CLES has a fresh new identity 🌱 From today, we are the Centre for Local Economies - an independent think tank and charity that puts economics in its place 🏘️ 🔗 www.cles.org.uk

Members of the Scottish Parliament have just voted to pass the world’s first piece of legislation on Community Wealth Building This is a huge opportunity to ensure that when Scotland has economic growth, we use it to reduce wealth inequality and support communities to thrive

I’m really excited to be recruiting a Comms Officer to work closely with me on CLES’s communications 💫 2026 is going to be a fab year to join us. We’ll celebrate our 40th birthday, launch our new-look brand and website, and we’ve big ambitions to step up our news and advocacy profile 💪🏻 See here 👇🏻

Why the two-child limit has to go, in a chart.

Great to have worked with many of England’s mayors, @np-partnership.bsky.social, @centreforcities.bsky.social & @clesthinkdo.bsky.social on helping to make the case 🙌

🥳 Brilliant news that the government are consulting on giving mayors the power to implement a levy on overnight stays. 📈 More power and resources in places means that communities can take charge of their own destiny. www.gov.uk/government/n...

“In the absence of devolved fiscal powers, regional policymakers can…pre-distribute wealth as it is created (not waiting until after corporations have made their billions to then rely on taxing it)“ @leahmillthorne.bsky.social for the New Statesman👇🏻 www.newstatesman.com/spotlight/20...

Really proud that we are publishing this new work today as part of Reclaiming Our Regional Economies. Making extraction visible - it matters because this is about using public resources effectively in the public interest

The English Devo Bill could rewire economies for people. With @sianberry.bsky.social we're tabling three improvements: 🪙 New clause 31: Community wealth building ❤️ Amendment 255: Health & wellbeing in all policies 🤝 New schedule 1 & new clause 29: Inclusive economies ✒️ cles.org.uk/blog/lets-do...

We are proud to announce that our Chief Executive, Dr @sarahlonglands.bsky.social, has been appointed as a Non-Executive Director to the board of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government 👏 www.gov.uk/government/n...

When one company – like Jaguar Land Rover – dominates a local economy, its crisis can ripple through communities 🌊 @oliver-chan.bsky.social spoke to @lbc.co.uk's Jonathan Ray about the impact of the JLR hack + how we need to build resilient, locally rooted economies 📻 ⤵️

Some ✨ professional news ✨

A classroom of children dies every day in Gaza. Yet since the war started in October 2023, only 80 children have been granted visas to come to the UK. ✏️ @amreenqureshi.bsky.social writes about the need for a Gaza Family Visa Scheme 👇 www.opendemocracy.net/en/uk-gaza-f...

🎉10th ANNIVERSARY🎉 A decade ago, IPPR Scotland was established in a big moment of change to support progressive policymaking. 📢Now, as Scotland faces fresh challenges, we’re hosting a major conference to ask: What next? 🗓️Save the date: 29 Oct 2025 www.ippr.org/events/ippr-...

Thanks to the RHS for their flower pot men bringing joy to Sheffield train station this morning. Ingenious marketing 🌺

Today #BBCBreakfast discussing tourism levies following @ipprnorth.bsky.social yesterday showing wide public support @moreincommonuk.bsky.social Discussed #Manchester #Liverpool raising £6m a year & how it’s attracted #MTV awards & @britawards.bsky.social Mayors need powers to go further

Today I’ve published an intervention @ipprnorth.bsky.social on visitor levies 🏨 Backed by calls from Mayors like Oliver Coppard and @davidskaith.bsky.social, the @yorkshirepost.co.uk says it puts pressure on Rachel Reeves to hand over the power to Mayors 🧵

Our Exec Director @hannahdavies.bsky.social has written for the @thenorthernagenda.bsky.social about how the free school meals announcement is a positive step, but the two-child cap cannot remain in force if child poverty is to be addressed newsletters.e.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/hefrpKHwGlUl...

Today’s the day 🗓️ The Spending Review is a chance to rewire the economy in favour of regions 🔌 All eyes now on The Chancellor 📺 🔗 politico.eu/article/rach...

Great to see a push from mayors for a visitor levy/tourist tax recently. An absolute no brainer. In the UK 5% of tax is raised locally/regionally - compared to 13% in France and 31% in Germany Those countries have DOUBLE the rate of local economic investment That's no coincidence

Sometimes suspect the political argument “let’s build trams in the north” gets dismissed as “pacifying anti-London Brexit voters who aren’t grateful for their fiscal transfers”. No. There is a deep, broad social understanding here of the lag, and the economic reasons for closing it (even a bit!)

