated diversity grievance bureaucracies – half of all universities have some form of anonymous reporting service
26 July 2021
There is a strong connection between universities with inflated diversity bureaucracies and those that limit speech more generally on campus, researchers at Civitas find in a survey of academic freedom at universities. The Higher Education (Free Speech) Bill, introduced by the government earlier this year, is evidence of its steadfast commitment to upholding freedom of speech on university campuses in response to concerning developments in recent times of ‘cancel culture’ and ‘no platforming’. However, researchers…
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Former Social Security Secretary’s plans to let elderly insure against the need to sell homes to pay for Social Care to be debated in parliament
14 July 2021
Given the new Health and Social Care Secretary’s commitment to set out “the general sense of direction” of his plans to reform social care “quite soon”, a former Social Security Secretary (1992-1997), Lord (Peter) Lilley has introduced a Bill to enable homeowners to insure against having to sell their homes to pay for social care, at little or no extra cost to the taxpayer. Former Social Security Secretary, Lord (Peter) Lilley is now…
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Study finds over 80% CofE dioceses appoint clergy who advocate racial justice activist claims & over 70% promoting climate activism – marking Church’s ‘separation of the head from the body’
10 June 2021
In a new report, researchers have set out to investigate the scale of support for ultra-progressive radical activist agendas alleging ‘systemic racism’ in English society, the understanding and use of ‘unconscious biases’ and prescribing a ‘climate emergency’ doctrine within the Church of England. As Tom Harris writes in the Foreword, this ‘complete departure from the Church’s central purpose risks making it unrecognisable to the grass roots members who support it’. It marks a…
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Hate crime approach has been ‘corrosive’ – leading to policy ‘shooting in the dark’, says think-tank report
26 May 2021
A new report from Civitas offers a critical appraisal of the ideas behind what we call ‘hate crime’ as well as the evidence for it. All too often, politicians, activists, celebrities and senior police officers consider it necessary to highlight apparent surges in hate crimes. But while such crimes are always to be condemned, this report shows how ‘we have ushered in a response to it that is corrosive’. With people in Britain today increasingly…
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Trade analysis of UK’s top ten manufacturing sectors over 20 years looks to ‘exports of autos, aerospace, beverages, pharma and food products’ for future of Global Britain, says trade report
20 April 2021
This report by trade specialist Phil Radford analysing the UK’s top ten manufacturing sectors illustrates that the real value of exports to the EU was lower in 2019 than in 2000 – after adjusting for inflation and extracting the value of precious metals. Neither is this stagnation a Brexit phenomenon. As the report shows, UK manufacturing exports pivoted decisively away from EU markets in the two decades before the UK’s exit from the Customs…
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Anti-racism industry creating a dependency upon race experts in which ‘racial divisions are becoming ever more firmly entrenched’, says think-tank report
8 April 2021
The anti-racism industry ‘creates a dependency’ upon a race discourse that sows division, finds a new Civitas report. ‘The tragic consequence’, the report finds, ‘is that racial divisions are becoming ever more firmly entrenched’. ‘The message from the media and best-selling books, as well as from an array of diversity workshops held in schools, universities and the workplace, is that not being racist is no longer sufficient: we must all be actively anti…
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‘Nurturing Britain’s high-tech capabilities’ and ‘safeguarding critical industries’ should be central to managing potential risks of economic dependence on China, think-tank report finds
1 April 2021
‘British policymakers should think carefully about the degree of economic reliance on China that it is wise to tolerate where critical infrastructure is concerned’, a new think-tank paper suggests. The research paper looks at the implications of China’s growing centrality to the world economy for the UK – and sets out a policy framework for addressing the risks it poses. It warns against ‘strategic dependency’ on China in critical sectors, and argues that faced…
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Rapid financial support to provide urgent liquidity to manufacturing companies via a Debt Equity-Swap option
29 March 2021
An informational briefing by Jack Harris and Jim McConalogue proposes that for the purposes of supporting the UK’s economic recovery from Covid-19, a Government-backed equity fund should be established to provide manufacturers with the capital required to restructure and grow competitively back into production. The report finds, “The overwhelming bulk of manufacturing jobs in the UK are in the supply-chain, which is typically populated by a large and somewhat diffuse network…
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Former Social Security Secretary sets out plan for public company to provide insurance against the need to sell homes to pay for Social Care
8 March 2021
There was a glaring omission in the recent White Paper on reform of the NHS: it contained nothing about the long-promised reform of finance for Social Care – despite Covid having further undermined care homes’ perilous finances. Like its predecessors, this government has been unable to resolve the two competing challenges. On the one hand, the pressure on local authority social care budgets cannot be maintained given the rising numbers of elderly people, the increase…
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Inadvertently Arming China? The Chinese military complex and its potential exploitation of scientific research at UK universities
8 February 2021
Revised Edition; Updated 24.02.2021 There is a ‘pervasive presence of Chinese military-linked conglomerates and universities in the sponsorship of high-technology research centres in many leading UK universities and in their research relationships’, a think-tank report has found. In many cases, these UK universities are unintentionally generating research that is sponsored by and may be of use to China’s military conglomerates, including those with activities in the production of…
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Understanding UK Strategic Dependence on Chinese Investment: The Case for 'Partial Decoupling'
14 January 2021
Eighty per cent of Chinese investments into UK over decade involve state-owned or Communist Party-linked enterprises Since the beginning of the pandemic there has been a growing public awareness of the nature of the threat China’s investment strategy poses to the UK economy and the West. Often missing from this discussion is the extent to which political and security concerns should also be matched by a recalibration of the UK economy to…
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