Using centre-right means to progressive ends

Support for the wider use of market forces and the promotion of individual responsibility are ideas traditionally associated with the centre right. But we are interested in how these tools could be used to achieve progressive ends - to give new opportunities to groups that don’t have them today. For example, our work on the pupil premium looks at how education funding can be reformed to help the most disadvantaged pupils.

Re-inventing Government

Our policy recommendations in different subject areas often involve certain structural principles which amount to completely reinventing the way government traditionally works. These principles include changing who public services are accountable to (users via election, not government via targets) and also how they are funded (funding follows demand and is used to encourage enterprise and competition). It also means preventing instead of curing problems. For example, our work on elected police commissioners looks at how the police could be made more accountable to the public.

Strengthening society

We advocate empowering communities to solve their own problems at a local level, and helping people to be more self-reliant rather than dependent. This applies in everything from criminal justice to environmental policy. For example, our research on welfare reform suggests that traditional welfare policies have too often created perverse incentives, undermined the social fabric, and failed because they don’t tackle the underlying causes of poverty.

A central focus on the economy

The economic crisis has completely changed politics and will affect every other area of policy. Our ideas aim to allow Governments to achieve more with less money, make Britain more competitive, and reduce unemployment. For example, our seminars on financial reform look at how to tackle the credit crunch.

Detailed ideas with practical impact

Policy Exchange is research-led and evidence-based. We put more effort than other think tanks into developing properly grounded research and detailed, costed proposals. We propose policies that politicians can actually implement and we think strategically about the next steps to take – rather than proposing visionary schemes with no chance of being adopted. For example, our work on credible energy policy looks in detail at how to deliver reform in a cost-effective way.