‘Am I better off?’ – at a general election, this is THE question voters will ask New analysis shows living standards declined under the last government This government can do better. We set out how. 👇

UK parents with babies in neonatal care gain right to paid leave

🚨 Today, we publish new research that lays bare the scale of child poverty in migrant families. 46% of children in families with non-UK born parents live in poverty - almost double the rate for other children. The govt cannot tackle child poverty without tackling issues in our migration system. 🧵⬇️

This time last week I spoke at the Home Affairs Select Committee about fixing our asylum accommodation system. We urgently need to shift power regionally and locally, improve safeguarding, and move away from mass sites - towards community solutions that work for everyone.

The North holds the key to solving to many of the country’s economic problems, if only we reverse abject underinvestment – where a northerner can expect the gov to spend less on them than their counterpart in London 🔑 ✒️ @rosielockwood.bsky.social for The MJ www.themj.co.uk/change-statu...

'Regional income growth is some of the slowest in Europe: real incomes in the majority of European regions have grown at a faster rate than those in UK' Sobering analysis from @niesrorg.bsky.social ⤵️

What an absolutely terrible metaphor to use for the north of England 👀

We need a New Deal for the North. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Good morning from my part of the North, where all trains to today’s *Convention of the North* are cancelled 🙃

Happy new year! 🪇 Looking to the year ahead, @thenorthernagenda.bsky.social have helpfully compiled a list of key moments to look out for, from the Convention of the North to the Comprehensive Spending Review 🔍 Featuring a comment from @rosielockwood.bsky.social 🗣️ thenorthernagenda.co.uk

Hello from Leeds where I'm joining the Deputy Prime Minister for the launch of the English Devolution White Paper, representing @ipprnorth.bsky.social I'm feeling positive - in a country with deep inequalities, devolution is a promise that must be delivered

Britain is famously over centralised (last I looked 96p of ever £1 of tax goes to Whitehall) and local leaders need the right powers to play their part in Labour’s promised ‘national renewal’. A citizens’ jury by Centre for Progressive Policy demonstrated public get the importance of fiscal devo

🔌 While we keep waiting for the publication of the white paper on English devo, here’s a good essay on ‘the shape of devolution’ from @rosielockwood.bsky.social & @ryanswift93.bsky.social @ipprnorth.bsky.social 🧩 www.ippr.org/articles/the...

Should the boundaries of devolution England follow the lines of ‘functional economic geographies’? Read this great new essay from @rosielockwood.bsky.social & @ryanswift93.bsky.social from @ipprnorth.bsky.social to find out…

Government will soon publish the English Devolution White Paper 📜 So the question arises again: in a landscape of ad-hoc political geographies & devolution deserts, what shape should devolution take? 🏘️ @ryanswift93.bsky.social & I explore & explain 👇 www.ippr.org/articles/the...

“… humans are messy. So too are the places we live. We don’t fit into neat boxes, and drawing lines that often feel artificial on a map can create more problems than it solves… we need to get serious about how subnational governance, and the communities that it is made of, are organised” Read this👇

As we look ahead to the English Devolution White Paper, @rosielockwood.bsky.social and I have a new essay out exploring the different ways in which the footprint of devolution deals can be determined. www.ippr.org/articles/the...

IPPR Scotland director @stephenboydippr.bsky.social responds to today's budget. Stay tuned for further analysis of the budget ⤵️

Completely unacceptable 👇

Budget day is here! 🎉 While the headlines are sure to focus on Winter Fuel, NHS spend, and other policy commitments, there is a larger issue which needs addressed: remedying how UK and Scottish budgets cohere and countering the impulse to frontload budgets with expedient, short-termist policies.

A great place to start if you're looking for accounts to follow on Bluesky 🦋👇🏼

My brilliant colleague @rosielockwood.bsky.social has compiled this starter pack of women working in policy, politics, research and media in Scotland - enjoy!

Would you like to follow the voices of brilliant women working in policy, politics, research, media and more across Scotland? If so, I have a starter pack for you 🌟⤵️ go.bsky.app/TyaxnV5

Today is equal pay day - the day when women in the UK effectively work for free for the rest of the year, because of the gender pay gap 🙃 To mark the occasion, I've made 'Women of the North' starter pack of the incredible northern women you need to follow... go.bsky.app/P6Hu5Qk